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After 10 years as a hobby-painter, her daughters having left the nest, Luane saw the opportunity to do, to the fullest, what has become her biggest passion. “I quit my job in the council and jumped into my own business. We had lots of space and a big function room in the barn and I opened my own art school in 2002.” It sounds as if Luane had everything organised, but fate intervened again. She shares her story with us.

"I am a self trained artist, self-employed since 2000. I was living with my husband and three daughters, in a big, old forest-house in East Germany and I had a full time job. Renovating and gardening took a lot of time too and I was looking for something to charge my inner battery. I found a very inspiring book about the Russian landscape painter Iwan Schischkin, and started to copy some of his paintings. I then started making copies from other old masters, and soon I wanted to paint my own work. After a few years – in 1995 – one of my colleagues from the council came to see our old charming forest-house and was astonished to see all the paintings on the walls. Soon after they organised an exhibition and it all snowballed. I had more and more exhibitions, features and commissions.
I lived in the forest, in the middle of nowhere, finding my inspiration in nature, and so it is here in New Zealand as well. But when my first grand-daughter was born I fell in love immediately and started to paint her portrait over and over again, and so I became more and more a portraitist. It’s the beauty and the joy in life that I love and what better impression and evidence than to find it in faces, animals and landscapes.
Luane Brauner

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After having her talent dismissed by a high school art teacher and being told to ‘stick to design’, Louise Williams let go of her passion for creation and almost gave up on her dream of being an artist. Almost two decades later, now a mother and an accomplished graphic designer, she has once more put pen to paper and allowed her creative talents to flourish. Her biggest accomplishment? Finding the courage to try again.

Born in Doncaster, England, Louise emigrated with her family as a toddler and settled in New Zealand. Although she always had a creative flare, it was during her years in high school that the first blow to her artistic confidence occurred, and she was told to stick to design as the teacher didn’t like her style. These words were especially discouraging, and although she had since taken up crafting and scrapbooking as a hobby, Louise was unable to follow her dreams and didn’t so much as pick up a pencil for over two decades.
The second blow came swiftly indeed. By the age of 24, Louise was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease – a type of inflammatory bowel disease that affects the gastrointestinal tract and can cause persistent abdominal pain. Although the Crohn’s Disease is still present in her life, Louise has managed to wrestle control over this and bring her focus back onto her art. Her saving grace has not only been her undeniable strength to overcome these challenges but also the love of her partner and two young children.
Gradually Louise felt the compulsion to draw, create and grow stronger. Starting again with small canvases, her confidence grew when she tentatively placed these pictures for sale on ‘Etsy’ and was able to profit immediately. Her confidence in her style and work continued to grow, leading her to be the accomplished artist she is today. Very humble, Louise still describes herself as a ‘work in progess’.
Louise Williams

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Taking inspiration from Orphism and Cubism concepts, as well as the works of Kandinsky and Mondrian, Alysn Midgelow-Marsden has been able to produce and perfect abstract mediums, creating, commissioning and exhibiting her art from around the world since the early 90s.

Alysn is currently an established business and family woman with a scientific background - whose works have won awards for the use of many varied mediums to construct gripping textile and stitched art. Although a native of Nottingham in the UK, Alysn and her husband have travelled extensively throughout the United Kingdom, New Zealand and America, not only to exhibit her crafts but also to indulge her fascination and love of world art and textiles - from the ancient, primeval cave paintings of the Aboriginal to beautiful African Kuba cloths and dazzling Indian embroidery.
“From childhood onwards, I’ve always created, painted and stitched, and so, as is the case with so many people, the urge was always there. However, getting ‘proper’ training and a ‘proper’ job was the direction advocated by my parents. This I did through both Bangor University in Wales where I gained Honours Degrees in Marine Biology and Biochemistry, as well as a PhD in Systematics from Loughborough University in the UK.” Alysn Midgelow-Marsden

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Kiwi-born Jewel Lynam returned to New Zealand in 2010 after living in Arizona as an artist for many years. Besides showing her artworks in various shows, an art expo in Miami and galleries in the USA, she also had solo exhibits in Paris and Aix-en-Provence. It was in France that she began her career in 1987.

“I moved to the USA, and the following year I journeyed to Europe, where I unexpectedly started my career as an artist. For a number of years, I did not have a green card to work. To exist and find the resources for the materials to paint and then transport them to where ever the artworks needed to be shown, required stamina coupled with the conviction that this was meant to be. I did not have a family or any financial support, so at times the exhibiting side required a lot of time and work as some of my artworks were large and heavy.
Many of the shows I went to were selected expensive high-end outdoor weekend shows, but in order to have the faith that there would be sales and I would be seen by art collectors, there was no other choice but to get there. This exposure meant I now have collectors from many different parts of the world.” Jewel is an acrylic painter, though she also works with ink. Largely self taught, (just some classes at Hamilton Art Society many years ago) her creativity gave her the freedom of imagination to express a rhythm and a mysterious atmosphere to her compositions. Most of the works are painted without any pre-conceived idea in mind, therefore her colorful figuative works reveal varying subject matter from the subtle, to an alchemy of color, intrique and strength in very articulate terms.
See more about Jewel here.

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Natalie Scholtz had been travelling, painting and working as a roaming artist and art facilitator for a year when she met a lovely stranger who had seen some of her works. She was offered the opportunity to join as a residential artist in an equine veterinary clinic in Fes, Morocco. She resided there and painted amongst the stables, and got to record the ‘angular and sometimes fragmented character of the working horses, mules and donkeys of Fes’. “My 6-week residency there concluded with a solo show that I could not have been more proud or thankful for”.

Natalie is a well-travelled Australian, born in London, raised in Perth, and now resides in New Zealand. She was taught by her father, a traditional sign writer, and art was a constant, growing up, through university, travelling and living abroad. “It made sense and made me happy that the arts would be my career direction. I am motivated by the idea that I get to do something, to earn a living, which relates to what I love.” She is a self-taught artist, but has recently completed a short course at the Royal Drawing School London and has participated in ‘Artist in Residence’ in Italy, the Blue Mountains and Morocco. “I draw on inspiration found in my immediate environment. The gesture found in the everyday from botanicals, figurative, portraits, still life and self. I combine realism with a slight nod toward the angular, awkward and imperfect normalities. “The artists who have inspired me? I love Egon Schiele and Brett Whitely for their line. Peter Doig’s application of paint and colour. Frida Kahlo for her story in subject. Louise Bourgeois and her ability to capture emotion through a range of medium. My list goes on and on.

See more of Natalie's work here: Natalie Scholtz.

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Diane Gardiner was born in Auckland and achieved her school certificate in art there, as well as attending Piers Hayman Wildlife Art School and doing various workshop courses. She has always been creative and after her second son was born, she took private drawing lessons for a year.

Wanting to capture nature on canvas, generating a source of income from something she is passionate about, Diane completed a Small Business Course and became eligible for a grant from the Ministry of Social Development. This kick started her business and helped her buy stock. At this stage she was a single mum with two young boys.
In 2015, Diane and her partner, Colin, decided to move to the Far North from Kaipara to experience a more rural lifestyle. Real estate costs in the Far North were more achievable for them and they now own 200 acres. Diane reflects, “I live on a remote bush block in the Far North and am surrounded by bush, birds and stunning beaches.” In this idyllic situation, she prefers to work without music, listening to the birdsong instead. She now has two very young grandchildren, and enjoys spending time with them and their Dad. Content with what she is doing at the moment, Diane would like to have a small studio/gallery, open to the public. She says she will also start teaching small art classes in the future. Suffering from depression, Diane sometimes finds it hard to remain motivated. “I am glad that this condition has been highlighted in the last few years, so that there is more acceptance and knowledge about it. It does however, remain a personal battle.”
There are many artists that Diane admires. Two of these would be Scott Christensen, an Australian ocean painter and Amber Emm who produces beautiful realism in oils and whose classes she has attended. “I am starting to paint the sea, more as a focal point rather than just a landscape element. This is a whole new learning curve for me as I am generally known as a ‘painter of birds’”.
Email us for Diane's contact details: TNZAM Editor.

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Dawn Barry’s father had a profound effect on her interest in art from a very young age. She studied art at Auckland Girls Grammar and gained the Fine Arts Prelim. She went on to Elam Art School in 1969, but decided to spend some time travelling and gaining life experience instead of studying, which she duly did.

Dawn found that having a career as an artist was the most enjoyable way of making a living. She spent some time screenprinting T-shirts and selling then whilst living on Stewart Island for twelve years in the 70s and 80s, moving on to painting full time, selling all over New Zealand as well as Stewart Island. She now lives in Riverton, on the wild, west coast of the South Island, where she has been for the past 20 years. The beautiful birds, plants and landscapes inspire her creative soul and she is appalled by the circumstances endangering these precious species. Initially inspired by Rita Angus, Don Binney and Robin White and Wolf Kahn, she spent many years going to Summer Schools in Whanganui, Winter Schools at the Southland Polytech and attended many seminars with the likes of Julia Faithful, Nigel Brown, Paul van den Bergh and John Scott, amongst others. She feels all these artists were instrumental in her artistic development. The freedom to express herself just as she wishes and to celebrate the things she holds precious is what she loves most about being an artist. She enjoys exploring different methods and mediums and finds it boring to stick to one style for long.
Email us for Dawn's contact details: TNZAM Editor.

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Andrea Robinson cannot remember ever not being an artist. She has always drawn and painted from a very young age. “My mother said that as a toddler she would leave me in the high chair for hours with a crayon and a piece of paper. She knew she had an artist in the family when I was left alone in the kitchen at age two and I had artistically rendered the cupboards in jam.” She moved on to drawing on the wallpaper until she was given a sketch pad and felt pens.

Andrea works mainly with oil on canvas. She also enjoys creating artwork with watercolour ink on plates, and whenever she gets a chance, she will use a press. “Printmaking is very therapeutic and keeps me fresh. I love the surprise element of forms changing and colours bleeding into one another when rolled through a press onto thick Incisioni paper.” Brushes are her favourite tools. They are expensive to purchase so she looks after them well and finds it hard to part with any of them until such time as the bristles are completely worn down. “I love the feeling of a good brush that holds the paint well - and good brushes last a long time.” Andrea’s work has been displayed at the Millwood Gallery, Expressions Whirinaki Gallery, Kapiti Law Gallery, Southwards Car Museum, Shona McFarlane Atrium, Saatchi Online Gallery, Alfred’s gallery in Petone, Ocean Artists Gallery in Los Angeles, and at the Odlin and Huia Galleries. She has work in Canada, Australia, London, the United States and New Zealand.
See Andrea's website here: Andrea Robinson

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