We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nick Williams a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Nick thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

I invested a lot of time when I was younger into art. All of my electives in school were art oriented. By the time I got to college I stepped away from art and focused on school and work. As time passed I got more involved in construction which was able to support my wife continuing her education. When we had children it made more sense financially for me to be a stay at home dad. During this time I started painting with the children and we had a blast. I ended up running into an old art teacher of mine Mandy Howe at a fundraiser and I showed her pictures of paintings I was working on. She told me to come to DeBlois Gallery where she was a member and do a show. So I did a guest show and then became a member myself. It’s been a fun couple years learning the ins and outs of the art world.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m an artist in Newport Rhode Island. I paint with acrylics and also enjoy incorporating epoxy to add depth to some works. I’m a naturalist at heart so that is reflected in my work. I enjoy immersing myself in nature and try my best to recreate that feeling on canvas. I have twenty plus years in the construction industry and that had definitely has an influence on my art. The use of epoxy came from my experience with its use in construction. I also build my own frames. A frame can drastically effect the feeling of a painting and it’s another piece of the puzzle that’s fun to put together.

One of the prouder moments in my art career started with a painting I made called Rocky Shore. It was a painting of wet rocks with an epoxy wave rolling up from the bottom. That one sold as soon as I posted a pic of it on social media. So I made Rocky shore #2 to put in the show that month. That was purchased by a fellow artist in the show with me. Then another artist commissioned a third. This became a reoccurring series with the the latest in that style Atocha Gold just one first place in a juried show at DeBlois Gallery.

Have you ever had to pivot?

So after 20+ years in construction my role became stay at home dad. I would still fit in jobs here and there but my focus was at home. While at home with the kids I got back in touch with my creative side and started to develop my own style in painting. Around this time I developed a back problem with a bulging disk that required surgery. This meant less side construction jobs. The silver lining was more time was spent on art. It wasn’t an easy time in my life but being able to express myself artistically helped drastically. Now with my back healed and kids in school I work on finding a balance between art and construction.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I’m still fairly small in social media but I see it growing almost every day. As an artists I see it as painting a picture. Every picture tells a story. This is what people will be able to read into who you are and what you are about. Definitely post pictures of your work but also post pictures of your lifestyle. The exciting and the mundane, hell even some failures. You want people to fall in love with your work but I think it’s great for people to relate to you personally as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.bnicholaswilliams.com
• Instagram: b.n.williamspainting
• Facebook: Nick Williams

Image Credits
Peter Silvia Photography