Unusual commission for Banbury area artist for Tokyo Olympics equestrian cross country course

The photo shows the course building team in Tokyo on top of one Nigel Fletcher's paintings, including his son Carl shown sixth from the right.

Nigel Fletcher, an artist from Sibford Ferris, created five large impressive paintings of Mount Fuji for the equestrian competition. He got to see the finished product in use on the course on Sunday.

He said: "I saw it on the BBC and Discovery Chanel it was quite a spectacular view and the most popular fence on the course."

Nigel's son, Carl, serves as one of the lead course builders for the Olympic Equestrian event. It was through his son's work this artistic opportunity occurred.

Banbury area artist - Nigel Fletcher - was commissioned to complete five large paintings for the Tokyo OlympicsEquestrian Cross Country course.

He added: "He works all over the world building these courses and asked if I wanted to do some paintings for one of the fences.

"In early 2020 I was asked whether I would be prepared to paint some pictures for the Tokyo Olympics Cross Country Course. I wasn’t sure at that time what was required, but agreed anyway, well you would wouldn’t you!

"I wasn't sure what exactly would be required, and was surprised to find they wanted five - 6 foot by 5 foot panels depicting Mt Fuji, as Mt Fuji would be in the distant background."

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He added: "I have been a professional artist for many years and usually paint small landscapes in oil and often paint outside with my easel or in the studio, which is on a small farm near Banbury.

"For this commission I couldn't use the easel or work in the studio, so I re-located into the big barn at the farm and propped up the panels on some hay bales and set to work. I had to use house decorators brushes instead of my usual brushes to get the coverage I needed.

"Once the paintings were finished and dry we carefully wrapped them and put them into the shipping container, which was then shipped to Japan

"It was a very exciting commission to work on and very different from my usual landscape paintings of the scenery around the Cotswolds.

"The last large commission I was asked to do was the big mural at Banbury railway station in 2001."

For more information about the local Banbury artist Nigel Fletcher see his website here: http://nigelfletcher.co.uk/