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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.

UK ARTIST Gerry Defries

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Gerry Defries, who considers himself a colourist in the impressionist style, has exhibited widely in England, America and France. He paints seascapes and landscapes in acrylics and has sold close to 200 works.

By Tim Saunders

During a stroll along the Thames he spied a laser boat; a small racing dinghy that he used to race in his younger day. “I took a photograph and painted it,” recalls Gerry, whose first cousin married a man from Wellington and lived there for five years before relocating to Auckland where they stayed for five years before settling in Melbourne, Australia. “It got selected by a gallery in Edinburgh and then it got moved to Glasgow. The same painting was also selected by the Mall Galleries for the Royal Society of Marine Artists exhibition. I forgot that it was already in Glasgow and couldn’t find it. So I spent the weekend producing another one. I then realised where the first one was, got that back and duly took it to the Mall Galleries. They sent a picture of it out to all their clients. One of the clients recognised the boat. The next thing I knew I got an email from this gentleman saying ‘you have painted my boat’. I thought ‘oh goodness me, I’m in trouble for breach of copyright or something’. He came to see the painting and bought it, went on my website and saw the other one and bought that as well. He then commissioned me to do another one.

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Karin McCombe Jones

 

THE ESSENCE OF COLOUR

With a plethora of training in all sorts of artistic areas including art and design, dance, physical education, and achieving a Bachelor’s Degree of Education with Honours, Karin McCombe Jones started her career teaching dance, drama and art in Engl­and. She moved to Canada and after immigrating to New Zealand, did various courses at the Learning Connexion school of art and creativity in Wellington where she now holds evening classes.

Born in Wales, Karin was a child who enjoyed drawing although her main ambition was to be an actress. “I got to teach drama, dance and art, which was close to being on stage at times, and painted sets for productions although I craved to be able to create my own work rather than simply making exemplars.”

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Karen Gourley

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IMMERSIVE DETAIL

“I love when an idea in my head comes to life on paper and translating that idea into a visual representation. The tactile nature of pastels is very therapeutic. I love sharing my love of nature with people and am so honoured when people choose to buy my artwork to hang on their wall.” So says Karen Gourley, a pastel artist, born in Ireland and now gracing New Zealand with her tremendous talent.

Her move to New Zealand means she has the opportunity to be immersed in nature, and with so many birds and wildlife on the doorstep, she feels compelled to paint them all. “I have always loved art from a young age, watching Tony Hart on Hartbeat and carefully copying along as I watched. Art was my favourite subject at school and art is a part of who I am. After studying, I followed a career as an accountant and took up painting in 2007 as a hobby.” After completing a Natural History Illustration course in 2018 she started applying the learned techniques to her pastel paintings. 

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Diana Peel

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FLORAL FREEDOM

With a Master’s Degree in design and having had full training in visual arts, Diana Peel has found herself in her exuberant floral paintings. Hailing originally from Russia, her natural passion radiates through her work.

When Diana first immigrated to New Zealand, she struggled to find work with her qualifications; she eventually started as an interior designer, but discontinued as “I was not good at designing pharmacies”. In great frustration she bought herself a large canvas and passionately painted an amazing iris, which she completed in four hours. “It was a turning point in my life - the energy flowing through my blood and that feeling of happiness and satisfaction just blew me away! After finishing that painting, I stepped back and said to myself: I am not an interior designer anymore, I am an artist!” Inner happiness and balance are the biggest inspirations for Diana. She doesn’t work with reference pictures anymore. “With time and lots of practice, I have learned to express myself in an abstract floral language. I can pour my feelings onto the canvas. Usually I just need to be happy, full of energy and craving some particular colours, and the magic happens.

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Carina Sim-Smith

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CARINA CREATES

Born in Singapore, Carina Sim-Smith is a marine biologist by profession and a very talented artist in her free time. She taught herself how to paint by attending art classes and workshops by various tutors at her local arts centre, and by hours of practice.

“I’ve always enjoyed art but could never afford any of the pieces in art galleries that I liked, so I decided to learn how to paint so that I’d have something to hang on my walls. I enrolled in a beginner’s art class and found that I really enjoyed painting.” She feels the pressure of having to earn a full-time income from her art would ruin her enjoyment of creating. “For me, art is an activity that I do for pleasure.”

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Adair Davis

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HOW COULD I NOT?

Born into a creative family with parents who belonged to a vibrant arts community, Adair Davis tells us that when she was born, Rita Angus, who lived with her family at the time, looked at her palm when she was born and proclaimed: “Adair will be an artist”. With this kind of background, it is not surprising that Adair has continued so successfully with her artistic journey.

Adair studied art at Whitireia New Zealand, previously called Whitireia Community Polytechnic and Parumoana Community College, in Porirua and claims her Mum was her mentor, teaching her to work in rich colour and three dimensional form. Her father was also instrumental in her influences, and actually made her an easel, which she still has and which is her favourite piece of equipment.

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Vjekoslav Nemesh 2022

Vjekoslav Nemesh - Aotearoa Artist - The New Zealand Artists Magazine

NEMESH

Artist Nemesh Vjekoslav, hailing originally from former Yugoslavia (now Serbia), has developed his own unique style of painting, calling it semi-abstract. His work is vibrant, colourful and representative of a prolific connection to spirituality.

Demonstrating exceptional drawing skills from early childhood, his main interest was drawing comics. “However, that changed in my early 20s when a schoolmate commissioned me to create a large oil painting. This commission progressed into a more detailed and graphic representation of my artistic style.”

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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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Hiria Anderson

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PAINTER OF LIGHT

Hiria Anderson prefers to be known simply as Hiria, a preference which reflects her shy and retiring nature. Brought up with her grandparents who were practitioners of Raranga (weaving) and Whakairo (carving) she grew up surrounded by creativity, loving drawing and making things with her hands.

“I’ve grown up around creatives so it was a natural transition for me to make art my career. As a young person I remember wanting to become an artist so I didn’t have to talk to people. I was fearful of having a job in front-of-house, reception, or serving in a shop. Anything to do with people I didn’t want to do. Well, I’ve come a long way in thinking from back then.”

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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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