Wendy Gillespie is an enterprising woman with large goals. How many other Kiwi artists have booked themselves into courses in Edinburgh and had a solo exhibition in New York (the Agora Gallery) over the last few years? She is also grandmother to six beautiful children, and holds a PhD in strategy and organisational improvement. Wendy is keen to assist other artists in putting their original artwork onto high-end products, as she has done with her own artwork. She tells us she is self-taught and recently published her first children’s book - Carter and the Tooth Fairy. Wendy shares her inspiration, motivation and passion.
“As a child I loved drawing. As a Counsellor and Primary Teacher I loved being able to help children transfer their energy into colour and form. Now as a trained strategist, budding artist who lives an eclectic life, I love being able to create the passion and mood into a picture. I have studied and worked in Strategic Management, Organizational Development for over 14 years. One promise I made to myself, when I finished academic study, was that I would do two things: learn to paint oils and to play the classical piano.
In the early 1980s I completed a correspondence course in Commercial Art and Graphic Design. I attended a week-long course with John Wilson in Brisbane in 2006, who taught me how to create beautiful atmospheric conditions. I also attended a two-week course in ‘Portraits in Realism’ in Edinburgh, with the School of Realism, which are techniques I have yet to start developing. My favourite old timers are the Masters who represented what they saw through realism, their every brush stroke and many layers tells a story. I love Charles Lindaeur and Goldie’s depiction of character, and many old Masters who represented depiction of mood through atmosphere, light and dark.”
See more of Wendy's work HERE.
