Jane Tian
ABOVE: Curious, 250 X 300mm, Watercolour TALENTED WHISPERS “I am driven by a deep passion for expressing my creativity, recognising beauty…
Tim Houghton
ABOVE: 'Old Garden Shed' - I was struck by the peace and silence of this old garden shed, as the light…
Mila Renault
BRAZILIAN BEAUTY Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Mila Renault grew up sketching and painting landscapes. Her maternal great grandparents (amateur painters)…
Raewyn Harris
KORU CREATIONS By Matt Mortimer We are spoilt across our wonderful country with such natural wonders and beauty right on our…
Barbara Uini
Mostly a self-taught artist, Barbara Uini also studied illustration for a year at the Chisholm Institute in Melbourne, Australia. Serendipitously she…
Carla Sclanders
BLESSED INSPIRATION Born in South Africa and immigrating to New Zealand in 2020, Carla Sclanders is inspired by God. “He has…
Ashley McDonald 2023
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.
Diane Ammar
I AM AN ARTIST
25 years ago Diane Ammar completed a correspondence course on learning how to draw and with the final assignment assessed, the mentor suggested she should investigate paint as a medium as they felt she had an affinity to that. Diane explains further:
“For about four years I occasionally attended short courses held by local artists on learning how to use watercolour, and discovered I loved portraiture. I had a long break from attending classes and workshops until 2021, but during those years I painted many portraits for friends and family using photographs I had taken or ones they had given me to use. These paintings are hanging in homes in Australia, New Zealand, Philippines and England.
UK Artist Jennifer Evans
A ROYAL COMMISSION
Jennifer Evans received a commission to paint HM the late Queen’s corgis for her Silver Jubilee.
“I taught my husband on the train how to use the second camera: I set it on Green and continuous, my usual mode. We went to Windsor Castle, and met the Queen’s Diary Secretary and the Footman, who was OC Dogs during her absence. Thank goodness the Queen was not actually there that day, I don’t think I could have managed the social area and the unaccustomed nuances and curtseying requirements while concentrating on photographing each of the seven dogs.
Bec Robertson
AVIAN AFFINITY
AVIAN AFFINITYBec Robertson’s grandmother and her grandmother’s sister were painters in their retirement. Bec’s grandmother also wrote and illustrated poems and stories, “As a kid I also wrote and illustrated A LOT of ‘newspapers’. I would make up fanciful news stories and pictures then sell ‘the paper’ to my dad for lolly money. I soon learnt that I could resell the same articles to my other family members for more money for lollies! I loved showing them new pictures and ideas and getting their feedback.”
She tells us more: “I have loved being creative for as long as I can remember. As a young child I had a cupboard in the kitchen under the bench where I kept all my treasures, little bottles of crayon sharpenings, paper cut outs of anything which took my fancy, matchboxes full of strange found objects - I think a few unfortunate forgotten lady bugs and a caterpillar died as a result of my match box obsession.”