"When you come to the end of the day" - mixed media on wood
When I was a teenager there was this TV programme called Airwolf. I'm not sure if anyone remembers it. It was about a pilot with an amazing helicopter that was a hero saving someone new each week. Mostly I can't remember exactly what it was about, but what sticks very well in my mind is that each episode ended with the hero retiring back to his lonely log cabin on the shores of a beautiful alpine lake and sitting on the jetty playing his cello. It was back then, living in a big, crazy city, that a dream was born for me. I knew I wanted one day to live in a log cabin on the shores of an alpine lake.
When my husband and I immigrated to New Zealand we found those lakes. And while we still don't have the little log cabin, we do live in a tiny town on the edge of a lake. We've left the cities behind and are surrounded by crystal clear blue waters, mountains, golden tussock hills, big skies and lots and lots of space.
Capturing the feel of Central Otago, where we live, is an ongoing theme for me. The colours here are so unique - golds, turquoise, yellows, oranges, and reds contrasted with big blue mountains capped with white snow. The scene I've painted here isn't an actual place, instead it captures the feeling of my backyard, the place I call home.
Potters pink is very pretty, dusty pink with an old world feel. It granulates beautifully and is very lightfast. While pretty on its own, it’s a super versatile colour to use in all sorts of ways. J...
Here's a deceptively simple painting delivers maximum impact for minimal effort — a wet-in-wet background and a limited palette do most of the work, while the result glows with light and looks far m...
There's something irresistibly paintable about a weathered fence post half-swallowed by summer wildflowers. It's the contrast that does it — rough, sun-bleached wood against the soft, fleeting delic...
