Painting

Painting art is a visual artistic medium in which artists use various pigments, such as oil, acrylic, watercolor, or gouache, to apply color to a surface, typically canvas or paper, to create two-dimensional artworks. Paintings can encompass a wide range of styles and subjects, offering artists a versatile means of self-expression and storytelling.

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Julia Henderson

Julia Henderson - Aotearoa Artist

THE DISTINCTIVE VOICE

Growing up and being schooled in the United Kingdom, Julia Henderson attended a very conservative grammar school, where art was not considered an appropriate career choice. She studied Biological Sciences and went on to do a BSc and PhD in Ecology. She still felt the urge to get involved with the arts though and after immigrating to New Zealand 25 years ago, she obsessively studied art, taking numerous classes and workshops covering all aspects of art – drawing, painting in all media, print-making, colour theory and art history including Maori and Pacific art.

After deciding to take the next step and try to make a career out of art, she began entering competitions, experiencing some success. Finally a friend convinced her to approach a gallery with her work, and to her delight and beyond her wildest dreams, Julia was offered a solo exhibition. The sell-out show, held nearly 20 years ago, cemented Julia’s ambition and she has prospered ever since.

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Beth McGill - Aotearoa Artist

Beth McGill

Beth McGill - Aotearoa Artist

BIRDS OF A FEATHER

"The freedom of bringing something to life, whether it be a spark in the eye of a little bird or bringing something out of my head and trying to replicate nature – this is what I love about being an artist."

While Beth’s children were small and she worked part-time, she completed a Diploma with Honours at the Learning Connexion in Wellington. “This involved a lot of discipline and time juggling and although I hadn’t really done any artwork since school, I could feel the creative passion waiting in the background. Completing that diploma with honours really unlocked the doors for me.”

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Bari Duncan

Bari Duncan - Aotearoa Artist

A DRIVING FORCE

After trying various work prospects, such as clerical, retail,
bank and so on, Bari Duncan finally decided to follow her
lifelong passion. “Right from pre-school,” she reflects, “my mother couldn’t keep up with my lust for colouring-in books. I have always longed to follow my heart and get focused on my painting. I just kept pushing, struggling, learning and trying until the time was right.”

Having been dealt a number of blows on her journey, Bari reflects, “My art is everything to me, it’s who I am, a driving force. I love that it has helped me through the hardest, roughest times in my life and when it seemed everything around was crumbling, it kept me focused and positive.” On the subject of education, she has not attended art school or university.

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Claudia Slaney

Claudia Slaney - Aotearoa Artist

MAGICAL FLUIDITY

Inspired and encouraged by the likes of leading New Zealand watercolourist Brian Millard and internationally acclaimed Alvaro Castagnet, award winning watercolour artist Claudia Slaney has painted all her life. In this illuminating article she reveals that art has always been and remains her main interest in life.

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Angela Murray

Angela Murray - aotearoa artist

MOVING DALI

“My biggest creative highlight was selling two pieces to the same buyers and then discovering they had moved an original Dali to make room for one of my paintings, that was a real buzz!” holistic life coach and passionate acrylic artist Angela Murray pronounces.

So while Dali is hanging in a different light, Angela has no illusions of grandeur and maintains that ongoing training is a key component in her creative life. “I learned so much through many courses in Newcastle and Nottingham in the UK and Timaru, as well as a lot of self-teaching over the past 30 years,” she rationalises. Indeed, she still attends workshops to brush up on certain skills, the most recent being a weeklong course in Bali with US artist and author of ‘Brave Intuitive Painting’, Flora Bowley and 16 other artists.

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Melissa Wallace

Melissa Wallace - aotearoa artist

MY LIFE IS COMPLETE

Taupo Artist Melissa Wallace has had a journey of self discovery since having a chance discussion with a fellow mother at the net ball courts just over 10 years ago.

It was the seemingly standard question of “what do you do?” that started it all. The answer was “I’m a full time artist.” That day, and an invite home for coffee while a painting was being completed for a deadline, was the beginning of Melissa’s journey, finding her way home to that which makes her life complete.

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Brian Millard

IN HIS OWN WORDS

Brian Millard, who has been successfully exhibiting paintings since he was in his early twenties, won a scholarship to art school when he was eleven years old but left for a job in advertising at the age of sixteen. Since then he has successfully combined being both artist and writer.

He has been a graphic designer, an illustrator, a cartoonist, an advertising art director, a copywriter, a writer for television and radio, a TV producer, a journalist and the editor in chief of two magazines - one a sports magazine in the States. For a decade he and his partner Marilyn Palmer, also a respected watercolourist, ran their own gallery near Queenstown. They now live and paint in Auckland.

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Sam Earp

THE CALL OF THE SEA

Despite drawing and painting landscape scenes and trees in watercolour since he was a child, a bad grade in the sixth form put Samuel Earp off pursuing a career in art and he went to university where he studied plant sciences.

Born in Guernsey, Samuel’s first job was in London. Not enjoying either London or earning much money, he took up painting again for something to do. He visited a gallery in Exeter and saw the amazing seascape by Cornish artist, Peter Cosslett.

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Colin Hoare

Colin Hoare - aotearoa artist

FAMILY PORTRAIT

Colin Hoare enjoys painting portraits. Family members, friends and better-known faces are all fair game for this self-taught artist.

Colin likes to work from photographs, saying he does not really like doing pictures of people posing or pulling a big smile. “I like it when they are relaxed and acting naturally. I think that it is a privilege to paint a portrait of someone and try to be honest,” he says. “I draw using a light pencil and then paint with a brush. I prefer painting in oil because the paint takes longer to dry than acrylic paint; this means that I don’t have to keep remixing my paint in order to make the same colour.

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Fiona Hayward

Studio Pic - Fiona Hayward - aotearoa-artist

GOING SOLO

Fiona Hayward was highly rated in two prestigious New Zealand art awards. Her works can be found as far afield as the USA and Australia. She is currently working on a new series of paintings of endangered species from around the world which, she says, will enable her to host her first solo exhibition.

Whilst a deep and profound love of nature lies at the core of her inspiration, it is a peaceful inner feeling of freedom and joy in creating a new artwork that drives and motivates Fiona to paint and draw. Although she has had no formal art training, Auckland born Fiona says her capacity to draw and paint stems from her mother, a talented artist in her own right, who encouraged Fiona from a young age to pursue her artistic bent.

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