Northern Irish artist surrounds vehicle in blissful state (7)
I believe the answer is:
nirvana
'blissful state' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'northern irish artist surrounds vehicle' is the wordplay.
'northern' becomes 'n' (abbreviation e.g. N. Ireland).
'irish' becomes 'i' (this could be a standard abbreviation of which I'm unaware).
'artist' becomes 'RA' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'surrounds' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'vehicle' becomes 'van' (type of vehicle).
'ra' placed around 'van' is 'rvana'.
'n'+'i'+'rvana'='NIRVANA'
'in' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for nirvana that I've seen before include "The Buddhist's version of Paradise" , "Ultimate tranquil state" , "Hindu or Buddhist blissful meditative state" , "State of perfect happiness" , "Buddhist state of bliss; enlightenment" .)