Nathan’s art
Nathan’s drawings are available on Etsy by searching “Indianinkblot” on the e-commerce site.
Nathan Sexton spends most days in his guest room-turned-art studio, sitting at a wooden desk in the beige room with perfect lighting. As cancer and its invasive treatment slowly chip away at the local man’s mind and body, Sexton, 31, has found solace in this room in his Signal Mountain home drawing ink-based nature portraits, taking control of the parts of his life he still can.
Original drawings hang on the walls alongside family photos – he and his wife, Elizabeth, on vacation in Paris; him crossing the finish line of a race, his young son following behind, eagerly walking in his father’s footsteps. A photo of the couple on their wedding day sits on a shelf near the room’s entrance. On the shelf above sits a panda he drew for his wife. Some of his work and the prints are stacked in the closet, ready to be sold or held onto for keepsakes. So far, the Knoxville native has sold 290 pieces.
Before the spring, Nathan had never considered himself an artist. He had not sold a piece. In fact, he had never painted a piece in his adult life.
“This has been really surprising,” Elizabeth said.