Camera Obscura
CAMERA OBSCURA Artists using photographic references have long been accused of laziness, or even worse, excelling in technical capability while lacking…
Paper for print
SELECTING PRINT PAPER By Randal Scott, the proprietor of Fine Art Papers, importers and suppliers of fine art and conservation papers…
Gesso
GESSO Noun - def: gypsum or plaster of Paris spread on a surface to make it suitable for painting or gilding…
Reka Norman
REKA NORMAN
REKA NORMANStraight ‘A’ student, sixteen year-old Reka Norman has always enjoyed drawing, ever since childhood, for her it is a hobby.
Reka takes her hobbies seriously and to end her high school year with a 95% pass rate for her final International Cambridge Art Exam is a notable demonstration of this.
Honor Hamlet
HONOR HAMLET
HONOR HAMLETHonor Hamlet, a student at Haunui College, Whangarei, completed her high-school career by achieving the best marks in the world while her friend and fellow art student Reka Norman came in with an outstanding 95% pass.
Honor, (17) who only took up art seriously in her last two years of high school, is now a full-time student at Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland.
Aaron Scythe
DRIVEN TO CREATE
Painter and ceramicist, Aaron Scythe trained at the Carrington Polytech in Auckland in 1988 and East Sydney Polytech in 1989 where he developed an interest in Momoyama pots.
While working at the Sturt Craft Centre in NSW, Australia he built an Anagama Kiln and began investigating Shino glazes. In 1995 he travelled to Japan to study Minoyaki style pottery under master ceramicist Koie Ryoji. Aaron lived and worked in Japan until 2011 when he returned to New Zealand. During his time in Japan he held over 60 solo exhibitions and participated in many group shows and workshops. He is currently based in Whanganui East.
Jason King
MAGICAL INGREDIENT
Award winning landscape artist Jason King, a part-time fire engineer with penchant for making and flying model gliders, had always envied people who could draw or paint realistic pictures and never imagined he would be able to do it himself until one day he decided to give it a try. In this article he charts his course from the sketchpad to the winners podium.
When I first tried my hand at drawing I discovered that drawing ability is not necessarily an innate skill or ability, but rather something that can be learned. I found that there are techniques that can be used to create an image and, for me, the most important skill was developing an eye for what looks good.
Gavin Chai
THE PRODIGY
At the relatively young age of 17 years, Malaysian-born portrait artist Gavin Chai will hold his first solo exhibition at the Estuary Arts Centre in Orewa in May this year. This follows outstanding achievements in winning both KG Fraser award (best in show) and the gold medal (most successful artist of the show) at the 2014 Royal Easter Show. Gavin also had a painting selected as a finalist in the 2014 Adam Portraiture Award and placed with the nation-wide touring exhibition. In this article Gavin tells how the work of the old masters inspired him to create and pursue a career as a professional artist.
I started drawing and painting when I was 12 years old and trained under an artist in Malaysia where many materials such as oil paints and acrylics are in short supply. I was only taught how to use pencil, watercolour and oil pastels.
Anne Michelle Johal
THE ART OF ILLUSTRATION
My entire family are passionate readers, creatives, entrepreneurs, and story tellers. My father, a farmer, collected humorous books with illustrations full of wonderful little stories that tickled, and he taught us how to draw cartoons as a child. Beatrix Potter’s little handheld books, with her delicious little watercolour paintings, were read to us by our grandmother. Dad’s books included those written and illustrated by A.S. Paterson, the Andy Capp series, and many others. The coloured line illustrations and stories of Asterix and Obelix, the black and white cartoons of Murray Ball, The What a Mess collection by Frank Muir with Joseph Wright’s wonderful illustrations, Quentin Blake’s work, among others, became part of our favourite collections growing up.
A passionate reader, from a very young age, I lived inside these books as movies in my imagination. The narratives of people and places, emotion and experience captured and transported me out into the world of cultural difference and exciting possibilities, such a contrast to the farm life.
Claudia Recorean
CONTEMPORARY EXHIBITIONIST
CONTEMPORARY EXHIBITIONISTClaudia Recorean has been exhibiting her contemporary artwork in far-flung locations such as Germany and Mongolia and more recently right here in New Zealand. Here she tracks her career from the start.
The start of my artist career was marked, when I was ten years old and my grandfather sent me out to burn the rubbish. Watching the flames melt plastic into fluids and turning objects into new shapes initiated along lasting fascination with material transformation and the wish to spin straw into gold.