Label & Artist Series
Mallards by Nicole van Axx
Acclaimed Belgian wildlife artist Nicole van Axx received her formal art training at the Hazinelles Academy of Arts in Liege, Belgium. Her signature style, which incorporates precision and passion, may have its origin in her subsequent training with a Chinese teacher and with famous impressionistic wildlife painter Manfred Shatz.
Nicole finds her inspiration in the unique bond she develops with her animal subjects; she experiences, and expresses in paint, their essential courage, loyalty, strength and, especially, their freedom. Attracted to animals all her life, Nicole seeks to immortalize in her artwork the lessons of integrity and openness that animals teach us.
Nicole describes her works in what she calls an "impassionistic" style, which captures the emotion, movement and aliveness of her subjects. Unhampered by the need for absolute realism, she instead uses emotionally enhanced colors and bold dramatic brush strokes to communicate what she perceives as the animal's essence. Working quickly and in the moment, Nicole uses tube watercolors for their enhanced fluidity, and thick, heavily pigment-laden Chinese brushes.
Nicole van Axx has exhibited her art in numerous European and American galleries. She has received five gold medals in her native Belgium as well as a silver gilt medal in Paris. In the year 2000, She was named best foreign artist at the Sully sur Loire Wildlife Festival in France, and more recently, she was a participant in the highly acclaimed Birds in Art exhibition in Wausau, Wisconsin. She received first prize for wildlife painting in 1995 at the Festival of Wildlife Art in Lyon, France, and first prize for wildlife art 1995 in the Netherlands. Nicole has been involved with Belgian national television for the protection of wildlife since 1986.
