Nicholas Poullis
Artist Illustrator Tutor Author
"Watercolour painting is like playing a single beautiful instrument, Nick has tuned his instrument to express the beauty of nature to a rare degree"
Ken Howard OBE RA
"Nicholas's watercolours delight and inspire"
Mike Chaplin Royal Watercolour Society and TV's Watercolour Challenge
Nicholas Poullis also known as Le Peintre de Pézenas (the Painter of Pézenas) paints watercolours directly from life with a distinct and personal style.
Originally from England, in 2000, he moved near Pézenas, in Southern France, where he has become established.
Born 1974, Nicholas Poullis has been a professional artist since leaving the University of East Anglia gaining a BA(Hons) illustration. He is a previous Baker Tilly Award winner at the Royal Watercolour Society, where he has often shown his work. He has exhibited in a number of the London Societies including the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, the Royal Society of British Artists, the Sunday Times Watercolour competition and the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists.
Nicholas is well established in the Languedoc where he has previously been an Official Painter to the Office de Tourism Val d’Hérault (2016 & 2017) and has published several popular illustrated books on the region.
In 2019 a wine, Le Peintre de Pézenas, was named after him.
Nicholas has work included in the collections of St Johns College, Cambridge University, Baker Tilly Chartered accountants, senior officers of the Royal Air Force, The Royal Automobile Club, the Office de Tourisme of Pezenas and many private collections.
Nicholas illustrated Hugh Montgomery's award winning classic children's book The Voyage of the Arctic Tern published by Walker books in the UK, USA and Australia. Nicholas co-authored and illustrated Contemporary Watercolors, published Walter Foster 2012.
He has been a contributing author to the leading practical art magazine, The Artist, for over fifteen years. He has co-authored for Walter Foster and Winsor & Newton on various aspects of watercolour and working from life, which is his speciality.
He has won a number of awards while competing in the painting in the streets art competitions.
Nicholas has held major exhibitions at the l'Hôtel des Barons de Lacoste, in Pézenas.
His exhibitions are some of the most successful ever held by the Mirondela dels Arts, Pézenas, since its founding over fifty years ago and have attracted thousands of visitors.
In September 2014 Nicholas held a successful solo exhibition at the RAC in Pall Mall. Click on Nicholas Poullis at the Royal Automobile Club to see pictures.
Always painting on site has meant that he has travelled extensively throughout Europe while exploring subject matter. He produced work on the route and cyclists of the Tour de France and also on the theme of places of cultural significance across the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy and southern France.
