Nigel Whittaker Art
This drawing began not with paper, charcoal, or pen, but with memory.
Years ago, whenever I visited a friend, his granny was always there with wiry humour, watchful eyes, and a sense of gravitas that filled the room. She stayed with me.
I set myself the task of drawing her, not from a photo, but from the layers of recollection. Grey paper, white and black charcoal, pastel, even pen materials layered like memory itself, sometimes sharp, sometimes hazy.
Every line of her face became less about accuracy and more about presence.
It’s strange: in trying to capture her, I realised I was also drawing the feeling she left behind wisdom, endurance, and that glint of humour.
She is long gone, yet here she is again, looking back at us.
Selected for the inaugural The "RP Drawing Prize: Revealing the Human" specifically celebrates drawing as a direct response to the human, exploring its ability to capture vulnerability and authenticity. 2025
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Heaven Sent, Heaven Stole
This portrait seeks to honour George Michael not as celebrity, but as artist: a musician of immense craft, restraint and emotional intelligence.
The pose is deliberate turned slightly away from the viewer, yet meeting us with unmistakable presence reflecting the tension that defined his public life: intimacy offered, privacy defended.
Michael’s work carried both polish and bruise. Beneath the flawless surface of pop lay songs of confession, longing and moral clarity, delivered with a voice capable of both seduction and sorrow.
The painting aims to match that duality: dignity without glamour, atmosphere without sentimentality an image of stature, earned rather than performed.
