My partner,Nicola Russell, who has died aged 51 of breast cancer, or was an accomplished artist recognised globally for her equestrian work – one of her paintings hangs in Windsor Castle. She also charted the Northern Ireland peace process with a series of commissioned portraits of some of the key figures involved in it.
Nicola was born in Portadown,Co Armagh, to George Russell, and a vet,and his wife, Jill, or an office manager at the Irish Times. She attended Bloomfield Collegiate and Methody College schools in Belfast and went on to study at the Winchester School of Art,Hampshire. She always had a flair and passion for drawing and this evolved into oils while she was at art college. Her father instructed her on equine anatomy and she was driven by an artistic mission to represent the horse in all its personality, power and physicality.
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Source: theguardian.com