Ink

Ink painting art is a traditional artistic practice that involves the use of ink, often in the form of calligraphy ink or sumi ink, to create brushwork on paper or silk. This technique is characterised by its emphasis on flowing lines, varying shades of black or gray, and a focus on capturing the essence of the subject with expressive and economical brush strokes.

Ashley Mcdonald

Ashley McDonald 2023

Ashley McDonald The NZ Artist

CONSCIOUS PERSPECTIVE

Self-taught artist Ashley McDonald was published in a ‘Youth Art’ article in The New Zealand Artist Magazine in July August 2016, and has continued on with her remarkable journey. Seven years later she catches up with us and in her own words, tells us her story.

My artistic journey began by accident. When I was in my early teens I would paint and draw for school homework (or just for fun). I’d draw things I was interested in - such as birds and fish. One day I painted a portrait of my pet Siamese fighting fish. I posted the end result online to a group of tropical fish enthusiasts. Almost immediately I had comments asking me whether I would take commissions and if I could ship internationally. It was quite overwhelming, as I was in my early teens at the time - I had no idea if I could even send art outside of New Zealand. My first commissioned piece was completed at age 15 and was shipped to the United Kingdom. My artistic career snowballed from there. Once my first commission arrived in the UK, the owner posted the piece online, bringing more queries and future commissions. Before this, I had never thought about selling my artwork.

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Michaela Voigt

MICHAELA JANE VOIGT

Always a very creative person, when the decision came in year 13 to decide what was next for Michaela Voigt, it was either going to be something along the lines of Sports and Nutrition or something creative and she chose an Applied Arts Degree - a Bachelor of Applied Media Art at the Southern Institute of Technology which she completed in 2013.

“I did focus a lot on the digital side whilst studying but my favourite class, looking back, was definitely life drawing. Since graduating I have mostly been a full time Graphic Designer putting work into the odd exhibition but in the last couple of years I have really started pursuing my love of drawing again in particular flowers and botanicals.”
She finds inspiration in all that surrounds her. “I draw things I have seen that are memorable to me and it’s usually the little things.

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Sarah Pou

Sarah Pou - Aotearoa Artist - The New Zealand Artists Magazine

COLOURFUL AFFAIR

Studying Visual Communication at Unitec in Auckland from the early age of 17, Sarah Pou went on to have her art showcased in several high street art Galleries in Auckland and then later in London. She met her husband when she was travelling in England and her artistic career was put on hold in favour of consistent income.

After the birth of her first child she painted childrens nursery artwork and one of her customers proclaimed that she was an ‘illustrator’. This resonated with her and after returning to New Zealand and having their third child, she felt an overwhelming desire to create again, which she could not ignore. She started to develop her style whilst working and looking after her young family. “Time was very limited so I carved out time in the evenings. Although it was tiring, I felt fulfilled and content when I was creating.”

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UK ARTIST Amanda Bates

Amanda Bates - Aotearoa Artist - The New Zealand Artists Magazine

Trees prompted Amanda Bates’ move from palette knives and oil paint to pen and ink. “A particular group of beech trees at Avebury were responsible for this switch,” says British artist Amanda, who grew up in a house called Haere  Mai, which she understands to mean ‘Welcome’ in Maori.

By Tim Saunders

“Growing on top of the henge (earthen bank), their intertwined roots have been exposed by soil erosion, caused by a combination of weathering and visitors feet. The resultant lattice is fascinatingly ornate and well beyond the scope of my knife work. Brushes didn’t seem to hold the answer either; the magic that I was reaching for didn’t seem to be present in a realistic depiction. I tried several approaches, including a diversion into a stylised use of colour that took on a life of its own for a while but it wasn’t until I reached back in time for my pen and its promise of crisply rendered detail, that I realised that colour itself might be the problem. It seems to be well known among photographers that a sharp monochrome photograph will show detail better than any colour photograph could. The reason for this has nothing to do with any inherent superiority of black and white film over colour; it holds true in digital photography. It is simply that colour distracts the eye from detail and it seems that our brains can only cope with so much visual information at a time.

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Monisha Gallage

monisha-gallage-aotearoa-artistWAX ON - WAX OFF

Born in Sri Lanka, and the daughter of a well recognised newspaper artist, Monisha Gallage did a bachelor’s degree in Fashion and LifeStyle design at the University of Moratuwa. During this course, she did a module of batik in 2012 and completed another course in batik at teachers training college in 2018. She has excelled in this laborious but rewarding discipline in art.

“Soon after I completed university, I started working in apparel manufacturing and worked as a junior fashion designer for several leading apparel manufacturing companies who provide design-to-delivery solutions for some of the world’s most recognized brands such as Calvin Klein, Versace and Superdry Japan. This was a highly competitive and fast-moving environment which I didn’t enjoy as much as I thought I would. I grew up in an arty background as my father was a well recognized newspaper artist in Sri Lanka. He also worked as an Art Advisor for the Ministry of Education and I had the opportunity to get his guidance towards art from an early age.

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Melanie Corby

Melanie Corby - aotearoa artist

ZONING IN

Melanie Corby has an unusual claim to fame: her painting is the first thing people see when entering the Wellington Police HQ holding cells. “I just hope when people walk through, they’re inspired that there is hope and the world is full of colour and brightness. They can grasp a little straw of that and know they’re here for a reason and a purpose,” she said.

I used to love drawing as a child, and I had an Aunty who used to paint. She taught me to make a notebook out of recycled paper when I was about 12 years old. I filled that little notebook with 100s of drawings of cartoons and animals. I had an eye for detail and being able to look at a large image and draw it perfectly scaled down. I took art painting right up to bursary level 7th form. I wanted to do a fine arts degree when I left high school, but my parents said there was no money in art, so I trained as a primary school teacher. 

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Tessa Ralston

tessa-ralston-aotearoa-artistINSPIRED ILLUSTRATION

I’ve come to find that art seems to always niggle it’s way back into my life, even, perhaps, when I’m trying to distance myself from it. I have no true recollection of ‘getting into art’, but like most children inherently are, I was drawn to painting and visual expression.

With my mother being a graphic designer, I was fortunate enough that she fostered my artistic energy and patiently encouraged my creativity – and amusingly, she simultaneously firmly discouraged my entering the graphic design world. I believe there is a subtle divergence that happens when artists are ‘made’, and that is when they keep drawing, painting and playing after they are no longer children.

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Sally-Ann Davies

Sally-Ann Davies was born in Shropshire, England and resides in Taupo. She started her journey of becoming an artist as a toddler, drawing on the newly wallpapered walls of the farmhouse she grew up in. Her favourite subject at school without doubt was art. She vividly remembers that the primary school she attended would reward you if you finished your work early, with going and playing in the craft corner. She remembers how amazing creations developed with the simple materials such as egg cartons and toilet rolls. 

Her journey to becoming the esteemed artist she is today did not come with ease. A the age of 12 she had a detached retina so ended up having quite a few months off school. This meant no active play, which she says was very frustrating when you grow up on a farm with her brothers. Sally-Ann is a triplet, so you can understand the frustration she must have had, because she and her brothers normally spent their time building dens, rafts and camping by the river. 

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