Nicola Paton

Nicola Paton is a nature-inspired artist based in Colchester, Essex. She works across a range of media, and her principal practice is needle felting, alongside ceramics. Her subjects come from British wildlife: birds including owls, kingfishers, goldfinches, yellow wagtails, woodpeckers, magpies and pigeons; small mammals such as harvest mice and red squirrels; and insects including butterflies, bees and dragonflies.

Her sculptures are built from wool, and some combine it with recycled textiles, wire or ceramic. A series of snails, for example, pairs a ceramic body with a needle-felted shell made on a base of an old cardigan, and a goldfinch has wings and tail of recycled textile. She exhibits with the Colchester Art Society, including at The Minories, and at the Tendring Show, and also runs needle felting workshops.