MMGC20 23 have my studio in my backyard. The world stopped, my husband wasn’t travelling, I didn’t have all the distractions of kids and school, it was the first time ever I was able to put 100% of my time into it. It’s pretty cool to see how the detail has evolved and also the techniques I’m using. It’s all been trial and error. I think art is through the artist. I have never been through a school or studied art. There’s no right or wrong with art. My style is my style. I don’t want to know what everyone else is doing...I don’t want to doubt myself.” I asked her how she manages to separate her work life from home life? “It’s a tricky one! I put my studio in a paddock full of goats and sheep. I’m surrounded by horses, I’m with horses all day long. I knew from the start when we designed our home that the studio had to be somewhere apart that I do not see every day so I can escape it mentally. I think it’s really important to not feel like I live at my work. Especially with art, you are giving so much of yourself that it becomes really draining. I have little breaks with Chip and Kathy (the goats). I can sometimes just sit out there for hours. My lifestyle inspires me, it always has. I never switch-off, I don’t think artists can, but having a separate space is really important.” From the studio we wander down to the bottom paddocks where the horses are. Leo and his mum, Zen are in one paddock with the kids’ pony. Leo is a loudly marked paint. He’s very striking with his bold blaze and blue eyes. He walks straight over and puts his nose to Nicole’s face, sharing breath. The others wander over for pats and scratches too. Zen came to them as a neglected and frightened mare with baby Leo who was only a few months old at the time and totally unhandled. You would never know to look at them. They are fat, shiny and friendly! Nicole and Billy have done all their rehabilitation and even started them under saddle themselves. Leo (named after Leonardo da Vinci) and Nicole clearly have a special connection. “Out of all the Stables Collection, I think he is my best piece. I think the reason is that he’s got blue eyes. He’s got four different colours going on in his face. He’s got a pink nose and this amazing transparent line around the outside of his white blaze. To play with all that in a painting was really cool. I’m not selling ‘Leo’, he’s the only piece that I will not sell.” “When I started painting horses I didn’t anticipate doing what is now the Stables Collection but I think it has come about because we’re around horses more than ever before. Now that I’m painting them, I’m studying them more. I get obsessed by their detail now. I know the direction of hair. That’s so important, especially when I’m painting such high detail. I’m constantly perfecting my skill, creating the shadows and just playing with the detail of the 1%. Like the whiskers have their own shadows. I love playing with whiskers! Half in shade, half in sun. And the nostril hairs, I obsess over nostril hairs now, like it’s my favourite part! And the eyelashes! I love ideas like that. You might look at my paintings at first and notice the mane and the eye, but if you start to really look, you’re going to notice details that you just didn’t see at first glance. Now when I take a photo I think of all those things and when I’m looking for my next reference image I look for movement, I look for shadows, I look for texture. I feel that it is actually really helpful to be around them all day long, then I go and paint them. I need to make sure I know my subject, and I do. I know them so well. I know them more than anything I’ve ever painted.” Nicole seems totally in her element surrounded by these horses, who are so different from the tradition of hacks she rode as a young girl. She grew up competing in the show ring and won many Royal Show titles. These days she prefers a horse-centric approach to riding with good horsemanship the main focus for her and Billy. They both enjoy attending clinics and do a lot of groundwork and desensitisation, even with their Thoroughbreds. “We live and breathe it every day. We’ve got our broodmares and the foals at home now. We’re walking them over tarps and bouncing balls off them. I hope we don’t make them too quiet,” she jokes, “We still want them to run!” Slater Thoroughbreds is
a boutique breeding program that produces a few quality foals per season. The Slaters sold their first yearling through the Gold Coast Magic Millions Sale in 2019 (racing name Inner Spirit) and a Redoute’s Choice son at the 2021 sales. Both colts are out of their prized broodmare, Inishowen, who is a multiple race winner herself. The Slaters produced two fillies this year, ‘Polly’ by Pride of Dubai and ‘Pretzel’ by superstar sire, Snitzel. All their horses are part of the family, including the ones bred for racing. The kids feed them and give them their paddock names.
There’s no pretence with Nicole, she’s natural, expressive and incredibly generous. “Don’t listen to negative people who are trying to bring you down, listen to the ones who want to lift you up. I want to be that person for others. There’s a lot of positive energy that comes from me, I like to give energy to people. My friends say I’ve never changed. I pride myself on that. They also say I’m absolutely mad!” she adds with a laugh, “I love adrenaline. I’m good for jumping out of a plane, I’ve done that 3 times.” Like I said, she’s a vibe.
“When I started painting horses I didn’t anticipate doing what is now the Stables Collection but I think it has come about because we’re around horses more than ever before. Now that I’m painting them, I’m studying them more. I get obsessed by their detail now. I know the direction of hair.
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