Nicola Woodcock
Originally from the UK, Nicola Woodcock is now a Sydney based artist working from her studio on the edge of the Ku Ring Gai National Park. Largely self-taught, she has been a finalist in the National Emerging Art Prize, The York Botanic Art Prize, and the Northern Beaches Art Prize. Working with oil pastel Nicola focuses on native flora and landscape with local bushwalking tracks offering abundant inspiration on the doorstep. The use of oil pastel encourages a bold and decisive application of the medium resulting in vibrant stylised forms describing the timeless and chaotic mass of the Australian landscape.
Rather than working directly from life like I would with a still life arrangement, my landscape pieces take form in my studio using photos from bush walks for reference. As the work progresses I use memory and intuition to develop a language to describe the mass of the Australian bush. Working in oil pastel means I don’t erase mistakes or overlay, preferring simply to place pure colour side by side. This forces me to work intuitively and confidently, to embrace the first marks and to eliminate overworking. The result is authentic and immediate. For this small body of work I looked to my local bush walks in the Ku Ring Gai National Park which offer glimpses of the Hawkesbury and Pittwater from high escarpments. Recent road trips to the Snowy Mountains and to The Warrumbungles opened me to some of the incredibly diverse landscapes within striking distance of home.
TEN Group Exhibition, August 2024.
Nicola Woodcock, The Corner Store Gallery