Animals Archives - Page 6 of 7

Geoffrey Cox

1 September 2014
Animals, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Drawing, Featured Artists, Figures, Pencil, Polymer Clay, Realism, Sculpture

FROM PLASTICINE TO POLYMER

Geoffrey Cox has been drawing and modelling all his life. In addition to illustrating books on wildlife and natural history Geoffrey has produced a myriad of work for museums, galleries and individual collectors.

While Geoffrey recalls making plasticine models when he was 11 years old. Things became a little more serious, while he was studying for a degree in zoology, when he was asked to make models for a prehistoric reptile display at the Auckland Museum. After this he was asked to illustrate ‘Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand,’ which was how Geoffrey’s career as a professional artist really started.

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Jo Chester

1 May 2014
Abstract, Animals, Artists, Featured Artists, Figures, Oils, Painting, Portraits, Realism, Still-life, Surrealism

HOLD ON TIGHT

“Art enables us to find and lose ourselves at the same time” Thomas Merton.

“Ever since I can remember I have always been drawing and creating images,” Jo Chester explains when asked about her entry in the world of art, “I had a very supportive teacher at Rotorua Girl’s High who encouraged my talent and insisted that I apply to Wellington Polytechnic to study graphic design.”

This ultimately resulted in a career with art as the baseline. “I have worked as a Graphic designer, Textile designer, even designing jeans at one stage as well as drawing up fashion shots for a retail outlet.

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Jan Thomson

1 May 2014
Animals, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Featured Artists, Impressionism, Landscape, Nature, Oils, Painting, Seascape, Watercolour

BREAKING THE RULES

Recollecting how she first picked up a brush in her mid-forties after recovering from an encounter with the big ‘C’, Jan Thomson says “My journey into the world of painting began late. It was then that I decided that life is far too short to delay doing what you love, so I gave up my house painting job of 17 years and took up slightly smaller brushes.”

With a number of artists in the family, Jan says art was always in her blood. Why she avoided it for 47 years she didn’t say but once she started she was instantly and totally hooked. “I started with watercolours and then moved onto oils,” she reveals. “I learnt to paint by going out to Wellington’s (sometimes wild) south coast, wrestling with the elements and trying to put down on paper what was in front of me.”

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Greg Maddox

1 May 2014
Animals, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Birdlife, Driftwood, Featured Artists, Impressionism, Installation, Nature, Sculpture

DRIFTING WITH PASSION

Trained as a signwriter, Greg Maddox’s five year apprenticeship taught him a range of disciplines in engineering, carpentry and the art of hand rendering signs using brush and airbrush, something he loves with a passion.

And if you think signwriting is mundane, Greg’s skills have taken him all over the world, including Europe and the USA. He was involved in creating 3D apples for the ‘Big Apple Campaign’ that now adorn the streets of New York City and another project in South Street, Seaport. “Moving to Europe was great, as the culture was a pleasure to immerse yourself into. I spent many hours in the English Garden, Munich rendering pastels of the human form. It was bliss. “I thought making money as a portrait artist was me for the rest of my life.”

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Brian Looker

1 May 2014
Animals, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Birdlife, Featured Artists, Figures, Oils, Painting, Surrealism

AN OPPORTUNITY FOR REFLECTION

When Brian Looker returned to New Zealand after an absence of twenty years living in Australia, it was like coming to an unknown country. It was the catalyst he needed to become a full time artist. “It seemed a fitting time, to follow my dream and make a commitment to pursue my art on a deeper level,” he says.

“It seemed a fitting time, to follow my dream and make a commitment to pursue my art on a deeper level,” he says. “For many years my wife and I had visited artists in their studios in many countries around the world, each time thinking what a perfect lifestyle they had. Truthfully the only difference between dreaming and having is that first step of doing.”

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Don Wilkie

1 March 2014
Animals, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Aviation, Birdlife, Featured Artists, Figures, Impressionism, Oils, Painting, Realism

SOARING TO NEW HEIGHTS

Painter, published author, and printer - Don Wilkie does not set limits on his range of creative talents.

“Painting provides the space and relaxation in which I lose myself in creating,” he reveals, “one of my biggest joys is when the painting is completed and seeing what has been achieved from a blank canvas.”

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Pauline Gough

1 March 2014
Acrylic, Animals, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Featured Artists, Figures, Impressionism, Landscape, Mixed Media, Nature, Painting, Seascape, Still-life, Street Scenes

CALL OF THE ARTIST

When asked what motivates her, Pauline Gough says simply: “It is the love of it. It’s important for me to love the whole process – if it feels like work, I shouldn’t be doing it.”

Recalling her early years when the call of the artist flowed strongly in her heart, Pauline says she has always loved anything to do with art: “I wanted to do art at school, however my school in Wellsford, didn’t offer this as an option in those days. My mother looked into some individual lessons and the principal of Rodney College said he would try to arrange an art teacher; however this never amounted to anything. “Art as a career was what I desired, teaching is where I ended up,” she says wryly.

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Robyn Mitchell

1 March 2014
Abstract, Animals, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Carving, Expressionism, Featured Artists, Figures, Maori, Nature, Sculpture

CHISELING OAMARU STONE

“Learn to organise your life, make time to do the things you dream of.”

Robyn Mitchell’s favourite sculptural medium is wood: “It is not until you start to shape and polish the wood, that the beauty of the grain and colour are revealed,” she says. “Because of the variants of grain, the type of wood and what part of the tree they come from, no two pieces will ever come out the same.”

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Kellie Edwards

1 January 2014
Animals, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Expressionism, Featured Artists, Figures, Illustration, Landscape, Painting, Pastels, Realism, Still-life

A FOCUS ON LIGHT AND AMBIENCE

Kellie Edwards spends a lot of time outside her studio thinking and planning, and as a long distance runner she has plenty of time for thinking.

When she is not running, Kellie works part time-caring for children of local families. This time spent with children has been a good counter balance to her work in fine art, being the opposite of contemplative studio time. The transition back into almost full time art has helped her work past being the perfectionist, and having less studio time in the week has been great leverage to keep her fearlessly moving forward.

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Alan Waters

1 January 2014
Abstract, Animals, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Contemporary Art, Featured Artists, Illustration, Nature, Painting, Still-life, Surrealism, Watercolour

LISTEN TO YOUR HEART

Mistakes are wonderful learning tools – if one analyses the process honestly and comes out the other end more determined than ever.

This is the personal philosophy of Alan Waters who has been described as New Zealand’s answer to Rene Magritte, a Belgian painter and one of the leading figures of the Surrealist movement. In fact one of Alan’s favourite pieces of art is `Clairvoyance (Self Portrait) 1936’ by Magritte. He says this image was one of many that really excited him and started his career as a full-time artist 19 years ago.

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