James Nyika

Moat Guardian, Original Painting

2022

Artist Comments
"I wanted to create a painting using a layering technique that would highlight the prominence of the crumbling statues over the moat," shares artist James Nyika. "By bringing them forward from the background forest, the structures would project dominance in the composition. I was inspired by the natural layering that was visibly organic at the site."

About the Artist
Artist James Nyika paints the glowing atmosphere of cities across the world. As a child growing up in Kenya, he found art materials at the student bookshop and also borrowed just about every art history volume from the British Council library in Nairobi. "I checked out the same books over and over just to stare at the art, to try and understand how it was created," says James. With family encouragement to study engineering, James moved to the U.S. and immersed himself in science studies at Boston University. Several years after embarking on a tech career, he set a goal to create at least one painting a week, never throwing away any works and learning as much as possible in his off hours. Today, James still balances his full-time career designing large software systems with his prolific output as a painter. "Painting is a great antidote to the regularity of a computing profession and I really value it for the uncertainty that it brings - something frowned upon when writing code."

Words that describe this painting: Angkor Wat, statue, ruins, Cambodia, water, reflection, brick, water, clouds, building, architecture, travel, Asia, facade, watercolor, paper, impressionism, architecture, impressionism, travel, watercolor painting, brown

Moat Guardian
James Nyika
Watercolor painting on paper
Ready to frame
One-of-a-kind
Signed on front
2022
15 in. h x 22 in. w
0 lbs. 1 oz.