The Artist_s Magazine 2016-03__

the artist’s life

Nicholas Simmons (1968–2015)

Along with our colleagues at Watercolor Artist, we were shocked

to learn of the death of Nicholas Simmons, vibrant artist, gifted

musician and charismatic instructor. In an exuberant process

that made use of photography and Photoshop, l uid acrylics as

well as watercolor, plus an assortment of spray bottles and masks,

Simmons created pictures that seemed rhapsodic. As he told John

A. Parks in an article for Watercolor (Winter 2009), “I’m very

l attered when people tell me that my work looks as though it is

done quickly; actually, it is all very carefully planned out. I call my

approach ‘accidentally on purpose.’” Defending his use of acrylic

to watercolor purists, Simmons contended, “What distinguishes

watercolor is not the binding, be it gum arabic or acrylic, but the

vehicle, which is water.” We extend our deepest sympathies to his

wife Olga and their daughter, Larissa. M.B.

Editor’s note: We thank Marcello Dworzak (Da Vinci Paint Company) and

TillerWilliam Fine Arts for this image; Dworzak is donating to the artist’s wife

and daughter 100 percent of the proceeds from the sales of Simmons’s work.

LEFT: Crystal Cove Fire Iris (2015; watermedia on paper, 45x34½)

by Nicholas Simmons