Johnny's Corporate Gig..

A most interesting job came my way; 23 Lawyers from a big Auckland firm are on a weekend bonding trip, staying at Waihi Beach, riding the bike trail through the Karangahake Gorge and would I organize an art class for them to give them some brain food? 
Of course I would. It's what I do when I'm not doing something else.. 
I hired the old Waikino Hall and set up a portrait drawing class for beginners and introduced them to the psychology of children's art, the mechanics of the smile, the organic origins of World War Two aviators sun glasses, the surprisingly exquisite beauty of the curve of a nostril or other facial features and all that basic art school stuff we all know and love. 
It was a lot of fun and I came away from it with a new respect for lawyers as people.

Franzi's Portrait

Franzi is a tall slender Tyrol girl from German speaking Northern Italy and was staying here at Art School Waihi and insisted on a portrait to take home with her. Couldn't say no...

Two Powerful Women. The Poet and the Librarian

Two drawings of a poet reading, below, the likeness. Above, the essence...

 
A drawing of Janice reading her poetry at a cafe in Tauranga. One of her poems, an understated masterpiece of only 5 lines, can reduce grown Women to tears. That's Power my friend..

Under Kris's cool, calm, efficiently helpful and stikingly beautiful exterior beats the heart of a seriously competitive netball player.
Netball is an ultra fast, intense and somewhat dangerous extreme team sport played by thousands of New Zealand Women.
The Maori word for Power, and much else besides, is Mana. In Kris this is as obvious and tangible as her graphically gorgeous thick black hair, eyebrows and coolly lidded black eyes .....
I simply had to paint this Woman!
And you can bet I was respectful and polite with her..

The Weekly Portrait: Dr. Mathieson

Some years ago I was talking with a rough character in the local pub at Warkworth where I lived for 20 years. We got on the subject of Doctors and my companion told me of a rash he had on his hands and forearms which he took to a local Doctor to look at. The Doctor looked at it and without a word began to write out a prescription, probably for antihistamine. My companion told how he got very angry at this and abused the Doctor in no uncertain terms and stormed out vowing not to pay for the visit, big drama because the Doctor could not or would not tell him what the rash was and why the rash was but would without much thought add some kind of drug to the patients system.....
He took his rash to Doctor Mathieson, the other Doctor in town at the time and Doctor Mathieson looked at the rash and asked him if he worked in tomatoes?
Yes picking tomatoes on a local farm and Doctor Mathieson told him that tomatoes exude a substance on their skins that keeps mould at bay and that some people's skin reacted to this natural defense of the fruit and advised my companion to get a different job.
That was when Doctor Mathieson was added to my list of heroes and much later we became friends and would share stories and I would draw...

The weekly portrait: Mike singing and playing the guitar

I drew this portrait of Mike with a sepia pencil in my small (A5) parchment paper sketch book.

This sketch book is designed for drawings in ink.
Mike likes me because I once introduced him to a friend as a guitarist and most people introduce him as a plumber.
Easy call that one. I know ones' day job is about mere survival of the animal, a necessary evil and possibly good for meeting people and experiences and giving food for thought and dreams wheras ones' talent and passion is about expressing and nurturing the soul.

The Weekly Portrait: Judy in the sky with Anthureums..

This painting is a commission, a birthday present to a beloved sister.
This is the underpainting made with chalk pastel on canvas and sealed with clear medium brushed over the pastel and all done with Judy sitting before me.
It will be finished in the studio in acrylics.
A few photos I took of Judy at the sitting will aid me in catching the facial expression which most speaks of her real self.
It's all in the eyes and mouth.
Lovely and fascinating work..

The Weekly Portrait: Katika

 
This portrait was painted a few years ago and I have put it here because I have been too busy meeting deadlines to make a new one for you and the last time I drew a new portrait was last Friday. I got quite merry on the demon drink and did three excellent fresh and lively pen portraits of three friends of mine and gave them away on the spot so there you are...

The Rocket Park Mural comes home to Daddy

 
My community service is finito, yay! All my hours done and now I finish this job as a volunteer. So home from the local Marae comes the Rocket Park mural. And the two steel panels are set up in my bedroom as the studio is chocker with Marley's Mural in progress and both have a deadline of Oct 25 just 2 weeks away. I've also got a painting half done I am wanting to exhibit at the Waikino Spring Art exhibition, same time, same deadline. Challenging times and I have to tune out most of the people (with a few exceptions) and events around me in order to finish 4 seperate mural panels and one painting in 2 weeks. So the current stock market crisis can go to hell without me. I've got painting to do, lots of it..

Ron, a pastel portrait

It's frustrating for me that in relating my life as an artist I cannot tell you much of the people I have met, my family and friends. To be polite, you know, to respect other's privacy.
I don't mind baring my soul on this blog, warts and all, but I can't share with you much of my personal life where other's are concerned. Shame about that eh? but I think you can tell from my portrait of Ron that here is a man that has lived a life, a man with stories to tell. They are not mine to share with you but this man was one of many people who have inspired me. What a guy!