Nicola in her studio		Jumping in, 2006

How would you describe your work?                                      
When I'm asked to describe my work I always struggle to find a succinct label, but in general my paintings are figurative, narrative, sometimes slightly surreal, often with a darkish edge of humour.

What present or past artists do you admire?

Don Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuniga  by Francisco Goya (1846-1828)		Children's Games (detail) by  Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1515-69)

I look at a huge range of artists work, past and present, but always come back again and again to my 'A list' of Goya for dark originality, Breughel for casual irreverence and paintings rich with small incidents, Matisse for the pure exhilaration of painting and Bonnard for being able to make the most beautiful and sumptuous work out of often not much more than a bowl of cherries on a tablecloth and the ghost of a girl.   

Having said that, while I was at art school, I was devoted to the German Expressionists; Heckel, Schmidt-Rotluff, Nolde and their ability to lavish colour on a painting, while keeping the result under control.  On a more restrained and English level I look at the work of Ivon Hitchens, Christopher Wood and Eric Ravilious. My favourite painting is a small Bosch in the Louvre; The Ship of Fools.

Where do you get ideas?
Ideas for paintings arrive from lots of different sources: pure imagination, reading, travelling ( I grew up in Malaysia and still try to travel as much as possible for new perspectives and imagery), and sometimes (for example in my painting ; Dog Choosing a Toy in a Charity Shop from simple observation, people and things going on around me at home in Cornwall.  When I get stuck for ideas I raid my large collection of grubby little sketchbooks in which I scribble drawings or notes of anything that catches my eye.

Do you rely mostly on individual commissions or do you tend to paint what you want and then sell the paintings afterwards?
I avoid commissions as much as possible and tend to produce a body of loosely related work for exhibition every eighteen months or so.

What would you say to any other artist who may be considering placing their work with BAL?
I've enjoyed the experience of placing my images with BAL - it's an opportunity to benefit from work which would otherwise be sold once and gone. With BAL it feels as if the images are setting off on an independent life of their own! 

                   
What do you think about Artist's Resale Right? Good/ bad idea? How will it benefit you as an artist?
I fully approve of the artist's resale right if only for the fact that it provides  a small prod or reminder or acknowledgement that behind every contemporary painting exchanging hands there is an artist with a mortgage to pay.

Are you working on any new projects? Please tell us about them.
I'm currently working on a series of paintings based on the lesser known of Aesop's Fables. These were a revelation to me when I first came across them, beyond the well known and over familiar stories like The Hare and The Tortoise, there are some fantastic tales, funny and dark - fantastic imagery to launch paintings!

To find out more about the ACS and Artist’s Resale Rights please contact Jessica Tier at The Bridgeman Art Library on 0207 908 1604