The daughter of Ben and Winifred Nicholson, Kate grew up with her mother between Paris, London and Cumbria in the 1930s. She studied at Bath College of Art (1949-54), where she was a pupil of Peter Lanyon. Moving to St. Ives, in 1957 Kate became an associate member of the Penwith Society. In the 1960s and 70s she painted alongside her mother in Greece, Cumbria and the Hebrides, her work encompassing these particular locations in an untutored style and with a refreshing approach to colour.