NEWS, BLOGS & ARTICLES
For all the latest news and updates, check out the articles below and for some classic blog posts from Nikki Loy do dig into the archives…
What does a Creative Consultant do? Featured Project ~ Rushfrields Creative Arts and Wellbeing Village
What does a Creative Consultant do? Featured Project ~ Rushfrields Creative Arts and Wellbeing Village Colin contacted me with a problem and an exciting idea. A set of disused garden showrooms were taking up space at his business, Rushfields Plant…
What does a Creative Consultant do? Featured Project: Undermill Airbnb
Jay contacted me last summer about a new house that he’d just finished. The builders were done and had moved on to another project, and the house sat empty… Waiting. When I posted an ad on the local forum Jay thought I might be just the person to help him realise his vision for the property – A luxury Airbnb.
Bloom! – What’s She All About?
Bloom is a bit befuddling. When folks walk into my studio and see her she usually causes a reaction. Some ‘get it’ immediately, they lay their hands on their hearts and I can see they are deeply moved. Some get flustered, they know it means something…
Quiet Blue – Confessions of a Neurodivergent Artist and A Self Portrait in Blue…
Neurodivergent is not a term that I ever would have used to describe myself. I actually thought I was pretty ‘normal’. I function in the world fairly well, most of the time, and so I have never questioned whether or not I might be neurodivergent.
But then one day, in a strange juxtaposition of events – two conversations with two totally different people back to back – an epiphany occurred…
The Tiki Surf Bus Bar Is Finished!
The Tiki Surf Bus Bar Is Finished ~ And looking for a new home!? Prone to salvaging random things that look like they have ‘potential’, Ant and I have had this large wooden sleigh shaped thing hanging about in the…
Artist Open Houses 2024 – Joined By Nikki Loy
Artist Open Houses… has been running for decades in Brighton and Hove, as hundreds of locals open up their homes to host exhibitions of their own and for visiting artists so that the public to come and have a jolly…
New Year – New Workshops!
Dunno about you but I am raring to go, and super excited to be hosting a new season of workshops! This month we are focusing on Sketchbooks! First how to make your own and then as the weeks progress, a little club to help you fill them up 🙂 So do come and join me?
Introducing Artist Lily Loy
INTRODUCING ARTIST LILY LOY Many, many, many of you have commented on the amazing woodcut artworks by Lily that you have seen in ‘Gallery Gladys’ recently, so I wanted to highlight these works here in our online space. Lily Loy…
Nikki Loy Live at The Beach ~ Sunday Sessions
A NEW PLACE TO PLAY! Many of you know, if you follow my instagram at all, that Littlehampton is my home from home, my happy place. I’ve been skating up and down that sea front bubbling with joy for years…
Nikki Loy Live at Joe’s – 12th January
I’m delighted to let you know that I am returning to Joe’s for another intimate acoustic session. You can catch me from 7:30pm on Thursday the 12th of January performing some of my favourite covers and some of my own…
After The Auction!
After The Auction… Firstly, let me say a massive thank you to all those who took part, either by creating artwork, or by sharing, or by placing a bid! It was a massive success! All in all we raised £1915…
The Gallery Wanders to Small Dole Skate Jam!
So it happened! Gladys has her first ever art exhibition! 25 different artists submitted 28 skateboards (if you include the banana) and we exhibited them at Small Dole Skatepark Skatejam! It was the most excellent of days, after a week…
The Wandering Gallery and her first ever show
WHAT: 27 Custom Skateboard decks decorated by 25 different artists on show at Small Dole Skatepark Fundraising Skate Jam. CHECK OUT THE CATALOGUE Also available: BBQ, Skating, Skooting, Coffee and cakes, mini merch market… Lots of fun! WHERE: Small Dole…
Custom Skate Deck Art Exhibition 10th – 27th Sept
Our local, and rather unique, wooden skatepark that has been serving our skate community so well for the last 15+ years is rotting into the ground. It’s very sad. So we’ve formed a team (Friends of Small Dole Skatepark) to…
Shop Update!
Just wanted to let you know that there are some new products in my shop! First up this long awaited Get Well Soon card for the broken skaters out there. You can FIND THAT HERE Then also as Easter is…
Live Show at Joe’s Sun April 3rd
What with the crazy ol’ world and then the broken leg incident it’s been a while since I have been able to gig. But I am delighted to announce that on Sunday the 3rd of April I am doing a…
Open For Bookings!
Between the crazy ol’ C ovid world and learning to walk again after a broken leg, it’s been a really rather mental few years without much in the way of live shows! But, now that my leg is on the…
GIG CANCELLED – 4th Sept
Whilst the Festival in Coventry on the 4th of September is going ahead, my part in it is not. Unfortunately though my leg is mending, it is not sufficiently mended for the logistics of gigging. At the moment I can’t…
The Adventures Of A Broken Skater ~ Graphic Novel
Maybe I should amend the working title to The Mental Adventures of a Broken Skater?! This is the first real page of this ‘ere graphic novely picture book thing that I am making.. And why am I making it? Well,…
Making The Mural That Broke Me
Early in 2021, about three months after we built our skate ramp, Ant and I got a bit hooked on timelapse mural painters on Youtube, which of course was enormously inspriing to us Artists, and gave us the inspiration we…
OMG! I Broke My Leg!
Yup, 15 weeks ago I broke my leg, in a freak roller skating accident. I say a freak accident because it’s not like I am a newbie skater, I have been skating for years, and falling without major incident for…
The Wandering Gallery
That ‘OMG! What have I done?!’ moment when I… uh… rather spontaneously purchased an HGV!?!Yes, she is beyond FUGLY right now but I have great plans! 😳😆😜 These pictures are of Gladys in the first few days that I owned…
Aylesbury Vale Music Fest
Had such a fun time playing to the thousands gathered at Aylesbury Town Festival yesterday with my band, and on that stage! It was epic, maybe the best gig we have done yet?! 🤔 Was so happy I almost couldn’t…
Magical Photos from Single Launch Party at Shoreditch Treehouse
Earlier this month I had the wonderful experience of launching my new single Tongue Tied with a gig at the magical Shoreditch Treehouse. We had a really fantastic evening. If you would like to read a full review of the show
My Tool Kit For Getting Rid Of A Cold Super Fast!
If you actually want to be sick, if you want attention and sympathy, or to skive off work and have a duvet day, then this post is not for you. Just go grab your box of tissues and indulge yourself…
Fab Festival Photos – Thame Town Music Fest
Thame Town Music Festival in it’s debut year has already topped my list of favourites. Johnnie Littler, and his team excelled themselves in putting on one of the best town festivals I have ever had the pleasure of performing at!…
When You Can’t See The Fruit For The Trees
ABUNDANCE. A word so quick to slip off the tongues of self-help gurus and metaphysicians everywhere that it is, abundant. Often it’s something that so many of us feel we live without that when they mention it our hearts do…
A Songwriters Guide to Coping With Critisism
There’s nothing like a song challenge to bring out the critics! In fact there’s nothing like being a singer songwriter to bring out the critics! Over the years I have received all sorts of unsolicited criticism on all fronts. It…
20 Lessons Learned from 20 Weeks of Songwriting
21 weeks ago I had a thought… Should I do a song challenge? I have a new home, a new environment and new neighbourhood to explore, a new set of people to get to know. Would this be a good…
From Cowardly To Confident… A Guide
This may come as a surprise to some of you but I was not always as confident as I am now. I used to be the shy kid who got bullied. The one that hides behind her Mum’s legs, who wouldn’t…
So You Want To Be A Full Time Musician? – 15 Tips To Get You Started
Since posting my celebratory blog post about having been a full time independent musician for five years a bunch of folks have been asking how I did it. So here are a few tips to get you started! 1. Stash some…
10 Tips For Becoming A Brilliant Busker
Busking is awesome on soooo many levels! Busking has been as massive training ground for me and the spring board to other things. I first got in to busking when my friend Lee and I both bought AER Acoustic Mobile amps,…
Fab Festival Photos – Towersey
Biiiiiig thanks to my band Cheryl Pearce, Ryan Robinson, Phil heard, Pete Sherman and George Shilling for helping make this a great gig, one of my favourites ever. Loved the spontaneous never before rehearsed rendition of Breathe that we did…
Fab Festival Photos – PKD Scotland
Just in case you don’t know, Pkd festival is in Dunfermline in Scotland. I had a lovely trip to Scotland, performing at PKD Festival, being interviewed on the local radio station and then spending a few days discovering the Scottish…
Van Life Loy – Happy Vanniversary
It’s today! Mine and LVB’s one year anniversary. It’s been exactly 365 days since I handed back the keys to my house and officially became a vanlifer! And what a year it has been. If you had told me at…
Magical Manifestation – I Actually Met Jack Savoretti!
Unless you were paying special attention when I posted my Theme Song To A Van Life blog post, you might have missed what an enormous Jack Savoretti fan I am, how I have driven thousands of miles listening to him, and how…
Van Life Loy – Lessons I Learned About Stealth Camping – The Very Hard Way!
Sooooo.. By now you know that in my time as a van lifer I have, in the dead of night, been the victim of both an attempted break in and a drive by shooting! But I love Van Life. I…
Making Music Videos In Sheffield
I can’t decide whether this should be a Van Life Loy update or not… It’s been a busy week in Van and out, and it’s hard to separate the two. I write to you from the warmth of the wood…
Van Life Loy – That Time I Was In A Drive By Shooting!
Okay, people… Drama has occurred! Now don’t freak out but Luna Van Blanc and I were the victims of a drive by shooting! Sounds mad doesn’t it! Hard to believe but it happened. On Friday night I pulled over beside…
Van Life Loy – Winter Update
Yesterday I awoke to the foulest smell and the air thick with smog. The heater, fitted in October which has thus far been doing a grand job of keep me warm on these January nights, malfunctioned… It should have been…
Fav Photos From Touring With Shane Filan
Hello.. I cant believe two months have gone by since the shane Filan tour began. So it’s taken ages for me to post these pics.. Better late than never hey!? This collection of images marks a massive milestone in my…
Van Life Loy – The Great Reveal!
Hello! I’m sooooo sorry to have kept you all hanging for this particular blog post. People have been bending my ear about it for the last couple of weeks. But as I share with you in coming blog posts what…
Van Life Loy – The Build Week 4
I met Anthony Winter 19 years ago, the day we started a foundation course in Art and Design at Somerset College of Arts and Technology.. Or SCAT as we all called it. He had dreams of car design and already…
Van Life Loy – Van Life Goes Live!
It’s 10am, I have just cooked myself breakfast, washed up and tidied the kitchen and settled down at the table in the sun to write this blog post. I have been van-lifing for about 2 weeks now… Give or take…
Van Life Loy – The Build Week 3
In the weeks running up to the Build En France I was researching and planning. I tried to decide as much as possible what I wanted in advance. I drew out a scale drawing of the van and endeavoured to…
Van Life Loy – The Build Week 2
So it’s the end of week two! Or the beginning of week three… I can’t really tell. The days are merging into each other and it’s all becoming a blur! We have been building this campervan for two solid weeks…
Van Life Loy – The Build Week 1
Well what an eventful week it has been! I arrived at my parents’ place in Brittany, France on Monday with my van (Van Blanc) and all my worldly belongings. The intention is to build my own custom camper! My dad, master joiner…
Van Life Loy – Let there Be Light
My original #VanLifeLoy post caused quite a stir! So much more than I expected. I was quite overwhelmed by the responses I got, such enthusiasm and encouragement! And my website never had so many hits! So now folks are asking all…
Van Life Loy – The Story Begins
Okay… I have an announcement to make – I’m undertaking a new ‘challenge’! You know how I like a challenge! If not, well, previous challenges include: Becoming a full-time muso!! Writing 52 songs in a year and posting them all on…
The Resilient Dreamer
‘I’m never gonna quit ’til I die!’ ~ I have said it, I have sung it, I have heard it on the tongues of many others too. And I’m sure that more than one or two of you have said it…
Phoenix – Creating New Beginnings
There’s something in the legend of The Phoenix that keeps us human beings coming back to it time and time again. Creative folks often use it, and the associated symbology, to communicate transition, regeneration, and the resilience of life. I…
RECORDING THE RECORDING ENGINEER
Rob is editing my vocals on the fly… He barely looks up from the screen. I’m twiddling me thumbs, making distracting conversation. Until I get my sketchbook out. I have no idea how long we sat there… Long enough. Rob…