Born in 1977, Nikki grew up in the leafy North Shore suburb of St Ives in Sydney, Australia.
At age 10, she spent a year at The International School in Bali. Both cultural and artistic elements of this unique place, the vibrant colours and experience of the spirited traditional dances of the people, proved great inspiration for her developing life as a painter.
Travelling extensively, both as a child and an adult, Nikki draws from her worldly vision and rustic exposure of far, remote lands to bring life to her art. She uses her large collection of photography as reference as well as imagery from her imagination, to reveal vast spaciousness in her canvases, often dominated by dramatic skies that can fill most of the picture and suffused with both mystical and natural elements. Realistic landscapes that cross over to an enticing make-believe world. We are drawn in via the realism and welcoming, warm open spaces to a finer mesmerising detail of fanciful objects.
Surrealism, the unconscious mind and the surrealist painters Rene Magritte and Salvador Dali have been influential to Nikki from a very young age.
In 1998, Nikki completed a Diploma in Visual Communications at The University of Technology in Sydney but realised that she was gaining more knowledge and inspiration artistically by continuing her solo adventures abroad.
She found a temporary home in Kamari on the small volcanic island of Santorini, Greece. Here she worked as a masseuse on the beach which allowed her to pursue and explore her artistic character, sometimes writing poetry and working as a caricaturist on the busy streets by night.
This period in Greece spanned over seven years and many of her paintings today assume mythical undertones and dreamlike imagery.
More recently, a single mother to three children, she is settled in the idyllic suburb of Avalon Beach on the northern outskirts of Sydney. She surfs most days and draws inspiration from the beauty that surrounds her on the water. These paintings are much more restrained, allowing the large empty white space around them to draw the viewer into the meticulous fine detail and suffuses a modern sophisticated charm into the monochromatic seascapes. They are reflective of the historical sepia tone photographs that we often see in beachside towns.
She now works as a full time artist in her studio and on location, focusing on both personal works and commissioned paintings and murals. She uses mainly traditional methods of oil on canvas but her work is varied in both technique and medium. Realism is her specialty but she also enjoys the freedom of abstract expression.
She plans to reside in her little piece of paradise and continue to create and design evocative works of visual beauty and to exhibit her work locally within her community. Works which can be enjoyed by all, as we try harder than ever to connect with each other, nature and our ever changing but always utterly, amazing world.