Nadia Koo: 'Art is a feeling of complete and utter calm'

Nadia Koo turned to art three years ago and has already held several exhibitions and sales in that time

A woman who only took up painting three years ago says art has provided "a sense of complete and utter calm" in a stressful world.

Nadia Koo, who lives in Saffron Walden, Essex, creates bold, colourful work on canvases she buys at car boot sales.

She is now preparing for her third solo exhibition and has already sold dozens of pieces in her blossoming career.

"It is that feeling of being really free," she said. "If you want to draw, don't just say it - just do it."

She added: "I never thought in a million years that I'd be an artist.

"At school, during art lessons, you'd be expected to do life drawings of fruit - like bananas. People would start making monkey noises.

"It was that time, heated with racism. Now I incorporate bananas into some of my drawings. It's about being able to express yourself."

Nadia Koo creates bold, vibrant pieces on large canvases and confesses to never planning a painting before starting

The 58-year-old grandmother - and mother-of-three - said her biggest fan is her son Kyan, 33, and she has had "amazing support" from her whole family.

Ms Koo, who grew up in Cambridge, worked in social and youth work for almost 30 years and chaired harrowing child protection conferences - before painting took hold.

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She said she found it difficult to express her feelings after the death of George Floyd in May 2020 made international headlines.

"I just got this urge to do a large painting full of flowers," she said.

"I couldn't understand why people were still hating us for the colour of our skin. I couldn't talk about it. So I let go with that one. I called it 'Number One'."

Nadia Koo said she found it difficult to talk about her feelings in a stressful job

Prolific

"My wife Sarah bought me this whole beautiful pack of acrylics, with drawing pads and thinners - and then it just sat in my caravan in Southwold for two years," she said.

"So I started out just drawing elementary stuff, like vases of flowers.

"It gave me a feeling of complete and utter calm. I still have PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) from my job and have flashbacks of situations.

"Some artists manage one painting every six months but I was prolific. At one point I was completely sandwiched in with paintings."

She said that for one exhibition, at the Church Street Gallery in Saffron Walden last July, she expected the curator to ask for one or two paintings - but she chose 26.

Nadia Koo's latest exhibition, Lemon Love, starts in Earsham, near Bungay, on Monday

Ms Koo also recently exhibited at the Aldeburgh Gallery and The Power of Stories, a collaboration between Aspire Black Suffolk and Britten Pears Arts at Snape Maltings.

"I didn't realise I was any good," she said, "but I have a bit of impostor syndrome.

"Art provides a different perspective on life. It's a release. Art can heal."

Her latest exhibition, Lemon Love, runs at the Merlina Arts Gallery at Earsham Heritage Mill, near Bungay, Suffolk, from 8 May to 22 May.