Nicole Cure

Call Nicole Cure a natural. She never studied art, never felt like she worked hard at it, and even took a 10-year creative hiatus when her kids were born.

"I never worked hard at it. I was just born with a natural talent," she says.

That talent is paying off now that Nicole runs a drawing and interior design business out of her home studio. She named the studio, Ardis J Studio, after her grandmother, Ardis Jane, from whom she did inherit some of her artistic ability. 

That natural talent is not to say that Nicole doesn't work hard at her sketches. She often puts in 10 to 20 hours of work on each piece. 

Her customers are now asking for more and more of her custom pieces and original work.

"It's been fun and crazy busy," Nicole says. "And I have more work than I thought I'd ever get."

Word of mouth is what works, she says. After trying the art show scene for a few years, Nicole found it to be a slog, even if she got a custom job or two. Now, she's called it quits on art shows, and her work load is still doing just fine.

Nicole works in her small studio in Hanover, built a few years ago as her kids went off to school. She found her basement studio cramped, and her handy father-in-law built it in no time flat. Nicole's studio hosts little tots drawing lessons during the summer, where she teaches first through seventh graders basic drawing techniques.

"It's a blast," she says. "You can usually tell within the first session if the child has a natural ability."

For her own work, Nicole takes inspiration from the world around her: kids, family, animals, the rural setting around her. Customers ask her for lots of animal drawings, like horses and dogs.

"I think I've done every breed of dog 10 times," Nicole says.

To experiment, Nicole dabbles in other creative projects, like furniture and interior design. The furniture thing came about because she likes to make her own pieces.

"I would rather not pay top dollar for anything. Furniture is really fun to me," Nicole says. "I garage sale like bonkers. I love it - it's a total addiction."

In fact, if she were to do it over again, Nicole would concentrate on interior design work. She does a few projects here and there, using a style she calls "modern shabby chic," but she really has her eye on redoing an entire house.

"I use crazy colors. I just have an eye for it," she says. "Like, my kitchen's a bright teal. People wake up when they go in."

Nicole's kids have an eye for art, too, she says. Two may be better than she ever was. Take her oldest daughter, who draws all the time. Nicole calls her "phenomenal."

Maybe there's an art gene in there after all. Take a look around Nicole's studio, and you will see four pieces hanging up created by her kids. 

"I'll never take them down," she says.