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Pastels

Pastels painting art is a dry medium in which artists use colored pastels, made of pure pigment and a binder, to create artworks on paper or other surfaces. It allows for vibrant, soft, and highly blendable colors, making it popular for both detailed and expressive works, especially in techniques such as drawing or painting.

Jenny Konz

jenny-konz-aotearoa-artistTHERAPEUTIC TALENT

The first time Jenny Konz picked up a pencil to draw with, was in 2009. She maintains there was never a 'plan’ to become an artist. She resorted to drawing to ease the ache in her heart from her daughter and granddaughter living so far away in America.

"I went over to America for the birth of my first grandchild as my son-in-law (GI Joe) was doing a tour in Iraq. It tore my heart in two when I had to leave this beautiful little bundle and come back home. His second tour was when she was two years old, and my daughter and granddaughter came to New Zealand for a holiday. I fell in love with this bundle of joy all over again and my heart seriously broke when they had to leave. I struggled to cope with the loss and decided to pick up a pencil and try to draw her from my favourite photo, thinking that it would be good therapy for me. I had my Aunt Margaret who lived in Christchurch who was an artist (Margaret Hudson-Ware) so I sent her my drawing for some feedback and this is what she said… "What a lovely drawing! You have caught the most important part of any drawing, which is the spirit of the work. Alex looks unsure, uncertain what is happening. Well done Jenny!!! The hair is very soft and babyish and wispy . . . good work here. Hands are a nightmare. These hands are very sweet and very young . . . good work again. (I think of them as a bunch of sausages). Lop-sided is real, too symmetrical often looks artificial - a bit of good work. Just keep going."

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Wendy Ricketts

wendy-ricketts-aotearoa-artistCompelled to paint and draw animals, especially their eyes, Wendy Ricketts tells us how she uses her artistic talent to focus and calm her busy mind while producing works for commission, family and friends.

I was first inspired to draw after seeing a study of a hare by German artist Albrecht Durer. I was taken by the detail and softness of the rendition. I love the faces of animals and the detail needed to produce them. I strive to produce it, sometimes to my detriment. You can get so caught up in the detail that you forget the result you were intending to achieve. Or the mood you were trying to show in the animal. Animal faces convey so much, especially the eyes. I have always loved the natural world and have a fascination with wildlife. 

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Julie Freeman

Julie Freeman - aotearoa artist

A self-taught artist, Julie Freeman has always loved art as a hobby. When she moved overseas after marriage in 1980, she was able to pursue her art while her husband Michael was completing a Masters in Product Design at the University of Illinois. She began doing animal portraits and some figurative work, which gradually progressed from black and white to colour. After living in the USA for eight years they transferred to the UK. Life was pretty busy with two young children but she persevered, mainly doing commissioned animal portraits, which became popular through word of mouth. Julie tells us of her journey from then through to winning the 2016 Unison Colour Cup at the PANZ ‘Purely Pastel’ National Awards in Mapua.

We returned to New Zealand at the end of 1993, and my primary focus was on the children, the home and part-time work in a local art shop. As the children got older I had a little more free time and started to focus on pastel as my preferred medium. My first exhibition was with two other professional artists, Merle Bishop and Joan Taylor, at A Fine Line Gallery in Matakana in December 2009 which was a turning point for me as an artist. My work for this exhibition covered a range of subjects, focusing on what I thought would be popular with the local residents and I successfully sold the majority of my work.

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Andrew Carter

CHALLENGING COLOUR

Oil pastel artist Andrew Carter learned he was colour blind at the age of nine when he argued with his teacher over his choice of selecting yellow instead of green for the grass and red for the bark on the trees in a school painting.

It certainly didn’t put him off painting and drawing and why should it have? Some famous artists such as Constable, Picasso and van Gogh are thought to have been colour blind and they did well. It is, after all, a simple matter of perception, not skill or technique.

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Beverly Reid

Beverly Reid - Aotearoa Artist

THE JOURNEY

Californian-born Beverly Reid has had a passion for art since childhood. “When I received my first set of Crayola crayons and a colouring book, I loved the exciting hues of colours I could create with them, which led me to drawing different things on my own. My very first memories of drawing were that of a sailing ship, Black Beauty and a ballerina. I was so excited with all the details I could put into my drawings making them ‘come alive’, I wanted to do more! This began my art journey into enjoying realism which still continues today!” .

Apart from a short college course in 3-Dimensional Art in 1994-5, Beverly is a self-taught artist with no formal training, but dedicated to perfecting her craft, and developing her own unique style. “I love being an artist, because I can communicate a feeling or capture a moment in time through my work, and share it with other people. There’s nothing more gratifying to me, when I receive feedback that my art made someone stop, stare at it and keep looking at it!

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Jason King

Jason King - Aotearoa Artist

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.

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Jodie Marlow

Jodie Marlow - Aotearoa Artist

VIBRANT COLOUR

“When I am happy the people in my life are happy.” says landscape artist Jodie Marlow. Whangarei-born Jodie is happiest when she is painting. “I love how it makes me feel so alive, it gives me the ability to express who I am as a person.”

Jodie has been painting and drawing her entire life, attending many after-school art classes and achieving a cracking 98 percent for her final school art certificate. From 1990-1993 she studied for a diploma in fashion design in her hometown of Whangarei.

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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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Kathryn Millard

Kathryn-millard-aotearoa-artist

THE INNER ARTIST

It is an intense and intimate relationship and interaction with the world around her that feeds Kathryn Millard’s artistic soul.

“My life is about energy, rhythm and sensation, and translating that into a piece of art,” she declares. “It is about inventing the perfect technique, my own unique language for my response to nature. It is the experience of what I see happening all around me that stimulates me and gets me going, not the thing itself, that is the underlying subject of my work.”

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Tonal Values

GETTING YOUR TONAL VALUES RIGHT

“Tonal values are critical. The lights and darks contribute more to the success of a painting’s composition than any other factor, including colour. In fact your painting will really only be as good as the tonal values.”

By Greg Albert, The Simple Secret to Better Panting

A painting with only mid-tones risks being flat and dull. Value or tonal contrast creates visual interest in a painting. A high-key painting is one in which the contrasts in value or tone are extreme, from black right through the range of mid-tones down to white. A low-key painting is one in which the tonal range is narrower.

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