I absolutely loved playing around with all the colours of the sunset for this painting. It's a reasonably large canvas and with so much space to fill I thought I'd experiment with using spraypaint to get the base colours laid down, and it worked really nicely! I find it so much quicker and easier to create smooth blends of colour using spraypaint, although I still had to go in with some brush work after to get more depth and richness of colour on some areas. The sky on the left went through a few different layers of work as I tried to get more of the light blue and white with yellow glow to reflect off those wispy clouds and I definately had to step away for a day to get rid of some frustrations building up while the sky turned a bit muddy...but after a bit of reflection on the right tones and techniques I finally was able to capture the right colours!
The little girls in the foreground was an added extra requested by the client to represent their daughters, as this artwork is a gift to her husband on their wedding anniversary! It's always such an honour to be able to create something so meaningful and personal for someone.

Some images of the process as colours were added in...

And as I was experimenting while creating this painting, I managed to salvage my experimentation and created another, much smaller painting along the same vibe... :-) It's always fun when experiments turn into fun pieces of art!

At the end of 2023 I was approached by Scott Point School to facilitate the creation of a collaborative mural with all their students. Scott Point School is a full primary, which meant I needed to come up with a design that would enable the youngest to the oldest to participate in painting the final artwork. 
Our first step was to ask the students to bring in a taonga (special item) from home that represented something of their family or culture. The school has a diverse cultural make up, with not only Maori and Kiwi students, but families from across Asia, the Pasific islands, Africa and Latin American, Indian, Middle Eastern and European. 
It was interesting to see and inspect the taonga brought in from some of the students and a lot of these items were included in the final artwork design. 
The base for the design started with incorporating the school logo in the centre of the design and then using the flow of the waves from there to expand to the other cultures. 

As the percentages of the different cultures vary, we decided to use that as our point of combination onto the seperate panels - thus the 4 center panels represent the largest communities within the school and the four on the ends are a combination of the smaller communities. Watching and listenting to the children work on these was wonderful as they not only discovered the differences between cultures, but also the similarities. As they discussed these with each other they found better a understanding of each others cultural practises and traditions and shared freely about their own. Many would freely express their appreciation for each others cultures, as well as their shock about things that were completely opposite within various traditions. It was amazing to listen to them discuss and learn and just share openly about their own cultures and being eager to learn about others.

The children assisted with every step of the process, from painting the white base coats (which they found extremely uninspiring) to the blending of the background hues and all the items making up the final design. Even the year 1 and 2's participated with creating some of the items using handprints. Have a closer look at the African hat, the Chinise lanterns, the Asian hats, Pasifika fans and pyramids. The main colours on those items have all been created with different coloured handprints from the year ones and twos. We also had some of the teachers come in to spend 30 minutes or an hour to make their mark painting some of the more detailed works and patterns. It was a joy to see the and hear the whole school community appreciate the artworks whenever they entered the room where we were working and to hear them talk about how far the work had come from the blank panels and every step in between.

All in all, I was very impressed with the participation of the school and the behaviour of the students. It was a pleasure working with Scott Point School and I look forward to seeing what other creative endeavours they come up with in the future.

I was commissioned by Pakuranga Heights School in the South of Auckland to create a large mural for a playground wall, featuring sports silhouettes and inspirational quotes, provided by the school. 
This project required some oversized stencil, and these were hand cut by myself. The backgrounds of the silhouettes features some brightly coloured gradients and the majority of this artwork was created using spray paint. 
I love how the artwork turned out and the fun, bright colours are a great addition to the school playground. It was also great fun to see and hear the childrens' reactions while we were installing the art. I think they will enjoy watching and playing around this artwork almost as much as I enjoyed created it! 

The Beautification Trust runs a yearly competition for artists to submit designs for the Chorus Cabinets throughout South Auckland.
This year, I submitted a design, however did not win. Wiri Business Association got some eyes on my design though, and commissioned me to paint a Chorus Cabinet! I really enjoyed this project as it was out and about and it added a splash of colour! It was also lovely to have some interaction with the public walking and driving past while I was working!
The majority of this artwork was created using spray paints, and the finer details on the birds were created using Resene test pots.
If you're ever in driving down Plunket avenue in Manukau, see if you can spot this beauty!!

I was recently approached by Serko - a corporate travel agency - to recreate a Hobbit house in their Auckland offices. They are located in the Saatchi & Saatchi building in Parnell, a wonderfully industrial looking building with wooden beams and metal works exposed and a historic building nonetheless. They added some three-dimensional elements on the wall they had inserted to be painted, such as a circular door and some MDF board in the shape of bricks and roof overhang.

I was transported back about 20 odd years, to my very first painting job after studies - having to create special painting effects on board to make things look like brick and wood! It was good to see those years didn't go to waste and the knowledge came flooding back whilst working on this project.
I await further images from the client as they are still busy gathering some more fake plants to finish off the scene, but I'm rather happy with how it turned out in the end!

I recently ordered some branded stickers to use with the newest additions to my business - just as an extra bit of marketing - and I've been pleasantly impressed with how nicely they add that finishing touch to parcels being sent out to customers.
I would love to create some other arty stickers as well as my kids, and myself, love decorating and scrap booking with stickers and constantly order stickers from all over the place.

StickerDot has a variety of finishing options to choose from - from paper stickers, vinyl stickers and special premium stickers with embossing, foil paper, hologram or dome finishings. They also offer different sizes and shapes of stickers for you to choose from!

If you're in need of some affordable stickers - for parties, branding, just for fun or to use for promotions and whether it be on a roll, a sheet, kiss cut or die cut, vinyl, decal, special paper or kraft paper - check out Stickerdot's affordable sticker options on their easy to navigate  website and get your order done online, with a reasonably fast turnaround time and delivery!
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Well, as time continue clicking by, trends change and so we need to adjust and find new ways to attract clients and keep up with the times....is a new website what is needed? Time will tell....let's hope so!!
It is good to spend time creating and designing a new website though - I find it's almost as good as doing a good spring clean. It gives one the opportunity to throw out the old and replace with the new...although sometimes the old is just too precious too throw out and it comes along with the ride for another year.
As an artist and photographer I am constantly trying to improve on my last work of art or last photograph, and yet sometimes when I go through some of my old work I find myself thinking some of my older work is better than some of my more recent work. And then a month later I look at it again and think, NO....I've definitely improved and grown...such is the life of an artist - skill and knowledge may grow, but perception and mood is ever changing!

Regardless of my own perceptions though, I hope my new website is easy to navigate through, to find some interesting bits of art and information and to just enjoy browsing through. And if you spot any glitches or misspelled words, feel free to pop me a message and let me know!!

Every now and then every artist suffers from a lack of inspiration - I think...
I have a creative block every now and then when I just can't seem to come up with any creative ideas of my own, however I am still able to create art on request and most of the time this helps me get through a creative 'block'. Not being able to come up with any original ideas or concepts of my own can be quite frustrating though, as I wade my way through a seemingly thick marsh of empty, black nothing...
Through the years I've tried to find different ways to overcome a creative block and some of the below is a couple of things that have helped me in the past:
 - browsing through other artists' artworks, online, in magazines
 - browsing through some of my own 'forgotten' old artworks and finding an image or design to 'redraw'
 - doing a Google search of a theme or object and choosing an interesting composition to draw it in a new way 
 - listening to music and letting my mind's 'eye' wander over the images that gets played in my mind
 - redrawing a favorite art-piece from a favorite artist in my style
 - creating a prompt list, or following someone else's prompt list, of things to draw (something like Inktober)
 
These are just a couple of things worth trying, but most of all, I've learnt not to stress about a lack of inspiration too much as this seems to aggravate the situation even more. And trying to force inspiration can sometimes backfire and affect my ability to even paint or draw! 
Being an artist is not always sunshine and roses, sometimes its sweat and tears. And sometimes, as an artist, as soon as you find inspiration to draw or paint, your time is filled with the other important things of life.
Don't despair though - there is tomorrow, and new inspiration for a new day!

We are about two thirds of the way through 2022 and so far it has been a good year in regards to getting to practice some new digital drawing skills and fine-tuning my personal style (although I feel like I will be in a continuous process of doing this for the rest of my life).

I've had a huge project put on hold though, which has left me a bit lost at sea in regards to finances and time, and while still going back and forth on final elements of one particular design, the larger part of the project seems to be on halt indefinitely, or perhaps even cancelled - I'm not completely sure yet. This puts a huge drain on my creative energies as I've put a lot of time and effort coming up with unique designs, trying to capture the essence of the messages the people wanted to tell, the stories of the communities they work with, whilst trying to be inclusive of a huge array of different peoples and activities. I was proud of the designs I managed to come up with and felt confident in my portrayal of all the elements they requested. The team was encouraging and excited with the work that was being produced, had some requests for inclusions and changes, but overall the communication was positive...and then - a sudden halt to the project. Board members weren't on the same page with the visual elements as the rest of the team. Miscommunication...or perhaps a complete lack of communication, I'm not sure. I was assured that it was not because of anything on my part. And yet...as an artist, this still takes a bit to accept and work through. I am very flexible and able to adjust style or portrayal of elements, but it seems like there's some internal communications and ideas that needs to be ironed out before any artwork gets created - and so I still wait. In the meantime, I've had to find other avenues of income to make up for the loss of this large projects income, and so from next week, I will fill a part-time position at the Waitakere Arts Centre. This is a great opportunity to be more involved in my local arts community and get to know and help some aspiring artist. The Waitakere Arts center is located on the popular Corban Estates Arts Centre in Henderson Auckland, and I am starting just in time to see the Trusts' 35th Arts Exhibition go up and move into the Arena for the exhibition taking place from 3 - 11 September!

Perhaps by next year I will exhibit a couple of my own pieces as well! In the meantime, I look forward to being part of this supportive and creative community and am excited to see what the journey with them holds for the future! 
Have a look at the amazing work they are up to on their website.

After years of being urged by my husband to write, I thought perhaps starting an art blog would not be such a bad idea...although I have absolutely no idea what to write about here, or who would be interested in reading what I have to write...I guess just starting is a good thing to do...right?
So - as this is my Art page, I guess I should be writing about art...and with that in mind, I thought I would start with a couple of personal points about my art...

I've always viewed myself as an artist - from a very young age, about 5 years old. I think it was cemented in my mind because of a comment from my first grade teacher...I drew a cute little elephant and after seeing it, Mrs. Whitehead exclaimed: "Wow - you are such a good little artist!" This teacher is the only teacher from Primary School that I actually remember showing a true interest in me as a little person. Actually, she's probably the only teacher from Primary School that I remember! The rest are all just a blur...She affirmed me and nurtured me and my interests in my first year of school and set me up to be a confident learner and hungry for knowledge.

Since then, I always remember drawing. My friends continued complimenting my abilities and asking me to help them with any drawing assignments. I loved helping them figure out how to get things right, proportions and measurements of bodies to heads and perspectives. I loved seeing their reactions when I showed them a simple trick to manage to draw something that looked good. I realized that I had a natural talent for something that I could easily teach others to do as well.

When I was about 12 years old, my parents ordered me an oil painting set. The set included four small canvasses, a set of oil paints and brushes, a palette, oil and turpentine to clean and care for the brushes and a set of instructions on how to paint four different scenes. I remember two of the scenes - a old Cape Dutch house and a blue gum forest. These were my two favorite scenes and for the life of me I cannot remember what the other two paintings were...
The canvasses were no bigger than 10cm x 15cm, which meant I had to paint rather small and I remember being very proud of the way these two painting turned out...I couldn't actually believe that I was capable of creating these images from paint. My grandmother used to paint magnificent seascapes with sunset colors and I would stare at these for hours, imagining the brush strokes she used to create the reflections, the foam, the movement of the waves. 
When I finally started painting I would do the same to my paintings - just stare at them and try and remember how I created the falling of the light onto the surfaces, the textures of the leaves, the shadows. A lot of the time it felt like it was all created by accident and that I had absolutely nothing to do with how it turned out. It was a strange kind of therapy, easing my thoughts into a state of not thinking, but just focusing on the tiny details being created by my hand and then afterwards seeing the bigger picture and not being able to recall how all the details brought a larger picture to life.
I never felt like I developed a particular technique that I would use again and again - even now it feels like every new piece I create is a new experience, an experiment to see how I can bring the image in my mind to life on the canvas or wall. And every time I still stand amazed that a piece of vision from my mind starts to appear outside of me, on a wall, on a canvas or on a panel. 
Sometimes I find an old piece of art, in a sketchbook or hidden somewhere, and I stare at it, wondering what I was feeling or thinking when I created it...a piece of me on a page.

After many years of painting purely for my own pleasure and therapy, I started accepting that I have a skill and talent that other people are willing to pay me for and I started doing commissioned art. Mostly large scale panels or murals and a lot of the time themes and ideas that come not from within me, but from others - images that then pour into my mind from them, quietly in my mind waiting to be released onto a canvas. Doing commissioned art is a joyfully collaborative process. Once upon a time I was scared of creating art for other people. But now I really enjoy it. The satisfaction in being able to capture the ideas, images and stories of others are just as rewarding, if not more, than bringing my own imaginings to life. And it is sometimes a much better way to give expression to my creativity than waiting on my own inspiration to come to light. The stories of others inspire me to create art that stirs and moves other people, rather than just myself. Maybe one day I will hold an exhibition of my own works, but for now, I am enjoying being able to capture the stories of others with paint and brush in hand, giving expression to the imaginations of others.