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Stoic and funny, Swedish artist Nick Alm was a revelation to chat with. He paints beautiful figurative paintings, often with groups of people in enigmatic situations.
He has won awards from the Portrait Society of America, and the International Art Renewal Center Salon, to name a few.
Nick is very popular among artists. When I said I was going to be talking to him it felt like there was a collective, “Hurray!” went up on social media.
We talk about ABBA (of course), first loves, embarrassing moments, grunting as a legitimate form of communication, and art, lots of art and painting . . .
Here are the main points of what we talk about:
- Influences,
- Choice of subjects,
- Recording ideas,
- Composition,
- Models,
- Layers,
- Color palette,
- Focus,
- Lighting,
- Brushes,
- Watercolor painting,
- Traditional and contemporary,
- Technique and content,
- Meanings,
- Odd Nerdrum,
- Social animals,
- melancholy,
- Sweden,
- Beauty and ugliness,
- Underlying themes,
- Social media,
- Prints,
- Sales,
- Most moving painting to make,
- Big art dreams,
- Artistic challenges,
- Golf,
To find out more about Nick and his work
http://www.nickalm.com/
Most moving paintings to make . . .
Social Animals – Nick Alm
Bacchanal – Nick Alm
Referenced in the podcast . .
Paint Nick uses
Old Holland white
Old Holland Yellow brown
Sennelier red
Raw umber
Transparent red oxide
Mars black
Ivory black
Alizarin crimson
English red
Terra Rosa
Thanks for listening!
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Theme music by The Argyle Pimps. Thanks lads.
Dear John Dalton and Nick Alm,
Please could you tell me what pigment ‘semillon red’ refers to as a replacement for cadmium red? Have searched google and old holland catalogue and come up with no oil paint of that name – is it mishearing of scheveningen red ??
The name is Sennelier red
Awesome, thanks for the reply ?✨
Hi Diana. I have searched for this colour too and I have found it listed as a Pyrrole Red or Pyrrole Scarlet on the Pigment Database website. It appears the french brand Sennelier makes this red.
Nick (and John) if you’re still here,
I’m a little to this podcast, perhaps even far too late, but was wondering how you get those fluid transparent brush strokes, like in the image linked, without the use of solvents? Or did I misinterpret when you said you only use linseed / chalk as mediums?
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bhd2tsTlqdg/
ha de bra,
Ryan
Thank you so much for this. I’m so glad I found this podcast. Nick Alm, Sir, thank you for always inspiring us. Love from India