For Nikita Coulombe, creativity has never been optional — it’s been a way of life since childhood. From Play-Doh and crayons spread across her family’s dining room table to the oil paints she uses today, she has always found freedom in making art. That early sense of possibility never left her, and now it fuels a body of work that explores balance, expression, and the beauty of both chaos and order.
Now featured on Artcast, her paintings invite us to step inside that balance and discover what happens when discipline and spontaneity meet on the canvas.
From Play-Doh to Oils: A Lifelong Love of Creating
“My mom would put a piece of plastic over the dining room table and we had free rein to use Play-doh, crayons, colored pencils, and watercolors,” Nikita recalls. “There were no rules, and any mess that was made was easy to clean up. I relished the sense of possibility.”
That freedom made creating feel central to her life from the very beginning. Over time, she experimented with different mediums, eventually falling in love with oil painting — a medium she says “offers the most possibilities.”
Vision and Intuition in the Studio
When beginning a new work, Nikita often starts with a clear idea — even for her abstract pieces. But she allows the process to evolve naturally as the painting develops. She relates to a sentiment expressed by Ralph Lauren in the documentary Very Ralph:
“Things that I never knew that I had, things that I never knew I carried with me, are revealed as I start to work.”
Her work, she explains, always pulls more out of her, pushing her to become more and do more.
An Evolving Process
Looking back at her earlier work compared to now, one of the biggest shifts has been in her preparation process. Today, she carefully plans compositions, using tools like Photoshop to adjust sketches, lighting, scale, and colors before ever touching a brush. This allows her to build stronger, more intentional compositions while still leaving space for spontaneity once the painting begins.
Diversity as a Creative Lifeline
Her portfolio spans both realism and abstraction — two very different worlds that keep her work fresh. Realistic paintings demand precision and focus, while abstract works offer release.
“I like doing abstract paintings between realistic paintings as a kind of palette cleanser,” she says. “Realistic pieces take a lot of focus and tiny movements, whereas you can really let loose in an abstract piece.”
This balance gives her both structure and freedom, mirroring the larger themes that run through her practice.
Psychology and Painting: A Shared Curiosity
Alongside art, Nikita has always been drawn to psychology, fueled by a curiosity about human nature and motivation. That same curiosity shapes her creative voice — but with a focus turned inward.
“In art, I’m more often dealing with my own nature and motivations,” she explains. “In addition to providing a sense of freedom, creating provides a feeling of equilibrium — a counterbalance to whatever feels out-of-balance externally or internally.”
The Chaos & Order Series
Perhaps nowhere is this interplay clearer than in her Chaos & Order series, which explores balance, movement, and the acceptance of uncertainty. Each painting begins with rectangles of flat color — representing stillness, stagnancy, or the illusion of certainty.
To these, she responds with spontaneous splashes of paint, flowing lines, and transparent waves of color. What emerges is a dialogue between the rigid and the fluid, the static and the alive.
“The series plays into that notion of finding balance as well as the importance of movement and being OK with uncertainty,” she says. “Stillness and meditation can be very positive, but stagnancy is anything but.”
A Greater Goal: Teaching Through Art
Beyond creating, Nikita sees her larger purpose in teaching and sharing the joy of making. For her, blending colors and bringing a painting to life is an experience that can spark joy, connection, and self-discovery in anyone.
“My greater goal with my art is teaching. I want to share the joy of color blending with others — the satisfaction of making something that feels alive or that makes you alive while you make it.”
Discover Nikita Coulombe on Artcast
Through balance, boldness, and curiosity, Nikita Coulombe transforms canvas into a space for exploration. Whether working in realism or abstraction, her art is a conversation between order and chaos, structure and freedom, certainty and discovery.
Explore her full portfolio now streaming on Artcast, and experience for yourself the vibrant harmony at the heart of her work.
Site and original paintings: https://www.nikitacoulombe.com
Prints: https://nikita-coulombe.pixels.com/
Instagram (realism): https://www.instagram.com/nikitacoulombe
Instagram (abstract): https://www.instagram.com/nikita_coulombe_abstracts
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/nikitacoulombeTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nikitacoulombe
