We chat to our November cover artist Nigel Wallace about what makes his art so wonderful, plus give you the chance to win one of his prints...
It’s hard to capture what a place means to you. The memorable landmarks, the colourful atmosphere, the nostalgia when looking back on memories. But Nigel Wallace is an expert at doing that, with his beautiful prints that celebrate the best of Kent and beyond. ‘I trained as a technical illustrator, and but eventually left to start doing art and pencil drawings,’ he explains. ‘I started selling photographs when the digital age took over, but eventually, I went back to illustrating and started doing these posters of copies of the old railway posters.’
White One Sugar was soon born, and has been going now for over 20 years. ‘My daughter came up with the idea for the name – it’s actually how I take my tea, but we thought it would be a good name for a business.’ Its uniqueness means that people do recognise it, which is handy when selling to shops across the country.
His cards and prints go down well, which isn’t a surprise as his style of illustration is so beautiful – but what inspires Nigel to create his pieces? ‘I like architecture, the countryside and people. These pictures provide a real talking point as people have visited these places and love spotting memorable places in them.’ He continues: ‘I'm always looking wherever I go for a picture I can do or something I can take or make artistic. But I’m not an artist who wants to do art for art's sake – I like creating something that someone else looks at and loves.’
His artistic process is something ‘I'll take some photographs as just reference, sketch something on paper, then go on the computer to create it digitally. The great thing about graphic design is that you can add objects as layers, and can move them around easily.’ He does struggle to draw places he hasn’t been to, instead preferring to get the feel of a place and its features. ‘For example, I’ve got a picture in Holkham Beach in North Norfolk, where you go through some trees, and then you walk down along the gangway till you get to the beach,’ Nigel tells me. ‘The picture I’ve drawn doesn’t actually exist as I pulled down the trees, but people have the memory of going through them to the beach.’ The seaside holiday pictures are some of Nigel’s favourites and best sellers. ‘I love being by the sea, and the Broadstairs and Norfolk pictures capture that holiday feeling of being by the sea, ice cream in hand.’
But when designing his Faversham picture – the Christmassy version being our November cover – Nigel was keen to bring in familiar features. ‘I brought the church in, the Guildhall and a few buildings – some people don’t like it as things aren’t in the place, whereas other people love it because it represents township.’ Faversham is where Nigel's from, and he trialled the concept for his shop at Faversham Hop Festival, where they still have a stall every year. ‘People come back and buy another one because they want to add to their collections, or some people have pictures that go all the way up the stairs and they buy another one each year to go further up.’
Although he designs pictures of places all over the country, Nigel does particularly enjoy celebrating our county. ‘I’ve always lived in Kent, and it has so many beautiful spots people don't always know about – I love bringing out the best in it.’
With 20 years and hundreds of drawings under his belt, what else is Nigel planning to do to keep White One Sugar thriving for years to come? ‘It would be great to do new pictures of places further afield, as well as redoing new pictures of places which stock our pieces – if something’s been in the shop for a while, it starts to become old hat people have seen it.’
And if you’re artistically inclined and like the look of Nigel’s style, you can even get involved yourself. ‘I've got my son and daughter, someone else who's local, and an artist in London, but I’m always looking for people to help produce a few pictures.’
White One Sugar’s prints beautifully bring people back to memories and feelings of places they’re in love with. If you’re searching for an artistic, thoughtful gift this Christmas, it may just be exactly what you’re looking for. whiteonesugar.co.uk
