About the Artist

Published 25 .8.22

I live in Lower Hutt, Wellington. I have lived here all my life, asides from a gap year in London and I went to kindergarten in Palmerston North before moving back to Lower Hutt.

I was drawing all my life when growing up. When I started painting, I realised I like working with colour the most and I’ve been a painting ever since. 

I work in acrylic on canvas. I like its fast drying times so I can work up layers and work and rework the colours.

Most of my works are landscapes and I am most known for my works of the Wellington region. My paintings aim to capture the comings and goings of the city, to help people remember places and events and to celebrates life in the City. I choose scenes I have a connection with. Now I am trying to get more paintings done of the rest of New Zealand, as well.

A lot of my paintings are commissioned paintings. I like doing commissions, because they give me new challenges and I get inspired by things I might not have considered.

I paint mainly from various digital photographs and I revisit scenes while I’m working on them.

I enjoy art history, especially painters from the late 1800s to early 1900s. I aim to incorporate aspects of these painters into my paintings. My biggest influences are Vincent Van Gogh and Edward Hopper. Vincent Van Gogh was probably the first artist to make me want to be a painter rather than a comic book artist with his high-energy style of painting and use of colour and movement.

I also like modern “low-brow” art including Robert Williams, Todd Schorr, Shag (Josh Agle), and Tara McPherson, and more. As well, many artists who I discover on instagram

I’m an eclectic person and I can take inspiration from various things including pop culture, places I’ve travelled to and the music I listen to while painting.

I like to make my art accessible and enjoyed from a wide range of different people, young and old. So I started a business selling prints of my art at affordable prices. I’ve lived off selling prints for about a decade now. I was at the Underground Market at Frank Kitts Park as well as the night market every weekend. Since Covid struct, both these markets have closed. So now I do various one off events, fairs and festivals and also sometimes community markets. I stock at many shops around Wellington and sell prints in this website. This is quite a lot of work away from my painting time, but it gives me the chance to get out and about, so I enjoy it.

When I’m not working on my art I follow the NBA, cricket and can enjoy watching really any team sport. I listen to classic rock music, 90s alternative rock and some select 21st century indie rock groups.

I also play poker with friends and enjoy cappuccinos in the cafes within my Wellington paintings.