A Florida kid, a firefighter, a surfer, a nurse — and an artist through all of it.

Creativity found me early. As a kid I retreated into drawing and imagination the way others retreated into sports or TV — it was my sanctuary, my escape, and it never left me.

I first stood up on a surfboard at eleven years old and the ocean has had a hold on me ever since. Weekends at Cocoa Beach, surf trips to Costa Rica, chasing waves wherever life allowed — that love of the ocean and surfing became the heartbeat of my work.

In 2006 I joined Brevard County Fire Rescue, spending a decade as a Firefighter/EMT and Paramedic. It was the greatest job in the world — and one of the hardest. Two major surgeries before 30 forced me off my feet and into a different kind of fight.

That’s when art became survival. Homebound and recovering from spinal surgery, I painted every single day. The paintings were rough, but the act of creating was the only thing keeping me sane. I knocked down a wall, built a studio, and never looked back.

I needed it. I had to.

I left the fire department in 2017, moved to the beach, started a family, and went back to school for nursing. Then COVID hit — and working in an emergency department during a pandemic broke something open in me. The studio became my pressure valve. I finished nursing school, welcomed my second son, and kept painting through all of it.

Today I work full time as a registered nurse specializing in cardiology. I create in the early hours of the morning and late at night, after the kids are down, chasing the same feeling I found in that back bedroom in Winter Park — the one where everything else fades away and it’s just me and the work.

Creativity has planted a seed so deep inside me that the roots have grown into every cell in my body… and so it goes on.

— Nick Seyler