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Aviation
art prints of the United States Air force by leading aviation artist
Nicolas Trudgian. Aviation art prints available from Cranston Fine Arts.
Having graduated from art college,
Nicolas Trudgian spent many years as a professional illustrator before
turning to a career in fine art painting. His crisp style of realism,
attention to detail, compositional skills and bright use of colours,
immediately found favour with collectors and demand for his original work
soared on both sides of the Atlantic. Today, more than a decade after
becoming a fine art painter, Nicolas Trudgian is firmly established within
a tiny, elite group of aviation artists whose works are genuinely
collected world-wide. When he paints an aircraft you
can be sure he has researched it in every detail and when he puts it over
a particular airfield, the chances are he has paid it a recent visit. Even
when he paints a sunset over a tropical island, or mist hanging over a
valley in China, most probably he has seen it with his own eyes.
Nick was born and raised in the
seafaring city of Plymouth, the port from which the Pilgrim Fathers set
sail in 1620, and where Sir Francis Drake played bowls while awaiting the
Spanish Armada. Growing up in a house close to the railway station within
a busy military city, the harbour always teeming with naval vessels and
the skies above resonating with the sounds of naval aircraft, it was not
at all surprising the young Nick became fascinated with trains, boats and
aircraft. It was from his father, himself a
talented artist, that Nick acquired his love of drawing and surrounded by
so much that was inspiring, there was never a shortage of ideas for
pictures. His talent began to show at an early age and although he did
well enough at school, he always spent a disproportionate amount of time
drawing. People talked about him becoming a Naval officer or an architect
but in 1975 Nick's mind was made up. When he told his careers teacher he
wanted to go to art school the man said, 'Now come on, what do you really
want to do?"
After leaving school Nick began a
one-year foundation course at the Plymouth College of Art. Now armed with
an impressive portfolio containing paintings of jet aircraft, trains, even
wildlife, he was immediately accepted at every college he applied to join.
He chose a course at the Falmouth College of Art in Cornwall specialising
in technical illustration and paintings of machines and vehicles for
industry. It was perfect for Nick, and he was to become one of the star
pupils. One of the lecturers commented at the time: "Every college
needs someone with a talent like Nick to raise the standards sky high; he
carried all the other students along with him, and created an effect which
will last for years to come." Two weeks after leaving art college
Nick blew every penny he had on a trip to South Africa to ride the great
steam trains across the desert, sketching them at every opportunity.
Returning to England, in best traditions
of all young artists, he struggled to make a living. Paintings by an
unknown artist didn't fetch much despite the painstaking effort and time
Nick put into each work, so when the college he had recently left offered
him a job as a lecturer, he jumped at the chance. The money was good and
he discovered that he really enjoyed teaching. Throughout
the 1970s Nick was much involved with a railway preservation society near
Plymouth and it was through the railway society that he had his first
pictures reproduced as prints. But Nick felt he needed to advance his
career and in summer 1985 Nick moved away from Cornwall to join an
energetic new design studio in Wiltshire. Here he painted detailed artwork
for many major companies including Rolls Royce, General Motors, Volvo
Trucks, Alfa Romeo and, to his delight, the aviation and defence
industries. He remembers the job as exciting though stressful, often
requiring him to work right through the night to meet a client's deadline.
Here he learned to be disciplined and fast.
Towards the end of the 1980's Nick had
the chance to work for the Military Gallery. This was the break that for
years he had been striving towards and with typical enthusiasm, flung
himself into his new role. After completing a series of aviation posters,
including a gigantic painting to commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary
of the Royal Air Force, Nick's first aviation scene to be published as a
limited edition was launched by the Military Gallery in 1991. Despite the
fact he was unknown in the field, it was an immediate success. Over
the past decade Nick has earned a special reputation for giving those who
love his work much more than just aircraft in his paintings. He goes to
enormous lengths with his backgrounds, filling them with interesting and
accurate detail, all designed to help give the aircraft in his paintings a
tremendous sense of location and purpose. His landscapes are quite
breathtaking and his buildings demonstrate an uncanny knowledge of
perspective but it is the hardware in his paintings which are most
striking. Whether it is an aircraft, tank, petrol bowser, or tractor, Nick
brings it to life with all the inordinate skill of a truly accomplished
fine art painter. A prodigious researcher,
Nick travels extensively in his constant quest for information and fresh
ideas. He has visited India, China, South Africa, South America, the
Caribbean and travels regularly to the United States and Canada. He likes
nothing better than to be out and about with sketchbook at the ready and
if there is an old steam train in the vicinity, well that's a bonus! |
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Mustang Mayhem by Nicolas Trudgian.
As Red Dog Norleys P-51D screams across the field at hangar height with his squadrons Mustangs fanned out behind him, the 4th Fighter Group pilots jink through the intense groundfire wreaking havoc on the ground. In this, its final major mission of the war, the group destroyed no fewer than 105 enemy aircraft in two blishtering airfield attacks.
Signed limited edition of 600 prints. Paper size 34 inches x 23 inches (86cm x 58cm). Price £160.00 Signed by Captain Richard Braley, Major General Carroll W McColpin and Colonel Steve N Pisanos, in addition to the artist.
Limited edition of 50 artist proofs. Paper size 34 inches x 23 inches (86cm x 58cm). Price £200.00 Signed by Captain Richard Braley, Major General Carroll W McColpin and Colonel Steve N Pisanos, in addition to the artist.
Limited edition of 100 artists special reserve edition prints. Paper size 34 inches x 23 inches (86cm x 58cm). Price £115.00
ITEM CODE DHM2053
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First Strike on Berlin by Nicolas Trudgian.
The first successful daylight raid on Berlin. Nicolas Trudgians painting relives the fearsome aerial combat on March 6, 1944, as B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 100th B.G. are attacked. Screaming in head-on, Fw190s of II./JG I charge into the bomber stream. With throttles wide open, 56th Fighter Group P-47 Thunderbolts come hurtling down to intercept. B-17 gunners are working overtime, the air is full of cordite, smoke, jagged pieces of flying metal and hot lead. We are in the midst of one of the fiercest aerial battles of the war.
Signed limited edition of 600 prints. Paper size 35 inches x 24 inches (89cm x 61cm). Price £160.00 Signed by Colonel Morton Magoffin, Captain C B Red Harper and First Lieutenant Ed McKay, in addition to the artist.
Limited edition of 60 artist proofs. Paper size 35 inches x 24 inches (89cm x 61cm). Price £170.00 Signed by Colonel Morton Magoffin, Captain C B Red Harper and First Lieutenant Ed McKay, in addition to the artist.
Limited edition of publishers proofs. Paper size 35 inches x 24 inches (89cm x 61cm). Price £170.00 Signed by Colonel Morton Magoffin, Captain C B Red Harper and First Lieutenant Ed McKay, in addition to the artist.
Limited edition of 60 artist special reserve prints, signed by the artist only. Paper size 35 inches x 24 inches (89cm x 61cm). Price £125.00
ITEM CODE DHM2057
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| Mustang Mayhem by Nicholas Trudgian
A limited edition featuring
the P-51 Mustangs of the 4th Fighter Group in action over Gablingen
airfield, Bavaria, 1945.
Of all the 4th Fighter Group's many famous actions in World War II, it
saved one of the most remarkable till last. In its final major mission of
the war on 16 April, 1945, in two blistering airfield attacks, its pilots
destroyed no fewer than 105 enemy aircraft.
While "A" Group attacked airfields in the region of Prague,
"B" Group consisting of the 334th Squadron led by Major 'Red
Dog' Norley, devastated the Luftwaffe base at Gablingen in 40 minutes of
continuous strafing. That same day other 8th Air Force fighter groups
attacked Luftwaffe airfields all over Germany, claiming a total of 752
aircraft destroyed. The Luftwaffe never recovered from this terrible and
devastating blow.
Nicolas Trudgian's new limited edition re-lives that momentous aerial
assault in graphic detail with a superbly realistic view of the
snow-covered Gablingen airfield in Bavaria. As 'Red Dog' Norley's P-51D
screams across the field at hangar height with his squadron's Mustangs
fanned out behind him, the 4th Fighter Group pilots jink through the
intense groundfire wreaking havoc on the ground.
In the foreground a couple of brave Fw190 pilots make a gallant attempt
to get airborne while an assortment of Luftwaffe aircraft - Me262s,
Me410s, Ju88s, Stukas and Fw190s - come under fire. Ground personnel take
cover as best they can. In the distance hangars and aircraft are on fire
and a fuel dump has exploded.
The painting is packed with action and all the accurate detail for
which this talented artist has become so well known. In addition to the
334th's P-51s, there are over twenty aircraft visible on the ground, and
the remains of others having been destroyed in earlier attacks.
With each print in the edition individually signed by World War veteran
P-51 Aces, Mustang Mayhem is surely one of the finest collector pieces
issued and available today. |
| FIRST STRIKE ON BERLIN by Nicholas Trudgian
"No bomb shall fall on German soil"
was the brash claim made by Reichmarshal Hermann Göring before the start
of World War II.
A couple of years into the war the Luftwaffe's boastful commander
up-dated his arrogant statement with "If enemy bombers ever appear
over Berlin you can call me Meier". On March 6, 1944 they called him
Meier. The German supremo would have kept his head well down on that day,
for it was the day the Eighth Air Force arrived overhead the German
capital.
Berlin - Big B to the bomber crews - was protected by the cream of the
Luftwaffe, and by thousands of anti-aircraft batteries strategically
positioned around the city. To approach Berlin from the air was the bomber
pilots nightmare. Of the 700 bombers that set out that historic day, 69
would not return; but the B-17 gunners and their escort fighters gave as
good as they got.
On that first successful daylight raid, and on the many missions to
Berlin that followed, losses were high, but the daytime bomber strikes
against the heart of Nazi Germany had an incalculable effect on enemy
morale, to say nothing of the disruption to the German war machine. They
did more: they signalled to Göring and his Führer that their fate, and
that of the Third Reich, was sealed; and the 140,000 USAAF aircrew who
flew the torturous attacks to Berlin earned themselves a special place
among those who have endeavoured against tyranny.
Nicolas Trudgian's new painting relives the fearsome aerial combat on
March 6, 1944, as B-17 Flying Fortresses are attacked en-route for Berlin.
Screaming in head-on, Fw190s of II./JG I based at Stormede, charge into
the bomber stream. With throttles wide open, 56th Fighter Group P-47
Thunderbolts come hurtling down to intercept. B-17 gunners are working
overtime; the air is full of cordite, smoke, jagged pieces of flying metal
and hot lead. We are in the midst of one of the fiercest aerial battles of
the war.
In the foreground Lucky Lee survives the first onslaught, but her luck
won't hold today. Our Girl Sal to the right of the picture will fare
better - she will be the only 100th BG aircraft to make it back to her
home base from this epic raid.
Limited edition prints are signed by bomber and fighter pilots who flew
the Berlin raids more than half a century ago. |
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