Florida Artists Group

Roy's Bio:

Roy Nichols has been painting the Florida landscape for over fifty years, creating a large body of consistently fine work. He works in oils, and paints in a clear, understated realist style, characterized by warmth of feeling and a strong sense of light and atmosphere. His canvases are typically painted outdoors, with refinements and finishing done in the studio. Nichols most often combines short impressionist strokes with the layered scumbling technique that he has developed over the years, achieving richness and depth while avoiding any hardness and over-particularization. He is also known for his portraits, figure paintings and the many mountain landscapes he had painted in forty summers in North Carolina.

The descendant of two generations of career U.S. Army officers, Roy Nichols was born in 1928 in Plattsburg Barracks, New York. He soon moved with his family to Georgia, and has continued to live in the South most of his life. Although planning a career in the military, attending West Point and serving two years in the Army Airborne, Nichols finally enrolled in Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, Florida on the GI bill, where he found his true calling. Sarasota was a vital artistic community in the 1950’s and it was in this rich environment that Nichols started to develop as a painter. His most important teachers were the painter Loran Wilford and the sculptor Leslie Posey. Nichols immersed himself in painting and began the life of an active full-time artist that he has continued to this day without interruption.

Along with his painting career, Nichols is also a popular teacher and has taught in numerous workshops and art centers through the years and served as Artist-in-Residence and Director of Fontana Summer School of Art in Fontana Dam, North Carolina, from 1966-1995. He continues to teach group classes in Florida and in Burnsville, North Carolina, where he and his wife Jossie are seasonal residents.

Roy Nichols has exhibited widely throughout the Southeast and has been recipient of many prizes and awards. His paintings hang in a large number of private and corporate collections in Southwest Florida and across the country.

Artist Statement:

Painting is, and always has been, my favorite thing to do. When I’m alone in the woods or on the shore, I’m at home. The contrast of light and shadow still thrills me, and I am excited by the endless changes in color and scene.

Exhibitions:

Roy’s most recent one-man exhibitions: Ringling College’s Madeby Gallery in Sarasota and the Toe River Art’s Council Gallery in Spruce Pine, NC His works are represented by William Hartman Gallery, Sarasota, FL, Design Gallery, Burnsville, NC and Toni Carlton Gallery, Banner Elk, NC.


Video Interview with Roy in 2015 at his studio in Sarasota Florida — Please Click Here To watch on Youtube or view below