Frome based artist Nicky Knowles presents a series of work that includes small bee illustations and large bird portraits. Both striking and delicate, this collection of drawings in charcol, pen and ink have been inspired by the wildlife found in Nicky’s garden where she works from her studio. 

Nicky Knowles is well established on the UK art scene with her large paintings and collages that are regularly shown across the UK and Europe and are held in collections worldwide. However, the public rarely gets to see her delicate illustrations, which she works on between exhibitions as commissions for books, album covers and charities.

“My large gallery work, the paintings and collages, are exciting to make but I tend to work in series which fills my studio space. These works are often intense as I’m always working towards an exhibition or a commission. When a body of paintings or collages go out, it is wonderful to return to an empty studio at the bottom of my garden and get back to basics and this always involves drawing. My husband and I bought three disused plots behind our house nine years ago and started to transform the jungle of brambles and large areas of concrete into an edible garden full of wild flowers, herbs and fruit trees hoping to attract the wildlife. It is this beautiful, ever changing micro world at the back of our house which has inspired these drawings from the birds to the bees, the flies and the dragonflies”.

Nicky is also currently illustrating her own herbal cook book, completing a series of drawings for Somerset Wildlife Trust as well as donating a series of four bird portraits to Frome’s local arts charities Rook Lane, Merlin Theatre, Black Swan Arts and Jackdaws Music Trust, to help raise funds for creative youth activities. These drawings will be on show during the 2018 Frome Festival.