About three months ago, Picayune welcomed a new artist to the area, Nikki Main.
Four years ago, the Pennsylvania native traveled to New Orleans where she lived for about a year. It was during that time she met Pearl River County native Alan McClendon.
The couple and their 2-year-old daughter, Chloe, moved to Picayune from Shreveport, two weeks before the birth of their second daughter, Emmalyn.
Artwork has been a lifelong journey for 24-year-old Main.
“My father was an artist,” she said. “After dinner, he would teach me how to draw things. I just got better and better over the years.”
Every career opportunity Main pursued revolved around art and cultivating her creativity. She is a former tattoo artist and hairstylist.
“If I’m not being creative, I feel my soul my will dry up,” she said.
Now a busy stay-at-home mom, Main said she spends her free time painting. While taking care of her two daughters can be stressful at times, she feels fortunate to be able to spend time with them. Painting is her escape and one day she hopes to be a professional commissioned artist.
“Slowly but surely it’s happening,” she said. “My hometown people know I’m an artist and give me pretty good work. The visual age has killed artists though. It’s cheaper to buy a printed picture versus a hand painted one.”
Main mostly paints with acrylics and started out by painting things she liked. But, she soon realized that not everyone has the same taste as she does. As a result, she started drawing flowers and scenes more so that people would want to hang them on their walls.
She mainly does commission work, which includes a sign for The Coffee Shop in Poplarville and a ceiling mural in a customer’s home, she said. She also paints portraits.
Her work has been shown in a gallery in the King of Prussia Mall, the second largest mall in America, and the Kezic Gallery on Royal Street in New Orleans.
However, Main said it can get quite expensive to show your artwork in a gallery.
“Many of my peers aren’t really good enough yet to drop money in a gallery,” Main said. “I think successful artists are older, it takes time.”
Main said she has been slowly exploring the art scene in Pearl River County and attended a recent art show. She plans to join local art groups once her newborn is a bit older.
“The Southern hospitality is real here,” Main said. “People are a lot friendlier. At the grocery store, Chloe strikes up conversations with people and they can’t stop talking to her.”
One of Main’s favorite pieces of artwork was completed in high school when she was 16. It depicts actress Elizabeth Taylor with one of her husbands and their baby. Main said she made it her life goal to have that perfect family and now she has it.
When it comes to her art, her dream is for people to have her art hanging in their home.
“I want them to think they need it in their home,” Main said. “To be able to give an important piece with a picture of someone’s loved one is amazing to me.”
View Main’s work online at www.etsy.com/shop/NikkiMainArt?ref=pr_shop_more and through Facebook at Nikki Main. Contact her by email at nikki.main@ymail.com.