Some questions I have been asked about my painting

Who or what inspires your work?
Firstly, my mother inspired me. She used to paint herself and she loved painting landscapes and nature. Also my father's interest and love of NZ forests and bush life has influenced me in a big way - affecting my need to include the spirals, curves, shapes of trees and plants into many paintings.


There are a few other artists who inspire me:

John Sindelar. I attended classes with him for a while when I lived in Australia. I love the brilliance of all his paintings. His landscape and animal paintings are very bold and beautiful.

Theresa Reihana - for her moden maori paintings and designs

Tim Wilson - for his amazing landscapes

Gottfried Lindauer - for his detailed paintings of the olden day Maori people

What do you think is your best painting and why?

	'Essee' is very special to me. I painted it to represent the Australian girl in prison in Bali (Schapelle Corby). It is not about whether she is innocent or guilty, but rather to represent the horrors she (or anyone) must feel of being locked up and trapped.
	'Rangimarie' is a favourite. It is a large painting and I like the symbols and the colours in it. It represents being still and peaceful - Rangimarie means peaceful in maori - like someone waiting patiently.
	'Acceptance' is one of my favourites. It is like an imaginary land. I like the bright orange and blue colours in it.
	'Horace' is another favourite. It may look a bit scary to people but to me Horace is kind and protective and is calmy watching over us through the years. He is wise because he's seen all the changes happening in the world and he would be able to give us lots of advice. The cape on Horace is textured - I pressed hessian cloth on the thick paint so you can feel the netting patterns if you touch it.

What materials do you use?
My first paintings were done in oils. Now I only use acrylic paints because they are quicker drying - and I tend to be a fast (and sometimes impatient) painter. I also use mediums to add gloss or texture. Lots of my paintings look flat in the photos on my website but in reality some of them have raised surfaces or textured effects on them. Sometimes I use other materials (like card or paper or leaves) to create different effects.

What techniques and styles do you use?
Anything that inspires me at the time. I like to experiment and try different effects all the time. I often start doing a background first. Sometimes I spread heaps of paint on and spread it with a palette knife. Sometimes I splot paint on and swirl all the colours together. Sometimes I put one or two colours on, leave the paint to dry, then put other colours on top and scrape paint off to expose the other colours underneath. My style changes according to how I feel and according to what I'm thinking of painting. Sometimes I do abstract type paintings and other times I do really detailed, realistic types of paintings. I'm a real Gemini - that means I am changeable and do a real mixture of things. I don't keep to one style like many artists do. Like many artists, my emotions and feelings at the time have a big effect on what, and how, I paint.