Nicola Warner
ABOVE: Onsen gold - 520x520mm - oil pastel The Art of Coming Full Circle: Nicola Warner’s Journey to the Easel…
Pauline Watts
The Colour of Resilience Born in Southampton, UK, Pauline Watts has traversed a path as vibrant and varied as her canvases…
Jamie Harkins
ABOVE: Jamie creating his work on Mount Maunganui Beach, Tauranga THREE DIMENSIONAL PERSPECTIVE Always wanting to be an artist, right from…
Nick Hayter
ABOVE: Cow Repose - 455 x 610mm. Oil on board NICK HAYTER Nick Hayter is a prolific artist with an inherent…
Jana Branca
AN EXCITING VOCATION
Jana Branca hails from South Africa, where she obtained a BA in Fine Arts from the University of Pretoria. “I remember a very pivotal moment at high school where my art teacher made a comment that she thought I could go on to be an artist. It was just a little thing she said in conversation, but it had a massively encouraging and life altering effect on me.”
Making, creating and re-creating has always been a very big part of her life and she says she couldn’t imagine a more exciting vocation. Having always been a ‘deep’ child, Jana loves having a vehicle for investigating and engaging with meaningful and weighty concepts. “Most of the things I like thinking about seem just out of my reach, and further wrestling with them through my art practice seems to make them just a little bit more graspable.”
Jocelyn Friis
SELF-TAUGHT SUSTAINABILITY
Jocelyn Friis went to a Steiner school in South Africa, where creativity is a part of everyday school life. This set the foundation for her creative life. “I have always loved to create. I believe strongly in pursuing what you love but it was only during my ‘mid-life’ years that I truly found my way in art. I realised I was not living true to myself. I am now free to express what I cannot with words. I love the freedom of intuitively laying down paint on the canvas. I see so much intertwining between painting and life – so many lessons to learn.”
Her biggest obstacle has been her mindset. “I have really had to work on believing that my work is worthwhile and contributing to the good in this world. Professionally, it is always a challenge to stay on top of things, stay visible and market myself. Perseverance is key and being able to take the losses with the gains.”
Stephen Martyn Welch (Marty)
A PROFICIENT PAINTER
Stephen Martyn Welch, known as Marty, has had no formal training in painting and as such, the beginning of his career was very difficult. Not many galleries were interested in what he had to offer. “I am 100% self-taught, which I am proud of because I worked really hard to get where I am today.”
He failed his school certificate in art, so he joined the army and started doing sketches for his fellow comrades, “so they could go to the local tattooist, where they proceeded to ruin my drawings on someone’s skin.” After the army, Marty worked in an Irish pub in Auckland. “I started off sketching images on a big white beer fridge door that was like a white board. From there people used to come in and ask me to draw different things from actors to comic characters.”
Elise De Silva
DRAMATIC LIGHT Born in Australia, and having a talented mum as an artist, Elise De Silva reflects on her fondest memories…
Pam Crowther
PAMELA'S SOUTHERN SYMPHONY Artists continually strive to bring a piece to life, to fill a canvas with something that personifies a…
Mila Renault
BRAZILIAN BEAUTY Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Mila Renault grew up sketching and painting landscapes. Her maternal great grandparents (amateur painters)…