Where the Gold Hills Are Painting

Ronald Nicholas Spaulding, known as Nicky to his family and close friends, is a young Jamaican whose achievements include a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering and a master of science in biomedical engineering. Both degrees were earned at the University of Miami. In addition, by the age of fifteen, Nicky was already certified in music for both the piano and the violin by the Royal Schools of Music in London. While Nicky has always had interest in art, it was relegated to the category of a favorite hobby. At the age of thirteen, while attending Wolmer’s Boys School, Nicky’s art teacher, Mrs. Hope Thomas Wheeler, played a recorded piano and violin concerto and instructed the class to paint what they felt. For young Nicky, whose musical ability was already attested to, this proved to be a catalyst, the link between his first love, music, and this new form of expression, visual art. During his continuing education, Nicky also found that painting to music had a very calming effect on him. Nicky has since studied at the Cultural Training Center in Kingston, Jamaica and at various workshops throughout the United States. Over the years, Nicky’s ability and his love of art has intensified. Whereas before he painted for recreation, giving most of his works as gifts, the demand for his work has encouraged him to paint for business. More and more, he is commissioned to do specific pieces for monetary remuneration