Mike Nicholls

What are you working on in the studio at the moment?

Birds, mostly. They've crept into my paintings over the last couple of years, the way they've always been in my sculpture. Paintings like Mother Nurture and Reflection are a bird, an egg and a shadow, and for me they're about how fragile things feel at the moment. I'm also going back to ideas from my 1988 paintings, in new work like Into the Night. It's the same territory, but I'm older now and I'm taking my time with it.

Could you choose one work and tell me what started it? (Parked)

Parked is one of a series of six large paintings based on Port Phillip Bay. I live in Williamstown and the sea is a big part of my life, but seascapes can easily become too literal or twee when you're trying to express a feeling. So over six weeks I took my materials out on my 18-foot timber carvel boat, trying different ways to capture the feeling of being alone and surrounded by water. I came back to the studio with an exhibition of large canvases in mind.

For years I've used the bottle to depict landscape, through the format of the tablescape. The single bottle in Parked is me, sitting in my boat. At one stage there were three bottles; it was whittled down to one, carefully placed. Because the paintings are so minimal, the sense of space and depth has to come from many layers of glazed underpainting. I never let a painting dry while I'm working on it, so none of the earlier layers come through and disrupt the finished work.

When you carve, how much does the timber shape the direction of the work?

Quite a lot. Held in Balance was made from some old, stressed lemon-scented gum branches, and they partly dictated how it was carved. At the time I was reminiscing about my years in the First Nations communities of Lockhart River and Aurukun in Cape York. The form is loosely based on the crocodile, but it's really about personal interactions, memories of the land, and experiences shared with the locals. Like all my sculpture, it works in the round, with a different consideration from every angle.

How do painting and sculpture feed into one another for you?

The same vocabulary runs through both. The shield first came into my paintings as a coat of arms, carrying the idea of a family motto. It has since grown to take in everything a shield represents: protection, and tribalism, which sits at the grassroots of humanity. It's in paintings like Boardroom and Outpost, and in sculptures like Seed Shield and Peace Totem. The bird moves the other way. It has been in my sculpture for years and is now prominent in my painting.

My earliest sculptures were abstract. It was only when I became involved with ROAR Studios in the early 80s that figuration came into my work. In my paintings I went the opposite direction: I removed identifiable figures from my landscapes and used the hand, the cigarette and the bottle to suggest a human presence.

What would you tell a first-time buyer?

Don't overthink it. Walk around the work, come back to it, and notice what you keep looking at. Usually something in it connects with a place or a feeling you already carry. Most of my work starts with somewhere I've been, like the bay, the Kimberley or Cape York. People often tell me a piece reminds them of somewhere of their own, and that's the best reason to buy anything. If you're not sure, come to the studio and spend some time with it. Nobody's in a hurry.

Where would you like people to see more work or make an enquiry?

mikenicholls.com.au, or info@mikenicholls.com.au. The studio is open by appointment, and commissions are welcome.

Visit Mike’s website Gallery stockroom info@mikenicholls.com.au