Andrew Wyeth

“To have all your work and to have them along the wall, it’s like walking in with no clothes on. It’s terrible.”

Hikuai Art Day at the lovely country Hikuai Hall

Just to remind you about our next Hikuai Art Day  – the first one for 2010!
Starting at 9.30am in Hikuai Hall..till approx. 3.30pm…

Bring tarpaulins/covers for on and below your trestle, your own lunch, $2 for hall hire and $2 for our art box….
And for anybody starting with us and maybe new to painting, we have a few exercises for you if you prefer - also bring basic painting materials with you but we also have an art box you can delve into for experiments.

Looking forward to seeing you all again, cheers Jo

The Fatal Englishman by Sebastian Faulks

I picked this book, The Fatal Englishman by Sebastian Faulks,  up yesterday in the secondhand bookshop in Ponsonby. Three Short Lives is it’s subtitle. It is three short biographies, and the first one is Christopher Wood. As usual when reading somehting I really enjoy, I race through it lightly (unwillingly) and then need to go back and read again – and enjoy it again more thoroughly. Wood’s story has a New Zealand connection with Francis Hodgkins – they were painting in the same circles with Ben and Winfred Nicholson and belonged to the same society, Seven and Five; and are both represented by Lucy Weitheim in her gallery in London. But Wood’s short life was full of 1920’s excess of drugs and partying, different to Frances’s more austere life. Auckland Art Gallery acquired one of Christopher Wood’s paintings, Sloop Inn – a gift from Lucy Weitheim in 1948.

I’ve only raced through the first ‘life’ in this book and still have two more (not art-related) to go.

Reading this book made me refer back to ‘Frances Hodgkins – A Private Viewing by Joanne Drayton‘ again, to check out how their lives interconnected. Apparently she found him hard to handle due to his opium addiction. I keep referering to this book again and again – admiring over and over the work and the lives and dedication of the artists mentioned.

An exhibition of paintings by Amy MacKinnon and Jo Dalgety

Our invites are fresh from the printers. And they look great! It’s the folding that makes them a little unique but you can get a taste and all the info you need here.

anima locus
paintings by Amy MacKinnon and Jo Dalgety

23rd February – 12th March 2010
Opening: Monday 22nd Februaryl 5.30pm – 7.30pm
All welcome.

The Governors’ Gallery, Old Government House, Auckland University
Gallery Hours: Mon to Fri 11.00am – 5.30pm

Paintings by Elise Ure & Linda Dixon

2009 and 2008 TCAC Emerging Artist Award w2009 and 2008 TCAC Emerging Artist Award
Opens Thursday 21st January 6-8pm until Sunday 14th February 2010

2009 and 2008 TCAC Emerging Artist Award winners Linda Dixon and Elise Ure showcase the outcome of a growing sense of artistic momentum.

Touchable human figures meet nature’s generosity in this two person exhibition at Titirangi’s Upstairs Gallery.

About Elise – 2008 TCAC Emerging Artist Award Winner

Elise Ure is a New Zealand portrait and figurative artist conscious of the collective of creative people working purposefully across the globe. Exploring humanity and self-representation as well as the secret joys of living, Elise aims to dawdle in life’s moments; patenting them to canvas in order to further their effects.

Elise currently resides in Oratia. She likes image hoarding, cups of tea, collecting chairs, quotes, Nedroid Comics, architecture, sunshine and concrete.

Click here to view Elise’s work in the 2008 Emerging Artist Awards

About Linda - 2009 TCAC Emerging Artist Award Winner

Look closely at what is in your back yard and you will gain a sense of the power of evolution and the beauty of nature.

As an artist I am interested and inspired by the beauty and colour of our environment around my home. We have become blind to extraordinary loveliness and exquisite beauty of ordinary things like colour, movement and play of light upon the leaves of a tree or the petals of a flower.

I frequently find myself in awe of the many birds that live and play in the trees that surround my home and the way they interact. Nature tells you that there is beauty in harmony and that is where I receive my inspiration in all its variations. In our busy and overwhelming world, I would like my work to be looked upon as peaceful, meditative experiences of nature’s generosity.

Click here to view Linda’s work in the 2008 Emerging Artist Awards

Upstairs Gallery, Lopdell House, Titirangi

Ray Neumann, Thames artist

Ray is a full-time painter and his work is mainly abstract or constructivist, based on observations of the natural or man-made world, ideas of Western aesthetics or music.

Ray majored in painting and printmaking at the University of Canterbury School of Fine Art and later trained as a teacher. He taught art for many years before becoming involved with the Department of Education – preparing the art syllabus for secondary schools and other roles pertaining to art education in schools.

Ray trained using oil paint and was particularly interested in the technique and qualities of multi-layer glazing. After the development of acrylic paint, especially Liquitex, he found this media much more versatile.

I haven’t seen Ray’s work yet but it is featured in The Little Gallery of Fine Arts in Tairua, and also in the MERCURY BAY ART ESCAPE ART TOUR – 26th-28th Feb and 5th-7th Mar 2010.

Vinyl Cutting for Artists

“Vinyl Cutting for Artists” begins February 4th.

“Old School / New School: Experimental Painting with Traditional Materials” begins February 12th. ($30 discount applies to confirmed bookings made 3 weeks before the start of this course, ie: before 22nd January 2010). Great course this one, I did it last year and thoroughly enjoyed it – now I have a studio I will be taking up some of these more space-requiring tasks.

Dates of future classes and course information are available on the ArtMade website: www.artmade.co.nz

Summer Exhibition ‘SUMMER AT THE LANE’

Kevin Clancy, '. . an other than . . .'

A visit to the Summer Exhibition ‘SUMMER AT THE LANE’ at the Lane Gallery yesterday.  Saw a selection of works by numerous artists – Keith Clancy, I only saw two of these and wished for more as I had missed his exhibition in 2009 – delicious layers of intense colour; Tom Burnett; and Matt Palmer, which I honed into straight away because I liked the mystery, the darkness. But a lot of good work – wood paintings by Rona Osborne for one.

Matt Pamer, "Two horses Ida Valley looking south"

Liz Hart, Tairua artist

Liz is a watercolourist and a print maker – etchings and monoprints.  She also dabbles in water-based oils and acrylics. I noticed Liz’s paintings in a Pauanui Beach exhibition a few years ago, standing out amongst some excruciating horrible paintings!

“I begin by painting very loosely, I focus on pushing the values of the lights and darks. I usually photograph a landscape to capture the light. I love to work with a limited palette. Drawing and sketching have always been a part of my life. This is on-going as there is always something new I learn. I love the explosion of watercolour on wet paper and the unexpected results which occur and change the whole idea of the artwork.”

Liz is represented at The Little Gallery of Fine Arts in Tairua, and is also part of the Mercury Bay Art Escape 2010 – a self drive Art Tour of Artists Studios and related Art Events around Mercury Bay on the East Coast of the Coromandel Peninsula New Zealand

Nicky Hartley, Auckland artist

Nicky Hartley is represented at The Little Gallery of Fine Arts in Tairua too;  and I was given a painting of a nude by Nicky for my birthday a few years ago.

Nicky finds inspiration in the landscapes in her life as a mother, leading her to create paintings that reflect the human form and their relationship to the surrounding environment. The bush and coastal ranges in Waitakere form the basis of her work. She is a member of WoM.A.N (Mother.Artists.Network) which gets together to paint and hold art workshops.

Her paintings use intense, bright colour in acrylics. Nicky has exhibited in Bath and London, UK, Holland, Australia and New Zealand.

www.motherartistsnetwork.co.nz/nicky-gallery.htm