Sensing Shifts in Every Sip – Sensing Shifts by Nicole Steenhof

Nicole Steenhof paints the sea the way most of us experience it – as something that pulls you in before you’ve had a chance to think. Her work lives at the intersection of observation and feeling, where light on water becomes less about accuracy and more about what it does to you. For Nicole, the ocean isn’t just a subject. It’s the action of painting itself.

“Oceans hold a multitude of stories, and everyone’s connection to the sea can differ.”

Sensing Shifts began as a commission — a friend moving overseas wanted to carry the Indian Ocean with her. Nicole was glad to oblige. She loves painting the sea in all its moods, and this piece captures something of that restless, sustaining quality the Indian Ocean holds: a body of water that has shaped lives, cultures, and coastlines across the southern hemisphere. On your cup, it’s an invitation to sit with that for a moment.

Currently obsessed with peppermint tea, Nicole is also preparing for Holdfast — an exhibition opening at the end of June 2026 at Moores Building Art Space in Fremantle, dedicated entirely to seaweed. Later in the year, she’ll release a small collection of paintings with Michael Reid in the Northern Beaches, NSW.

Website: www.nicolesteenhof.co
Instagram: @nicolesteenhof.art