Colorful Portraits by Nick Runge

The artist Nick Range was born in 1985 in Colorado. Raised in an artistic family of famous artists, he regularly engaged in art. After working as a draughtsman from 2004 to 2015, he shifted his focus to more individual oil and watercolor practices.
Nick explains his work as a kind of “abstract realism”. Nick shows as much of his realistic personal part of life as possible through a limited and usually obvious way of rendering or brushwork, producing a fantasy of reality while. He changes patterns and shapes, just to have a close balance with abstraction.

Nick Range paints watercolor portraits of people’s personalities and skeletons in an unusual way that mixes the details of abstraction with notions of realism. Tender rings of multi-layered shapes and mixed flesh and bone characters show all the visible information needed to recognize features without going into the realm of photorealism.

“Skeleton in a Jacket,” Nick Range…

“I do draft out the work first, but I decide not to have any kind of method”, Runge tells about his art rule. “I try to narrow down the shades to “hot” and “cold” as a sharp idea. I like to control the watercolor but give it do its own thing, to be more symbolic.” Softened colors and powerful actions add a naturalistic feel to the paintings, even when it comes to the skeleton wearing the jacket.
Untitled by Nick Range.

Runge says he did not go to any art university, but that it was advantageous for him to keep his opinion. Range said:

“Also, taking away from star portraits and pop art permitted me to concentrate more on HOW something is drawn, and not WHAT/WHO I’m composing. Art for art’s sake.”

Seminar by Nick Runge on March 20 and 21, 2021 at 10 am-5 pm, will show people how to draw a picture in watercolor. Nick will first explain his style and method while demonstrating the decisions he makes, the feeling that he draw with, and the opportunities taken while composing a portrait.  As students will make with their own pictures, Nick will give direction, analysis, and guidance for each student as they create. The teacher and learners will be working from a photo source. Learners are recommended to bring up to three of their personal pictures for further work.