Realism Archives - Page 6 of 12

Larry Abreño

1 September 2020
Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Featured Artists, Figures, Painting, Realism, Watercolour

AHHHH, COFFEE!

I believe being an artist runs in my blood as I have an Uncle who is an artist. I took art seriously when I moved to New Zealand from the Philippines in 2014, as I had more time to focus on exploring art during my spare time. But honestly, doing art served as my solace and escape when I was home sick and feeling alone.

I don’t have any formal art training except for an Art Appreciation Course during my University years in the Philippines. I also joined various informal art classes while working as a teacher – this was when I discovered the art of Coffee Painting. I love using coffee because of its classical and monochromatic effect. I love the challenge of using only one colour to create meaning and evoke feelings. The biggest motivating factor for me is to be able to share my talent and skills in art and inspire others to follow their passion, especially young people. I find my inspiration through life experiences, through people I’ve met in my travels, the places I have been to, and in the beauty of nature.

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Sue Currie

1 November 2019
Abstract, Acrylic, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Impressionism, Landscape, Nature, Oils, Painting, Realism, Watercolour

Sue Currie was delighted to find that a comprehensive Australian correspondence course in graphic design for three years while at high school in Christchurch was a successful background for working in art. “In those days there were few opportunities for women to be taken seriously. In Sydney, Australia, the attitude was much more positive.”

Sue also took lessons with artist and illustrator Arthur Renshaw, (a retired tutor from the NSW Polytech), twice a week for six months as well as working freelance in graphic design. After six years she returned to New Zealand to paint, attending weekend workshops with a few fellow artists.

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Tessa Ralston

1 January 2017
Animals, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Birdlife, Charcoal, Drawing, Expressionism, Featured Artists, Gouache, Illustration, Ink, Nature, Painting, Portraits, Realism, Stylized, Watercolour

INSPIRED ILLUSTRATION

I’ve come to find that art seems to always niggle it’s way back into my life, even, perhaps, when I’m trying to distance myself from it. I have no true recollection of ‘getting into art’, but like most children inherently are, I was drawn to painting and visual expression.

With my mother being a graphic designer, I was fortunate enough that she fostered my artistic energy and patiently encouraged my creativity – and amusingly, she simultaneously firmly discouraged my entering the graphic design world. I believe there is a subtle divergence that happens when artists are ‘made’, and that is when they keep drawing, painting and playing after they are no longer children.

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John White

1 January 2017
Animals, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Birdlife, Featured Artists, Impressionism, Landscape, Oils, Painting, Realism, Vehicles

WILD PASSION

“Don’t be afraid, all the great painters had to start somewhere. You will make many mistakes so go ahead and start making them”. Adeptly using the time honoured mediums of oil and watercolour, John White portrays his love of wildlife through richly built paintings, softly painted, revealing the passion he has for his subject. Having built his skills over a lifetime he continues to create, advise and exhibit in New Zealand and overseas.

You know the first thing people ask me when they see my art is “how long have you been painting”? My answer is that I have always painted. I was brought up in a small place called Macandrew Bay on the Otago Peninsula with my three brothers and one sister. One of my brothers is my identical twin who is also an artist. We are the only ones in our family who do art, so my parents really did not understand what it was all about but they did encourage us. In my late teens I used to come home after playing rugby on a Saturday and paint watercolours on our kitchen table. If we had any visitors my mother would bring out my paintings and show them.

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Carla McKnight

1 January 2017
Acrylic, Animals, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Aviation, Featured Artists, Impressionism, Painting, Realism, Still-life

Carla McKnight ‘s favourite subjects are equestrian and aviation (warbirds). She works mainly in acrylic but has been known to play around with other mediums. “I’ve learned what works and doesn’t work by giving it a go and taking risks.” She finds the use of a ‘white-light’ lamp essential and uses a variety of brushes, sponges, scrapers, an airbrush and a spraygun. Carla tells us about herself . . .

I was born in Holland and my family immigrated to New Zealand when I was nine years old. I’ve always loved seeing artwork of horses from a very early age. Around 14 years old I started trying to draw horses but found it frustrating as I didn’t like the results. I was always on my horse, Misty, with my best friend Leeanne on her horse, Kelly. We used to ride all over the place and on wet days we watched cowboy movies and tried our hand at art, and that’s where it all started. My parents were very creative, so I guess that gave me a boost, but they didn’t ride horses or make art.

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Terry Fergusson

1 November 2016
Acrylic, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Drawing, Featured Artists, Figures, Impressionism, Painting, Portraits, Realism

THE BUSHMANS SON ©

From a young age Terry Fergusson would sketch portraits and received an Art award at school. Then with everyday life and becoming a solo Dad he just never had time to pursue it further. Now, as an empty nester, he has felt the urge to pick up the brush and concentrate on painting people, their faces, their emotions. Terry tells us about his passion.

The results of picking up the brush again have been inspiring and well accepted. My passion has evolved beyond what I ever could have imagined. Creating a legacy of work that I can leave behind that speaks my name and my brand, along with the subject and the emotion shown was all inspiring to me. I want people to see what I see, remember what I remember and enjoy it long after I’m not here to paint anymore. Looks, emotions, stories and faces inspire me, and the ability to capture them through a mix of photography and acrylic excites me every time I start or have the idea to start a new piece.

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Kristin Ivill

1 November 2016
Abstract, Acrylic, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Birdlife, Drawing, Featured Artists, Ink, Nature, Oils, Realism, Symbolism

JOINING THE DOTS

Written and photographed by John Botton.

I first met Kristin Ivill when she breezed into my studio clutching a portfolio folder full of artworks she wanted to get copied and printed. While pouring over her work, it took me some time to realise that the exquisite images were made of thousands of dots, dots of all shapes, dots of all sizes, dots of all hues. My only point of reference was to imagine that the dots were like pixels in a photograph. I went along to Kristin’s studio to see if she was indeed going dotty.

JB: “Give me a little background to your beginnings in art and your training?”

“I’ve always loved art. My mother was arty and my grandmother was quite crafty. She spun wool. She dyed wool and wove fabrics. My grandmother would take me around the farm and we’d go hunting for birds and bugs and look at the trees and she would tell me all about the native fauna and flora. So that’s where my love of birds and nature stems from. I did art at school until year eleven when my art teacher told me to give it up. She said I had no talent. So I stopped doing it and focused on art history in year twelve which I loved. That’s where I was exposed to Seurat who did pointillism. But that was the end of that so I left art and got married and had children. When my daughter was born I did a bit of painting again because we needed some art to fill the walls. I got some canvases and paint and just started painting and it went from there.”

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Jamie Mackman

1 November 2016
Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Featured Artists, Figures, Impressionism, Oils, Painting, Realism

FIGURATIVELY SPEAKING

“I guess the galaxy just aligned for me that night in 1989 when I was born,” is why Jamie Mackman thinks she became an artist. She is a young Wellington artist who just loves the human form. We think it’s her undeniable talent as well.

I have always been the kid who made ridiculous clothes for their dolls, or vehicles with too many flashing lights for their action figures. When I wasn’t running about outside like a crazed animal with my sister I was hiding away inside a blanket tent talking to myself about some amazing idea for building something. Being an artist I guess is just a certain way of thinking and using your brain. I am a problem solver, I get a kick out of thinking far outside the square and trying to find solutions to the questions that need a creative mind to solve them. Finding what visually or verbally stimulates you to stay sane in a world that bears so much beauty and consequently constant destruction of that beauty.

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Julie Freeman

1 September 2016
Animals, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Birdlife, Featured Artists, Hyper Realism, Nature, Painting, Pastels, Realism, Seascape

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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Alfred Memelink

1 September 2016
Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Featured Artists, Impressionism, Naval, Painting, Realism, Seascape, Street Scenes, Watercolour

Within the delicate touch of watercolour, Alfred Memelink’s love and admiration of the sea is clearly visible. His joy and wonder in the environments he portrays are clear in the lightness and pleasure of his colour range and composition which emits a sense of satisfaction and contentment. With an easy brushstroke, one gets a feeling of comfort almost giving us permission to forgive nature its dark side with its wondrous and supple beauty. Even his stormy works have a feeling of softness and fragility, yet evoke inspiration.

Self taught, while at sea, his work was developed whilst sailing between New Zealand and Japan, working as a marine engineer. Giving credit to the Pacific Ocean and King Neptune, he began an artistic journey alongside the one he was already on. Having already had an early introduction with a childhood flavoured with artistic parents and wanting a hobby during his voyaging, watercolour was the practical decision to begin his artistic endeavours. A leisurely diversion from the practicalities of living, these early exercises and a book, ‘Feel the fear and do it anyway’ led to the decision in 1994 to leave the sea to paint full time and get ready for his first solo exhibition in a local cafe.

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