HTBS’s Hélène Rémond writes from London:

On 6 April 2011, HTBS published my “Artist Nick Archer and His Rowing Art”. Four years later, on last Thursday, I met another artist named Nick by the Thames riverside. Born in 1963 and based in London, painter Nick Botting set up his easel on the Embankment, near Thames Rowing Club. He works on sporting themes. Cricket, football, tennis and rowing inspire him. “I was commissioned to paint the first FA Cup taking place at Wembley Stadium”, he says.

Rowing events are very exciting according to him. He captures small moments in time and the people, on a panel or on canvas, in all sorts of dimensions. He likes to see how people stand and move in their environment. He portrays physical links, like relation between people and the river.

“It gives a sense of floating. You relate to the water and the environment better. As to the Boat Races, it means the excitement of something special”, he says. “There is also the drama, the repetition rowing represents is good for painting. I’m interested in the patterns. I paint rowers getting in or out of the boats. Otherwise, they are all in line”.

He has followed the Boat Race event on and off for about 8 years. He doesn’t miss the regatta in Henley either. He sometimes paints in a café or in a theatre, but what he likes most is to paint en plein air. Painting alfresco probably helps him relate to his environment too. “If you copy a photograph, it kills it”.

People passing by come and say how fond they are of the warm tones of his works. Deborah is one of them. She likes the semi-finished painting: “I guess you take it further in your mind, your imagination develops”, she says.

Nick Botting’s next exhibition will take place in October 2015 at Portland Gallery in London. For more information go here.

You can also visit his website to see his paintings at different galleries here.