Nicola Byron paints away - Putting her heart into what she loves

For more than a decade, Nicola Byron has been following her heart by being an artist. It's a job that demands focus and attention to every detail, but Byron says she has what it takes.

"It's hard work, it's very tedious and you have to have a lot of patience. It's trial and error, you have to step back, take a look, ensure it works, if it doesn't work, you start again. It's just years of doing good Jamaican art. Every day in the art world you learn, and you just practise and practise and try to be better at it."

Byron, who says she has been painting since she was about 10 years old, is one of the artists involved in the painting of a mural on The Gleaner's building at North Street in Kingston. She told THE STAR that she is enjoying the assignment.

"It's amazing to be part of this. I'll need to step back and look at it," she said while wiping sweat from her face.

Before taking on art professionally, the Campion College past student said she was surrounded by art on a daily basis.

"I did something totally different. I worked in the tourism industry, doing hospitality, and then my best friend and I, we started to go into business and we ended up opening a framing store. We framed art, certificates and school diplomas and everything that can be framed. So I got to meet a lot of artists, and it just evolved from there. Now, I've been doing art for 12 years. This is just my hobby, something that I enjoy doing, but it works hand in hand with my business because I do interior decorating," she said.

Currently she's happy with her growth as an artist, and is working to better her craft.

"My art is not appreciated as yet. Maybe it will be after this," she said while letting out a big laugh.

"It is, it is, I'm teasing, it is. It's appreciated, just nowhere near the masters. There are some really well-known established Jamaican artists. Will I ever get there? I don't know, but I'm not trying to focus on that. I'm just painting and putting my heart into what I love. That's all I really care about. "