Artist Profile: Nikki Basch-Davis

Originally from Israel, Nikki Basch-Davis moved to Benicia for its vibrant art community in 2003. She taught and exhibited here while raising her kids in Lafayette.

Basch-Davis has painted all her life, limiting it to weekends while working as an interior designer. She's been painting full time for seven years and now enjoys painting with her eight grandchildren.

Since the early 1990s, Basch-Davis has been painting plein air with artist. The two created Da Group, plein air artists who paint outdoors together. She said she tries to get outside each weekend.

Basch-Davis finishes paintings in her studio, just off First Street behind the . “I can take a scene that I'm not too happy with and just rework it. So I pull something out of it and add my own excitement into it. I love the play of shadows.” She can make a scene look much more interesting than it appears in real life.

She's been teaching at for 20 years, encouraging students to look at things like a 2-year old. “Pretend that you don't know that the sky is blue or a tree is green. Just put color out there, whatever your mind creates.” Basch-Davis is credited with inspiring many of Benicia's plein air artists. 

She started with watercolors, but now paints in oil. It takes a lot of energy to haul out an easel, paints and supplies so Basch-Davis said she has become more selective in where she goes. Her favorite subjects are urban scenes. “I love cars. Friends ask me why I paint light poles... light poles are the verticals we have, and cars are what we have instead of horses and buggies, which are so romantic to paint.”

“It's not about making a pretty picture," she said. "When I have a high response to a scene and can incorporate it into a painting, it's a deeper way of experiencing it. It's just for my own joy." 

location: 123 West D St. (Peggy Martin Alley)