Exquisite Arts Magazine Vol 6- Summer Issue- July 2017 | Page 33

Nicole’s other lifelong passion has been animals, particularly dogs and wolves. She co-ran a rescue sanctuary for
wolves, and three of the residents ended up living with her for ten years. She became a professional dog trainer,
wrote ten books on dog behavior, and taught seminars worldwide. It was inevitable that her love of animals
would find its way into her digital art. Nicole’s images begin with one or more of her photographs taken in
nature, zoos, or sanctuaries, and are then transformed through equal parts Photoshop and imagination.
Whether focusing on the emotional life of animals or our connection to the Universe, her work centers around
the unseen energy and magic that surrounds us all.
Nicole and her husband live in southern California with their two rescued northern breed dogs and boatloads
of dog hair.
Your work is beautiful. You definitely possess an
amazing eye and gift for photography. What
prompted you to choose digital photography over
other mediums of visual art?
Thank you so much! I’d love to say that I’m a
traditional artist who morphed into a digital
photographer, but the truth is that I have little talent at
painting or drawing. I’ve always “seen” creatively and
had ideas, but I never had a way to get those images
out of my head and to a place where others could enjoy
them. Digital photography, combined with digital
artistry, has finally allowed me to do that.
Why is some of your work centered around the
unseen energy that surrounds us all? What is
its significance to you?
I believe that all things are interconnected. We
humans are, at an energetic level, all connected.
And we are also connected to the animal kingdom,
plants, the earth…it’s all one. Of course, we don’t
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