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 This page is about me, Nikki Marianna Hope.
As a child I was taught to be right handed and now enjoy experimenting by painting with my left hand, either on it’s own or together with my right hand, or with two canvasses next to each other the one on my left painted by my left hand and the one on my right painted by my right hand these are listed as L and R after the painting number and before the date.
Oil on canvas - I love the “living” feel and interaction as the canvas bends beneath the brush stroke then bounces back again; between us we enjoy the “dance” of creating. When I run out of canvasses I paint on anything I can lay my hands on, working in whatever medium comes to hand be it pen, pencil, crayon, felt tip, charcoal, water-colour, acrylic, oil or a combination. They all have their own unique energy and expression.
I have been drawn to paint since I was a small child and studied Art in evening classes when I left school, my tutors encouraged me to apply for an Art scholarship and we prepared a portfolio; it transpired that my parents would be obliged to pay towards Art College, they felt this was inappropriate. I married and became a mother to two wonderful children. Within three years the marriage “fell apart”. As a single mother, with two small children, struggling to earn a crust – there was no time for painting.
Over twenty years later I started painting in earnest again. I learned from Ho Sung, an inspirational teacher and artist who took me back to basics. He taught me how to really “look” at things instead of just “seeing” them. Over time I progressed to using paints, a frustrating period of exploration as I learned how to work with different types of paints, papers, hardboard and finally canvasses.
At last I could begin to express the energies that were bombarding me from inside.
My lessons ceased abruptly when my car “died” in 2002. I continue to paint at home. From time to time I hear Ho’s words ringing in my ears - if I was feeling out of sorts he would encourage me to “paint what you feel” - when painting a tree “let your brush move in the direction that the tree is growing”.
Whilst learning with Ho, I studied Tai Ch’i and other martial arts with Quincy Rabôt, another inspirational teacher. I found many similarities between Art and Tai Ch’i. I use a brush in the same way that I use a sword; listening to them and asking how to blend with their energy so that we might PLURK (PLay and woRK) together. I continue to Plurk with martial arts and am currently a student of Peter Ralston’s unique system of “Cheng Hsin”.
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