[1] From a young age, he was interested in painting and the fine arts, and in the POW camp, he started making portraits.
Friends helped him attend St. John's Wood School of Art in London and afterwards, urged him to immigrate to Canada.
[4] From 1925 on, he preferred to record his portraits in pastel because they were portable, and easier to obtain than oils in Canada at that time.
Sonia was born in 1912 in Russia and was the daughter of Colonel Orest Dournovo and Alexandra Berdiaeff, who had immigrated to Canada after the Russian Revolution.
Nicholas and Sonia decided to settle in Calgary, where they made their living painting portraits of children.