Nicola Wilks

Free from the constraints of formal fine art training, I spread an unusually wide net for inspiration. The result - an apparently crazy diversity of subjects and styles - is simply my life; an expression of all its moods, tones and textures.

Some less usual inspiration comes from my work in in design & decorative arts, from not only collections of fine art, but also the detail of the art of artisan makers & craftsmen. The etched, engraved & embossed work of silver smiths, the tooling of leather workers, decorative paint finishes from murals to furniture to fresco... ceramic  decoration & glazes, the aesthetic and structure of architecture & furniture, the gilder, the glass engraver...

I live & work now in the West of Scotland & feel closer to the much loved work of artists from the North, such as the architectural paintings & landscapes of DY Cameron, & the flower paintings of his sister Catherine Cameron.   The sublime watercolours of Arthur Melville (which were introduced to me by Hugh Buchanan, Edinburgh’s very successful architectural watercolourist , with whom I have had 2 tutorials).   The still life paintings of the Scottish Colourists – particularly the interiors of Cadell...    The Glasgow Boys,   Joan Eardley....   There is no shortage of influence, even without going back further, or wider.

I work in oil on various supports, often chosen for the subject matter – a smoother canvas for a glazed subject, & a more coarse texture so that brush strokes express a fabric or other material, gesso  on panel for architectural paintings.

In watercolour, I paint on papers of character, often hand-made, both fine & rustic.   I sell most work directly, but have also sold through the Aberdona Gallery (at the Affordable Art Fair in London), Anthony Wood & the Tighnabruaich Gallery