Nicola was born in Wick, Caithness in 1971. After secondary education came marraige and children then house move to Ardrishaig, Argyll.

In 1988, Nicola started local life drawing classes and returned to adult education an 'A' in sixth year studies Art and then went on to study life drawing and painting at the Glasgow School of Art.

Nicola has work in private collections throughout the U.K., America and Hong Kong.