Painting & Printmaking School of Fine Art
Isla Nicholson

My abstract paintings are rooted in the physicality of sound and the shared emotional intensity of live music. I use an airbrush machine to build layered, vibrant compositions that aim to embody the rhythms, lights and energies that define the experience of being inside a concert venue or on a dance floor. These works aren’t depictions of music, they’re attempts to feel like music. They strive to preserve the emotions surrounding live events, the anticipation before a beat drop, the peak of a concert or the warmth of being held by a crowd.
I’m especially drawn to dance music and the way it merges body and environment. Bass, the flicker of strobe lights and moving clouds from smoke machines all inform my palette and technique. I often listen to dance music whilst painting, letting its tempo, structure and emotional tone shape the flow of each piece. My process is fast paced and intuitive, responding directly to the energy of the sound. The immediacy keeps the work alive, raw and emotionally charged.
The airbrush allows for a fluid, touchless application of paint, which creates a sense of atmosphere, haze, and motion. Each painting evolves like a track might; slowly building layers, shifting textures, creating moments of tension and release. Patterns emerge and fade, colours pulse and dissolve. Some pieces glow while others hum more quietly.
My work invites viewers to tune in with their bodies rather than their intellect, to feel rather than analyse. These paintings are visual responses of real experiences, capturing the fleeting, heightened moments when we feel most alive, most connected, and most ourselves.
