Welcome to Nicolette Arts

I am a painterly realist, more interested in sparking joy than in accurately rendering a scene. A Colorado native, my most frequent subjects are Rocky Mountain landscapes, flora and fauna — particularly wildlife. I am a colorist, and credit Colorado artist Stephen Quiller with being both an inspiration and my best teacher.

I paint in both oils and watercolors. In any medium, what energizes me and my work is vibrant, saturated color. I find inspiration in sunshine, shadow, and color.

My mission as an artist is to rekindle a sense of wonder, to reawaken our connection to the natural world. In both my own works and in teaching, my goal is to connect with the numinous — something from the natural world that gives rise to spiritual feelings of joy, wonder, awe or fragility. In leading plein aire outings and in classes, I often incorporate a guided meditation to help students connect with what ignites their joy, thus helping them to find what subjects call out to them most.

I have been painting alpine wildlife and Western ranch life because they speak to me of growing up in Colorado, and they also occasion incipient loss. Because all these things I love are threatened by development and climate change.

Online CLASSES:

During Covid-19 social distancing, I began teaching drawing and watercolors via Zoom and I have continued to offer online classes to groups by request. I also offer one-on-one tutoring in oil paints. (I use Holbein Duo water-soluble oils. Same result without the turpentine; the main thinner is walnut oil.)

I teach drawing on the right side of the brain, figure drawing and nature drawing. If four to eight people request a class, I will form an online class at a time convenient for them.

Public art:

I have (modestly) secured a place for myself in my town’s history by donating my Mules at Thompson House watercolor to the town of Carbondale. It is now hanging in the chambers of the town trustees, where it will remain as a permanent part of the town’s artwork.

My own art, which concentrates on Colorado and California subjects, celebrates the spark of divinity that burns in every member of the family of man and glories in mankind’s connection to the natural world. The following quote, which is painted on a stone at the middle of my garden, expresses the message within most of my paintings:

Humankind has not woven the web of life.
We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
All things are bound together.
All things connect.