Jungle pics

This is a set of three large A1 works on a textured heavy 300gsm watercolour paper. They were commissioned by two of my bestest friends as a wedding present for a family member.

I painted from both live plants and still photos, and the set have been painted so that the image is continuous from one paper to the next – if you were to move the picture on the far left so that it sat on the far right instead, the overall image would still link up.  I like to think of this a bit like puzzle pieces.

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Taniwhas

These creatures are generated in my mind from local New Zealand myths and legends, as well as more recent books I have read that have contained mythical beasts and monsters such as ‘Kraken’ (below).

I like to use bright, vivid and sometimes clashing colours to depict these fantastic beasties. And patterns from local New Zealand culture that I find around me.  Outlining is done with a strong black Indian ink to give the works a flat illustration feel.

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Anime work

These top pieces were painted as gifts for my brother and another close friend who both have a strong love of  Anime and Manga cartoons. The characters themselves hail from several much loved cartoons, but the compositions and background patterning on the top piece was generated by me.

The lower two images were done a little later on when I completely got the feel of drawing Anime – the girl in the rooster crown comes from an image that formed from a description I read in a  Robin Hobb fantasy trilogy.  While the purple painting was a commission piece I designed for the invite for my brothers 21st invite…. He is a chef, and wanted to be made into an Anime cartoon – so here he is complete w uniform and Knives. I kept him reasonably realistic looking so that you could actually tell it is him if you were to meet him in person.

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Orchid collection

These are a few of the first Orchids I painted – I have found I have a great love for painting these weird and wondrous plants!

The top set was painted from live plants – I randomly spent one saturday morning with a girlfriend of mine driving to a sale for ex- rental plants, and these were among the treasures they had for sale. … At the time the orchids had finished flowering and they were selling them off for a mere $2 each – I bought six, and somehow they decided to flower for me, even though I knew nothing about their care…. and definitely hadn’t fed them!  This began my infatuation with them, and I have since joined an orchid society in Wellington – so I  have been lucky enough to learn about and own many more…. though I am definitely still a beginner when it comes to growing (…and I still cant reliably get any of my Cymbidiums to flower!!!)

The bottom two paintings are of slipper orchids  -so so weird – and unfortunately not something I have had success with… I sadly killed the only one I have yet attempted to grow (too damp a house me thinks, the root base got some sort of rot… though I had been ever so careful not to over water it) As yet I have been too timid to try again, so these come from photos I was lucky enough to take as reference at one of the shows held at the Wellington botanic gardens.

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