A Sackville visual artist is handing out cigarettes she has meticulously painted and coloured to smokers on the streets.

Erika Sullivan, 26, said the original idea came when she was trying to stop smoking.

"I was just smoking casually with friends and I decided to start painting on cigarettes instead of smoking them," she says.

Sullivan says the first time she gave a stranger one of her painted cigarettes was an accident.

"I was in a line-up for a bar and someone asked me for a cigarette and I just pulled out a painted one and gave it to him," she says.

"He was really excited, I think he thought they were drugs in it or something and people crowded around and I thought — that's interesting."

Since then the painted cigarettes have developed into an art project Sullivan calls "Art Addict."

She uses ink, gel pens and watercolours on cigarettes to create her unique works of art and says making art accessible to everyone is important.

"I think that the gallery is a really valuable place but not everyone feels comfortable going there ... what I like about cigarettes is it's a medium that pretty much anyone in our culture has a relationship to already and so by putting a piece of artwork on a cigarette that's kind of a common ground," Sullivan said.

So far, she has given most of her painted cigarettes away which Sullivan says has been one of her favourite parts of the project.

"At first it's sad to see your art go but then to watch someone else react to that, to watch someone receive an artwork for free, to be excited about it, to be surprised by it is really powerful."

Sullivan says her goal is to inspire a genuine reaction, which is something she hopes to continue in her future work.