Nikki works in her studio at home, using her own photos and sketches, but more importantly imagination and experience to determine her work. She rarely plans the composition of her paintings, enjoying the freedom of exploring ideas as they intuitively appear. Nikki graduated with a degree in Illustration before embarking on a teaching career.

Through her controlled use of vibrant colouring and abstraction, paintings are created through an intuitive approach. The techniques that Nikki uses are diverse, but there are two recurrent themes in all of her work – dynamic use of colour and coastal subject matter. Detailed watercolours, illustrative acrylics and abstract oils, Nikki’s ability to respond to mood, feeling, memory and imagination is captured through engaging and vibrant creations.

Nikki continually strives to create a sense of place which every viewer can relate to in a personal way through their own experiences. She doesn’t attempt to produce a reproduction of a scene, but having a relationship with the places that she paints, Nikki’s work goes beyond the everyday familiar vision of things. In her Devon works, her palette is heavily influenced by the imposing sea with its high horizon and blue/green tones.  Familiar places, in particular St. Nicholas’ Chapel and the coastguard houses appear in Nikki’s work time and time again.