Nick Coley

Nick Coley moved to Yorkshire when he was 3 years old and settled down to drawing at an early age. The Headmaster of his primary school, himself a talented watercolourist, became convinced that Nick would become a professional artist, yet although he continued to draw and paint, it was not to be at that time.

Nick still painted when time permitted and occasionally exhibited his work, things changed when he began working on glass. As he says “I discovered 4 panes of discarded glass, tucked away behind the garden shed in the new house at Driffield to where my wife and I had moved. I had a little play at painting on the glass. Something odd happened. Painting upon glass is not the same as putting paint onto canvas. Imagine going out on a frosty morning when it is icy and your shoes slide along the pavement. Glass demands different disciplines and above all else respect, I was fascinated though and began experimenting with techniques enabling the paint to stick, without losing

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Nick Coley moved to Yorkshire when he was 3 years old and settled down to drawing at an early age. The Headmaster of his primary school, himself a talented watercolourist, became convinced that Nick would become a professional artist, yet although he continued to draw and paint, it was not to be at that time.

Nick still painted when time permitted and occasionally exhibited his work, things changed when he began working on glass. As he says “I discovered 4 panes of discarded glass, tucked away behind the garden shed in the new house at Driffield to where my wife and I had moved. I had a little play at painting on the glass. Something odd happened. Painting upon glass is not the same as putting paint onto canvas. Imagine going out on a frosty morning when it is icy and your shoes slide along the pavement. Glass demands different disciplines and above all else respect, I was fascinated though and began experimenting with techniques enabling the paint to stick, without losing this new freedom I had found.

In part many images undergo progressive stages; paint upon paper and card, often mixed with adhesives before being applied to the glass in reverse. As well as brushes I use scalpels and etching tools, but every work is slightly different, and this procedure is always open to new experimentation.”

Nick was born in Stourbridge, an important area of the midlands for glass production, and his great uncle owned a glass factory so Nick’s discovery of working on glass seems rather apt.