A Salinas artist finds that the message, more than the medium, inspires his art.

The Maple Park neighborhood of Salinas has a distinct, lazy, residential vibe. The homes are comfortably spaced, with big gardens and little traffic.

This is where Salinas-based watercolorist r. mike nichols has been living and painting since 2018. The life that he shares with his partner and the couple’s beloved dogs are the subject of nichols’ colorful, striking narrative art.

Fine artists and illustrators have been considered two different tribes. It’s fine art that people want to collect – beautiful landscapes and portraiture. But for nichols, it was never enough to create something that was just art.

“A landscape is just a landscape unless you imbue it with something that’s personal,” he says. “I always wanted to create art that told a story. I’m doing illustrative pieces that are my own commentary.”

Take, for example, his floating series: quirky and whimsical pieces that show people and dogs strolling just a few feet above the ground.

“I would always dream about leaping in the air and being able to float great distances,” nichols says. “That gave me such a feeling of euphoria, of being able to levitate, defy gravity, feel unencumbered by the sense of being attached to the ground.”

Personal experience has been at the core of nichols’ art since he stopped working as a commercial freelance illustrator in 2008 and found complete artistic freedom.

One of the paintings people respond to is "Springtime in Salinas 2020." It shows the artist and his partner in their garden, wearing masks. Between them their French bulldog Quorra sits on an opulent green armchair and a "wanted" posted of Trump hangs on a tree. Four years later, nichols painted its sister painting,“Summer in Salinas 2024,” which takes us back to the garden. The masks are off now, but the sense of uneasy remains; this time the couple is not gardening; nichols is reading, while his partner is holding a painting. There are two trees in the painting, one full of ominous birds with a poster attached to its trunk, showing Trump as traitor, the other one full of doves with a sign, advocating for peace. Nichols’ art is not usually political, but it can be if politics – as it does now – impacts him and his community.

As opposed to his peers, nichols always knew he would be an artist, even though he expected to “live in an attic and be hungry all the time,” he says. Similarly, when he went to college, he already knew watercolors were his thing. “I just really liked the transparency of the medium and the way it flowed.”

r. mike nichols is part of Carmel Art Association’s March Catalog Show opening Saturday, March 14 and on display until April 6.