Birthday sketch celebrates beloved dogs

Kate Wilkinson’s home is a modern and minimalist space with only a few artworks on the walls, but one of them brings a huge smile to her face for some very good reasons. She told the story behind the sketch and why it means so much to her to Matt Lawrey.

Kate Wilkinson’s favourite artwork is “hands-down the best birthday present” she has ever been given.

Her partner James Hooper-Smith surprised her with the pencil sketch of their dogs Alfie and Izzy by Nelson artist Joel Bolton for her birthday in April this year. “It was an amazing present. I didn’t know it was happening. James just presented it to me on the morning of my birthday. He was really excited about it,” Kate says.

The couple knew about Joel’s talents after he had done portraits of one of James’s family dogs and some friends’ pets.

Kate loves the way Joel has captured the essence of each dog’s personality. “Alfie is sitting there with his mouth open, happy as, and Izzy’s not sure what’s happening and is kind of stressing out a little bit,” Kate laughs.

“Alfie’s a big, simple, innocent boy who is extremely needy and must be touching us at all times, requires constant pats and will lean on anyone for more pats. Izzy is more complex and overthinks everything, is very smart, makes a lot of noise and will rub on your legs like a cat.”

Kate says the bandanas the dogs are wearing in the sketch were handmade and are their “fancy dress” for when they go out.

Alfie and Izzy are ‘Retradoodles’ (Golden Retriever-Poodle crosses) and the artwork is based on photos that James gave Joel to work with. As he was working on the sketch, Joel sent James images of the work in progress for feedback.

Kate and James got the now five-year-old ‘littermates’ when they were eight-weeks-old. “We always knew we wanted pups, we always knew we wanted two so they could keep each other company, and they’re non-shedding, which was important. They’re clean and they smell delicious,” she says.

To say Kate, James, Izzy, and Alfie are close would be an understatement. Not only do they share a whole lot of love, but they’re also good at sharing small spaces.

Today, the four of them live in a 54-square-metre, modern, minimalist, one bedroom home in Toi Toi, which Kate and James designed and had built a few years ago. Before that, though, they all lived in a 34-square-metre tiny house in Invercargill.

“There was still enough room. It didn’t bother us, and the dogs had a huge area outside as well,” Kate says.

Not only do Kate, James, Izzy, and Alfie live in a compact space, but they also spend a lot of time together as a result of the couple running their online nutrition and exercise clinic, NTS Nutrition, largely from home. In fact, the house was built with the business in mind and includes a small recording/video call studio and separate office.

Kate and James started their business in a gym in Invercargill in 2019, but when Covid hit, they were forced to start connecting with clients online. The switch proved a real success.

“We just loved it, and it was so easy because, for nutrition, the service is the same; you’re sitting down in a clinic talking to someone, and you can do that over a video call.” Kate says.

Today, NTS Nutrition has clients across the country and overseas. They also provide services to the Tasman Mako.

“Some people we work with really closely with coaching, and for others, it’s more self-directed learning.”

Given how crowded the Internet has become, Kate thinks it would have been a lot harder to make the business work online if they hadn’t started with the in-person clinic.

“It’s a really hard space to break through. There’s so much misinformation out there, and then there are people like social media influencers who aren’t qualified to give advice.”

Despite it being an online business, Kate says they’re working to build up their local connections, which is seeing her work at the Mahitahi Colab a few times a week.

Kate grew up in Queenstown and got a Law Degree from the University of Otago. She and James met in their halls of residence in Dunedin and, after university, moved to Invercargill where Kate pursued a legal career for five years and James worked as a personal trainer prior to launching NTS Nutrition.

The couple had always planned to eventually move to Nelson, where James grew up, and were thrilled in 2020 to find a section that fit their vision for their next home.

“Nelson is definitely our homebase. We just love the area, love Toi Toi, and have lots of good friends here. It’s just great,” Kate says.