Misty Morning

I painted this scene with oils on a canvas panel in 2009 when I studied art with Graham Braddock.  One of my goals was to learn to paint trees and scenery better.  I was pretty pleased with the end result. Original was approximately A4. 

A note to artists, painting on canvas panels is possibly easier than stretched canvas as you don't need to paint the edges, however, I often find that they don't look that great unframed, whereas a stretched canvas looks fine hung as is...

Lake Matheson

Lake Matheson in the South Island has beautiful reflections in the morning and is one of my favourite places in New Zealand.  I painted this with watercolours and chalk pastels.  I found it rather hard to get the colours right with the different shades of grey and blue, but got there in the end!

Lake Matheson Bush

Lake Matheson is one of my favourite places in the South Island, and it is surrounded by a beautiful bush walk, which is where I took the photo which was the reference for this painting.  It is painted with watercolours and chalk pastels, the latter is one of my favourite mediums as it is pretty forgiving and easy to work with.  The downside to chalk pastel paintings is that you have to be extremely careful with them until they are framed behind glass as they smudge so easily.

Mare and foal watercolour

I was privileged to be able to photograph a mare and newborn foal, and then decided to paint it with watercolours. This is the finished result, the original is approximately A3.

Aslan

I painted this when I was preparing to teach watercolours to a student. I was pretty pleased with the end result and he reminded me of Aslan for some reason. 
The way I like to paint watercolours is to paint masking fluid on the white and light areas, then paint everything else before removing the masking and adding colour where needed. 
 

NZ Beach, Bush & Beauty

I had a cool silver frame, so decided to create a collage in it.

I decided to make it a New Zealand beach and bush theme as they are two of the things I love most about our land. 

So with items from the beach and bush I designed this.  I  painted the frame with enamel paint so it has a brushed silver effect. (not seen here)

For sale for $300

Ballerina

Oils on stretched canvas, Nov 2010 

This is one of my favourite paintings.
For quite a while I had wanted to paint a little girl, even one too young to know how to do ballet, getting ready to dance, dreaming of being a ballerina
...as is the dream of many girls hearts - having beautiful dresses to wear and feeling very pretty and loved.  I had lovely little girls help me by letting me take photographs for reference :)

Life Growth Beauty

This painting I did for a competition - but one thing about art is that often the beautiful is not valued, but rather the dark or weird paintings...it has to do with philosophy - the worldview that everything evolved from nothing, and hence art that 'evolves' or has no meaning is applauded, and art carefully created and beautiful is shunned.  Not always, but I have met a surprising amount of people who verify this is the case in modern art schools and thought.  I didn't even get accepted for the competition, but learnt a lot.  ...Artists if you are thinking of entering a competition with an 'open' theme and you are a representational painter, don't be too surprised if it doesn't go too well :)

But I choose to paint the beauty of creation, show God's truth, and create art that encourages and brings life to people and not be swayed by the status quo :)



Tiger in grass

I love painting Tigers.  I took a photo of a tiger at the zoo and made up the background.  It is approximately A4 size, painted in October 2010 with oils on stretched canvas.

Waterfall

This oil painting is my first "commisioned" artwork. 

My Aunt and Uncle live in the Tararua ranges where they desire to see people refreshed and have time to meet with God and pray. 

My Aunt's idea was for a painting that would reflect God's heart to the thisrsty, beckoning them to come and recieve refreshing.

This waterfall is on their property, and you may be able to find hidden hands offering Life.

Isaiah 55:1 + John 4:14

Zebras

This is one of my favourite paintings from the month I spent painting at Orama.

I love animals, especially baby animals!  These 2 are from Auckland Zoo.

I painted all the black first, with Indian ink, so that any other paint I put on over the top wouldn't cause the black to run, as Indian ink, unlike watercolours, is completely waterfast.  Both have their benefits and difficulties. The disadvantage of Indian ink is if you make a mistake it is much less forgiving!  It is approximately A4.

Tiger

I really enjoy painting tigers...probably because they are one of the most majestic, beautiful and awe-inspiring animals.  

This painting was very quickly done, on mat board that is usually used to frame watercolour paintings, instead of on classic watercolour paper.  

As I had no idea how the support was going to respond, I painted very quickly with minimal planning.  However, I rather like the loose and sketchy look that you simply can't get if you are overly concerned about the finished product! It is about A4 size and definitely one that will end up in a frame :)

Chooks

These 2 paintings of hens and roosters I did rather quickly in watercolour. First time I've painted hens (or a barn for that matter). 

The barn was a class activity in which I learnt various painting techniques, expecially wet-on-wet.

The top one is A5, the barn A3.

Lilies

These lilies were a class activity. The teacher (Bob Mitchener) did a painting like this, which I thought was a whole lot more interesting than just painting green and white lilies!  

I learnt about using complementary colours (which I have never really been into) and picking a colour scheme and sticking with it.   

This painting is also done in watercolour on A3 paper.

Orama Sunset

Here's an oil painting of a sunset from Great Barrier Island.  Such a beautiful place, watching the sunsets many nights from Karaka Bay was a priviledge.  I left this painting behind at Orama as a thankyou for their kindness and generosity towards me. Amazing place.

Lion

This lion I painted at an art school at Great Barrier Island in November.  Love painting lions and other big cats.  This one is done with watercolours on A4 paper.  
There's a lot of other earlier paintings I haven't got around to putting up here, but thought it would be easier to start with my latest ones!

African boy

I painted this from a photo I took in Kenya. It is done with chalk pastels, which is a medium that is a whole lot of fun. The original is still for sale for $300.  The size of the painting is 12x19'' (framed it is 470mm x 655mm)

Red Rose

 

This is probably one of my favourite oil paintings. It was painted with oils on stretched canvas under Graham's tuition. I wanted to paint it for a friend and planned for months, and looked for roses to use as reference, finally finding one last year!  I can get stretched canvas prints of this painting when people are keen...original size is 18x18 inches.

Tiger

I painted this tiger at the end of last year.  It is one of my favourite paintings, and the painting that made me decide that I really enjoy watercolour as a medium. It was originally painted on A3 watercolour paper.

The original has sold, but I am selling A3 prints of it for $25 NZ (not including postage) in order to fundraise for more oil painting tuition. 

Let me know if you want one! :-)

Autumn Tree

After I painted the bear, Bottle and Pumpkin with Graham, I had extra paint left over, some wonderful colours that were perfect for painting an Autumn tree, which I had wanted to do for quite a while. So using some of the techniques Graham had taught us, I painted this. I still have it and it is for sale. Painted in oils on stretched canvas, 14x18 inches

Bear Bottle and Pumpkin

This painting is the first oil painting I did under the tuition of Graham Braddock. And my only still life done in oils to date. It was painted winter 2009, on a canvas panel, 16x20 inches

Stag in the Tararuas

When I was walking in the bush I really wanted to capture a photo of a deer and asked God if I could, and though I got lost I managed to see a deer and it stayed put until I had taken my photo. The photo however was rather low resolution so I wanted to use it as a basis for a painting.
I did it in a few hours with probably too much paint, so it got a little messy and
hard to add detail in the green areas near the end, but I am relatively pleased with it.

Done with oils on stretched canvas, 10x12'' 30 April 2009

Peacock feather

A fun endeavour. This is a 4x4'' stretched canvas on which I painted metallic paint to suit the feather and then stuck a real peacock feather onto it :)

Throne of Grace

The inspiration behind this painting came from a time I was worshipping God, amazed that while His throne is full of glory and those surrounding it are glorious - angels, living creatures and elders, that we can approach Him with boldness and confidence. I was struck by my humannesss and with the amazing grace, kindness and benevolence of a holy God to allow me to approach!

The man in this picture could be any one of us, made a son of God by adoption, cleansed by the blood of Jesus and made righteous, hence the white t-shirt.
And the jeans, highlighting the fact that He has allowed us, humans, to come before Him!!

Acrylics on 14x18'' canvas panel, April 2009. Hebrews 4:16

Self Portrait

I have never really painted faces or people before, but after painting Psalm 45 I decided it was something I definitely wanted to become better at, especially with colour and tone, so looked up some helpful hints online and decided to practice on myself.
.
So this is my first self portrait, done from a photo, with oils on stretched canvas on the 19th and 20th of March 2009.

Psalm 45

This painting I did for a friend for her 21st birthday. However it took me over a year to complete, so she got it after her 22nd birthday! It was done with oils on stretched canvas.

Canadian geese

I did these two paintings starting with the one on the left. They are of Canadian geese on a lake at dawn in Kansas City, inspired from a photo that my friend took.

Both paintings are done on 8x10'' stretched canvas. The one on the left I did first on one evening, by artificial light, by mistake mixing oils and acrylic paint, though with no visible adverse affects! I wasn't so keen on the very bright and orangey hues, so painted another using more blues and subtle colours, this time by natural light and solely using oil paints.

Now done, I am not sure which painting I like best as there are things I like and don't like about both..hey maybe I'll have another go! :)

Fern Sunset

A painting I did because I was teaching art to a child, working alongside her. This painting is done on an A4 canvas panel, using acrylic paint, dried ferns and leaves, and Indian ink to dye them.

Lion

A pastel painting I did in December 2008 for a friend's birthday card.

Pastel butterfly

This is actually a pastel drawing of a daytime moth that I would frequently see at Otaki Forks, up in the foothills of the Tararua Ranges.
It is a tiny moth, much smaller than what you see here, hence it sitting on blades of grass..
I drew it in January 2008

Stag

Here's a pencil drawing I did of a stag on 4 June 07, inspired from a dream I had in 2004

Mosaics

This is my first attempt at mosaics. I found an old broken tile, so broke it up a whole lot more, rearranged all the bits and stuck them on and grouted it.
Ended up doing it twice, as the wood bowed pretty badly because I forgot a step in the process - helpful hint, if you do mosaics on wood and are using cement adhesive, PVA the surface first!! :)

Pakiri

Here's a painting I did for a friend in September 2007, with acrylics and sand on stretched canvas. It's of Pakiri, where we went for a wonderfully warm holiday in August!

Clock

I was stoked when my brother gave me a clock frame to put my own picture in! So this is my first pastel painting - of a horse I saw while riding through Taumarunui.

Song of Songs 4:7

Here's a pencil drawing I did of the bride dancing with Jesus. I just think it's astoundingly wonderful that Jesus and the Father would look at us and say, "Everything about you is beautiful, my love, there is no flaw in you". He says that of us because He sees the end from the beginning, because He sees us covered in His righteousness. He knows that in the end we will stand before Him without spot, wrinkle or blemish. And He sees us through the finished work of the cross, He will complete all that He has started. We may not be fully mature now, but that is what He sees and declares

World Views

New Day

Isaiah 43

Light

I did this on Thursday 26 April 07

Rose

Here's a rose that I just painted for someone. I copied it off a photo, so I wouldn't call it a real creative endeavour, but it was fun and it worked much better than my last attempt! My first watercolour painting for years and very enjoyable!

Song of Songs 4:6

South Carolina

Here are some photos from South Carolina. Not sure if I would count photography as art or not. Artists would say no, all you do is point and shoot, photographers would say yes, definitely there is an art in taking good photos. Being both, I'm not sure, God makes the picture, I see it and enjoy capturing it...so there's a long intro on my first scenery photos on this site!

Sunrise

This picture of the sun rising I saw when I was praying some time back in 2004 I think. I nearly missed it because it seemed so normal, but I was pretty excited when I realised God had shown me a picture. I was looking at the sun and it was so beautiful - like the sun was Jesus. No way to explain it but thats what I saw, and it just encouraged me so much because I had had a dream of being on a watchtower looking to the horizon all night, I believe waiting for the dawn, and now it was before me. I painted this on 25 Nov 06

I lift you

I painted this in South Carolina in the prayer room after seeing this when I was worshipping at Morningstar one evening (on Sun 8 Oct). This picture is kind of what He did to my heart when I visited.