Life, just like art, wouldn’t be much fun if it didn’t involve some risks.

That’s the philosophy of UK based painter Nick Sargent.

Mr Sargent will be on Island next weekend (August 23 and 24) leading a workshop with local artist Charles Zuill, called The Unconventional Canvas.

Participants will be asked to explore contemporary approaches to working the surface of the canvas.

They might even get a peak at some of Mr Sargent’s work, which involves oil paint on embroidered canvas — a technique which gives each piece a textural and three-dimensional quality.

Mr Sargent is no stranger to taking chances.

As a young person his first degree was in three-dimensional design and he worked as a theatre designer in the UK for 15 years.

He described himself as a “Sunday painter”, someone who would only paint in his spare time during the weekends.

But then one day he decided he had to follow his passion and leave his job in the theatre world.

The last production he did involved designing costumes for the Welsh National Opera.

“At that point my desire to paint started taking over and I thought ‘This is something more important to me than having a job in the traditional sense’,” he said.

He went back to school to study painting full time and received a Masters in Fine Arts.

He managed to keep at his craft by juggling odd jobs in bars and at shops; he is currently working in a church and paints in the morning and evening.

Mr Sargent said: “None of my jobs were particularly high end, but they gave me time to paint. I also led the occasional workshop at the Adult Education Department and the National Gallery of Scotland.

“In addition to that I was also able to secure a couple of residencies, which helped me to keep at it. Since then it has continued to gather pace.”

The artist has had four paintings displayed in the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

Last April, he had a solo show at the European Commission and he is looking forward to having a one-month residency in France, thanks to a private collector.

He told The Royal Gazette: “My career has been going well year over year.

“And now at the ripe old age of 52, I am doing what I really should have done the first time. I guess it goes to show you don’t ever really know until you take a risk.”

Mr Sargent was given the chance to come to the Island, thanks to Bermuda-based Helen McIntosh.

She invited him to host a workshop on behalf of The Arts Project, a fledgling arts initiative with a focus on St George’s.

Its aim is to bring visiting artists from the US, Britain and Africa to the Island to lead workshops. Not just intended for local artists, organisers are hoping these sessions will attract tourists to the Island, looking for a cultural holiday.

Mr Sargent said he hopes next weekend’s workshop will help to change people’s view of the creative process and see their work with new eyes.

“I would like to think it will bring a fresh approach to their work,” he said. “Maybe they might want to try something different like working with sculpture or textures or making things in a different way.

“Maybe they will try a bigger brush or maybe they want to work with more or less colour.

“I just want them to leave with a new way of looking at and interpreting their paintings.”

In addition to the workshop, Mr Sargent is hoping to host a small exhibition of his works in St George’s.

For more information e-mail: artsatstgeorge@gmail.com.

Useful website: www.nicksargent.co.uk/