Nancy Bailey was a painter of landscapes in oils, especially in Cornwall. She was born in 1913. After working from the age of 15, Nancy developed a keen interest in photography, using a home- made camera to capture images of West-Country views, many of which went on to be made into postcards. It was a knowledge of light and composition that enabled her to create the striking paintings for which she is best known. After moving frequently throughout the South West, Nancy moved to Ireland, when for almost 13 years she produced very high quality marquetry pictures, which were sent all over the world. When Nancy reached the age of 50 her career in painting began, conitnuing until her 90th birthday in 2004, when she announced that she was “taking a Gap Year!” Nancy never used a brush, instead employing a palette knife, applying her paint most commonly to canvas, due to the required 'give' needed when using the knife. Nancy's work has many distinctive features, most obviously the rough painterly surface, allowing true to life depictions of the Cornish landscape. Nancy travelled frequently throughout her career, destinations included a safari trip to South Africa led by the much acclaimed wildlife artist David Shepherd. She painted continental views and when in Ireland there were equestrian scenes. She also embarked on a series of paintings of the Isles of Scilly, taking 5 or 6 works down to the Scillonian ship at a time.
Nancy's paintings are filled with sunshine and joy, capturing all that is best about life especially in Cornwall.