
Nicky Knill-Jones: Artist Biography

​Born in 1974, Nicky Knill Jones is a passionate artist whose work celebrates the dynamic interplay of light, colour, and the natural world. Through her photography and paintings, she captures the beauty and energy of ever-changing landscapes, focusing on the dramatic coastlines of Cornwall and Devon.
Fascinated by the sea, weather fronts, cloud formations, and expansive skies, Nicky's art reflects her deep connection to nature. Her work conveys the raw power and fleeting moments of the natural world, where bold, fresh, and instinctual brushstrokes bring her vision to life. Each painting is characterful, imbued with the emotion and vitality of her surroundings.
A graduate of Kingston University, where she studied Art, Nicky has been painting since her early years. Over time, she has honed her skills and developed a distinctive style, working both from her studio and en plein air, immersing herself in the landscapes she loves to portray.
With a keen eye for detail and a unique ability to convey movement and atmosphere, Nicky Knill Jones creates works that resonate deeply with her audience, offering a glimpse into the untamed beauty of the British coastline.
​
​
Future Exhibitions in 2025
2025 Terrace Gallery, Penryn 29th Oct-22nd Nov
2025 26th July - Salthouse Gallery, St. Ives. Cornwall
2025 12th April - Salthouse Gallery, St. Ives. Cornwall
​
Past Exhibitions
2024 Salthouse Gallery, St. Ives. Cornwall
2024 Berkeley Square Hotel, Bristol
2024 Salthouse Gallery, St. Ives. Cornwall
2023 Aubergine Art Gallery, Wimbledon
2023 Bocabar, Bristol
2023 Salthouse Gallery, St. Ives. Cornwall
2023 Salthouse Gallery, St. Ives. Cornwall
2022 Salthouse Gallery, St. Ives. Cornwall
2018 Adam Gallery , Bath
2015 D’ Artist Gallery, Singapore
2013 Beyond the Sea Gallery, Perranporth Gallery
2012 Sevenshed, Solo Exhibition, Bristol
2010 Padstow Gallery, Padstow
2010 2 Floors, Solo Exhibition, Carnaby street, London June
1996 Old Post Office, Group show, Kingston, London
Education
​2002: PGCE Art & DESIGN Exeter University. Exeter
1993–1996: BA (Hons) Multi Media. Kingston University. London
1992–1993: Art Foundation Course. Kingston University. London
​

Seascape and Landscape
CAPTURING THE WAVES.
Nicky Knill-Jones captures the wild Atlantic seaboard in Cornwall in full roaring swing. Focusing, as well she might, on the rugged, weather- beaten north Cornish coast, the artist captures the sheer weight, power, energy and movement of rolling Atlantic breakers. 'Porthcurno Energy', 'Waves Crashing' and 'Porthcurno Light' are speedily executed pictures that say it all. This subject-matter unleashes gestural and painterly handling with brush dipped into a credible and felicitous naturalistic palette of jade, blue grey and foam white.
​
Knill- Jones studied in the early to mid 1990s at Kingston School of Art in Surrey, following in the footsteps of kitchen sinker John Bratby, a Kingston alumnus from the fifties. Like Bratby, she is unafraid of paint and wields it like an abstract expressionist while remaining faithful to representational and descriptive imperatives of an ozone filled landscape that inspires her imagination and guides her hand and eye.
Knill- Jones's engagement with the mercurial subject of the sea places her in a venerable tradition of Cornish, and indeed British marine painting epitomised by Julius Olsson, Borlase Smart from the early twentieth century and Robert Jones from contemporary art.
PETER DAVIES. Author, art critic and artist.




Describe your image




