Jeff Nicholson said he knows when to put his colored pencil down — when his face gets too close to the paper.
Nicholson is a quadriplegic artist who draws with his mouth. He uses colored pencils and likes to keep them pin-point sharp. When the point gets worn down, his face gets too close to the paper and he knows it’s time for a break.
“I’ve always been a detail freak,” Nicholson said. “If it’s a landscape, you can see every blade of grass. Or if it’s an animal, you can see every hair.”
Rainere, creative arts manager at Imagine Children’s Museum, said she was blown away by Nicholson’s artwork when she first saw one of his landscapes. When she learned he drew with his mouth, her own mouth dropped.
“It was just beautiful and I’ve always appreciated realism when people who can do it, do a really good job,” said Rainere, who goes by just one name. “So when he rolled in with his cool wheelchair I was like, oh my gosh, and he said he painted with his mouth, I was just shocked.”
Rainere invited Nicholson to be her artist in action and he agreed. Nicholson will talk to kids and demonstrate his artwork as part of the Imagine Children’s Museum Guest Artist Series from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday in downtown Everett.
Rainere said having Nicholson present his art to children and their parents can help establish the notion that a person’s life can change in tragic ways, but it doesn’t have to end.
Rainere believes Nicholson also can help visitors learn not to focus on his disability but his talent.
“Here’s this incredible man who has this great gift and he’s being positive and out in the community and he’s proud of who he is and proud of his work … those are the kind of people we want to meet,” Rainere said.
For Nicholson, he’s somewhat practiced at speaking before groups of kids and isn’t thrown by all the questions they might ask. He’s used to talking about what happened to him.
When Nicholson was 22, he and his best friend went drinking. Nicholson knew he was too drunk to drive so he handed the keys over to his friend. He didn’t realize how drunk his friend was. His friend rolled the car. That was 1982 and Nicholson has been in a wheelchair ever since.
At 38, Nicholson decided to take up drawing. He remembered doing graphite drawing in junior high and how he enjoyed it. Then, online, he discovered some cool colored pencils. He bought a box of 100 different colors and he has never looked back at black and white.
Nicholson, now 48, spends his time on smaller canvases, about 10 by 12 inches, because his reach is so limited. He uses a cobbled-together drawing setup that involves an old hospital table bed with an oak top so he can move the table up and down.
He said it takes him hundreds of hours to draw a piece but, in the end, he likes what he sees.
“It’s every bit as good as a lot of able-bodied people can do,” Nicholson said proudly.
For his appearance at Imagine Children’s Museum, Nicholson will be working on a lighthouse drawing. He said he’s never done a portrait, but who knows. That could be his next project.
“My motto is if there’s a will there’s a way,” Nicholson said. “If you want to do something, you can tell yourself you can do it and you will. I wanted to draw and I knew I could draw anything.”
Reporter Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424 or goffredo@heraldnet.com
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
