Nicola Watson Three-Day Show

Nicola Watson is inspired by the seascapes and landscapes where she draws with mixed media. Then in the studio she uses these studies to inspire oil paintings on paper and canvas.

Nicola has drawn and painted throughout her life. She grew up on a hilly sheep farm in the Peak District, where her connection to the land provided both solace and inspiration.

During her art degree, Nicola became interested in the landscape’s ability to create different atmospheres: open moors, protective boulders, dark caves, and light glimpsed through trees. She began exploring how these qualities could be conveyed through her work.

Nicola has always enjoyed being in the landscape and responding to it, but often found its scale overwhelming until she began focusing on specific areas. Spending longer periods studying a single place allowed her to absorb its particular characteristics through her senses, helping her to form a deeper connection and respond more fully through her work.

Over several years, she has created a number of series inspired by views from a high point in the dunes overlooking a Northumberland beach. She has also produced a body of work following a residency in the Algarve, Portugal, focusing on the region’s parched and arid landscape.