Realism Archives - Page 2 of 12

Sonya Prchal

1 July 2023
Animals, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Birdlife, Featured Artists, Landscape, Nature, Painting, Realism, Stylized, Textile

PAINTING WITH THREAD

Originally from Pukekohe and now based in Whangarei, Sonya Prchal has always loved art and has drawn and painted from a young age. “I started working with textiles in 2003 and first entered works in our National Quilt Symposium in Wellington in 2009. When four of my works sold, I was encouraged to create more and started teaching fabric painting and stitching at the next Quilt Symposium in Queenstown, at subsequent symposia and tutoring classes throughout New Zealand.”

Sonya has always managed to fit in daily practice in her studio, but has only recently been creating on a full time basis. “I love making works that draw in an audience and start a discussion. I enjoy commission work, and take great pleasure seeing joy on the faces of people when they receive their favourite pet replicated with thread.”

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Iwen Yong

1 July 2023
Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Featured Artists, Impressionism, Landscape, Oils, Painting, Realism, Seascape

NOTABLE TALENT

Born in Kuala Lampur, and immigrating to New Zealand at the age of six, with his family, Iwen Yong has never formally trained as an artist. “I have never had any formal education in art and no one in my family (extended and immediate) have had any experience in the creative field so it was hard to bridge that gap. Growing up I would never consider art as a profession (more of a hobby) so it was a tough decision to give up a stable income and career aspirations to take a risk and pursue art full time."

Iwen grew up in Maungaraki, Lower Hutt and went to Puketiro primary, Hutt Valley high school and then Victoria university. “I went to university to study accounting and commercial law and then I qualified and worked as a chartered accountant. While at work one day I drew a picture of my dog, Gus, on the whiteboard. An older lady who was an artist asked my boss Marie who the artist was. She approached me and asked if I had ever tried oil painting. Growing up I wasn’t really exposed to the arts and I didn’t even know what a canvas was. She offered to bring her student grade oil paints for me if I wanted to give it a try. I was reluctant at first but I found it relaxing and I really enjoyed the creative process. However, accountancy is quite different from pursuing a career in fine arts.”

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Ashley McDonald 2023

1 July 2023
Acrylic, Animals, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Birdlife, Featured Artists, Gouache, Ink, Painting, Realism, Watercolour

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.

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WAKE (Alex Tikaram)

1 July 2023
Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Coloured Pencils, Drawing, Featured Artists, Figures, Pencil, Realism, Vehicles

ESOTERIC CANDOUR

“I want to say I had formal art training at school, but what did school teach anyone apart from how to prepare yourself to be short on cash. Art was something that I always did that cost me next to nothing that I could learn alone and in my own way, so no, no formal training.”

It’s hard for Wake to pinpoint how he ended up being an artist. “Anyone who does anything slightly creative is an artist to me, but to define it to something more specific, I started to take it seriously when a friend of mine made a social media page for me around the end of 2020, to exhibit and possibly sell some pieces. A couple of years ago, I would never have dreamed of people wanting to pay actual money for the things I draw. However, I sold a piece to a guy all the way in the USA which I’m pretty proud of, it’s very humbling.”

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Jonathan Bourla

1 May 2023
Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Expressionism, Featured Artists, Nature, Photography, Realism, Symbolism

CREATIVE FORCE

Jonathan Bourla has never been formally trained, however he has gained invaluable experience and insight from the likes of Ansel Adams and Howard Bond. In 1997 when he travelled from New Zealand to attend a workshop in America run by Howard Bond, Howard realised Jonathan couldn’t learn everything from a single workshop so he gave him a whole book’s worth of notes to take home.

These notes, together with instructional books written by the great American photographer Ansel Adams, formed the basis of his education. Both Howard and Ansel believed you had to be in good control of the technical aspects before you would be in a position to express yourself creatively. Adams had created a system called the Zone System which allowed you to calculate ideal camera settings and film development times. “It was very difficult to grasp from Adams’ writings but became clearer from Bond’s notes. Many people apparently give up on the Zone System as too complicated but it formed the basis of my photography’s technical side for many years.”

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Diane Ammar

1 May 2023
Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Featured Artists, Figures, Impressionism, Landscape, Oils, Painting, Portraits, Realism, Watercolour

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.

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Bernadette Ballantyne

1 May 2023
Animals, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Birdlife, Drawing, Featured Artists, Painting, Pastels, Realism

WINDOWS TO THE SOUL Gaining her Bachelor of Fine Art at Whanganui Quay School of the Arts (now Whanganui UCOL) between…

Rebecca Mathews

1 March 2023
Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Botanical, Featured Artists, Floral, Oils, Realism

MY SOUL DREAM

“When you find something that makes you happy then the pursuit to better yourself comes naturally”, says Rebecca Mathews, whose mantra is, whatever is good for your soul, do that. “After I found my love for painting, I started showing my work to friends and colleagues who loved it. I sold many pieces and picked up a few commissions.”

Rebecca is a self-taught artist. She loves learning and the challenge of trying new things. “My first painting on canvas was in my 20s. I bought a paint-by-number and loved it. However, it didn't look real enough for me so I started researching; reading books and watching tutorials.”

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James Price

1 March 2023
Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Featured Artists, Landscape, Photography, Realism, Symbolism

SOOTHING INSPIRATION

James Price had done some photography previously but in 2021 completed the Level 4 New Zealand Certificate in Creativity through The Learning Connexion. In 2022 James completed the Level 5 Diploma with them, and is already working through Level 6 and loving every moment of his study.

“I love being behind a camera, and whilst commercial work might pay the bills, I like spending time working on a single image that might not come together otherwise. Art for me is when you share a bit of your soul with what you do.” Art has carried him through his three very different careers, becoming the defining part of his character: “In my first career, I looked at art. In my second career, art was a learning experience, and in my third career, art was part of the creative process. Art has taught me, soothed me, and inspired me. Now I continue my journey with art, as an artist. It’s pretty cool.”

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Jackie Krzyzowski

1 March 2023
Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Featured Artists, Floral, Hyper Realism, Painting, Pastels, Realism, Still-life

DETAILED DELIGHT

Jackie Krzyzowski never had any formal training but always enjoyed drawing as a child. She used one private workshop and various online tutorials to get her started with pastels. She explains further:

I spent most of my adult life with horses and riding as a hobby and with family life, working full time and studying part time there was not much time for anything else. I always thought that one day I might come back to my art. Getting older, I was not fit enough to carry on with the horse riding and moved to breeding and showing miniature horses. This was successful for 10 years, but again, getting older, mobility issues were making this hobby more difficult and so I decided to retire from it. Then came COVID lockdown and I was looking for something to do and now I am on this new, amazing art journey.

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