Artists
Christine Allan
Life Member
Christine was inspired to paint by art teacher Julia Lynch (Sister Lawrence).
Mostly self-taught, Christine painted in oils for some years before becoming interested in watercolour for its exciting challenges and sometimes unexpected results. She also enjoys working in coloured pencil.
Christine worked in commercial art and draughting field, and careful drawing is a part of her preparation. She paints a wide range of subjects, mostly in realistic style.
Christine is a Life member of the Wellington Art Club and a Member of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts and Watercolour New Zealand.
Christine has exhibited and sold paintings in the Wellington area and now lives in Ohope.
Address: 90 Harbour Road, Ohope
Phone: (07) 312-5374 | 021 258 2728
Jeff Collings
Life Member
Jeff has always lived in Wellington. Born in Miramar on 27th November 1927, he attended Miramar Central School and later Wellington Technical College where he was taught art by tutors Nelson Isaac and Fred Ellis. He chose signwriting as a career and was apprenticed at Max Studios in Farish Street (now lower Victoria Street) where he learnt all aspects of the trade: ticket-writing, posters, boards, wall signs, murals, and backdrops for stage and ice shows. He was with Max Studios for eight years before starting his own studio – Signrite in Hopper Street, where he worked until his retirement at age 64, designing logos, letterheads, painted murals and backdrops for stage Shows and ice follies.
Jeff Collings has been a member of the Wellington Art Club since 1999, a committee member for 13 years and four years after joining the club was made President, a position he held for 5 years.
To make us more self-sufficient, Jeff advocated having our own exhibition screens, rather than borrowing from the City Council and later, he and fellow member Dennis Hayman originated having the club’s annual exhibitions at Rita Angus.
Rather than being influenced by any one artist, Jeff has always had his own style and considers his work has improved over the years. He has tried all media, experimenting with watercolour, oil and pastels before settling on acrylic which he now uses exclusively. His work is equally impressive be it landscape, still life or portrait. Abstract is “not my cup of tea” he said.
Jeff Collings has been nomonated Life Member of the Wellington Art Club in 2013.
Stan Chan
Life Member
Stan Chan practises and teaches traditional Chinese brush painting and calligraphy, as well as western oil and watercolour techniques.
He studied art in Hong Kong and came to New Zealand in 1972 where he worked as an art director for many corporations. In 1979 he set up his own studio as a full time artist and freelance art director. He has participated in both group and solo exhibitions throughout New Zealand.
Stan is a LIFE MEMBER of Wellington Art Club,member of The NZ Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington Society of Watercolour Artists,and NZ Oriental Arts Society.
He has taught at the Inverlochy Art School, Kapiti Coast WEA Inc., WHS Community Education Centre, Hutt Art Society, Wellington Art Club, Karori Arts Centre, Masterton Art Society, Tauranga Art Centre, Warkworth Art Society and given painting demonstrations at art groups, schools and at Te Papa.
Address: #104, Left Bank, Cuba Street, Wellington 6011, New Zealand
Phone: 027 240 4642
Website: inklinkstudio.com
Charlotte Hird
President of the Wellington Art Club
Charlotte finds inspiration from all over the world and in the beauty of nature.
I try to find time to paint everyday and love the process of making art. My love affair with watercolour endures. I find myself deeply involved in painting landforms, exploring the naked form through colour and light. There is a sadness to these naked flanks now laid bare. Once they were clothed in forest and inhabited by creatures big and small.
Watercolour painting is her favourite medium and she loves the way the water and paint move and change on the paper to create magic. Capturing the magic of light and colour in a painting is challenging and satisfying. Every stroke of the brush is exciting. Every drop of water brings unexpected surprises. There is beauty to capture everywhere you look, in the light on the planes of the face or dancing on the water.
“I continue to experiement with different techniques and materials and am never short of inspiration. I am always thinking about how to mix a colour in nature and how to compose a scene. It really is a great way to spend my time and brings such joy.”
Charlotte works full time as an artist and teacher of watercolour “The freedom to follow my instinct and paint the things that inspire and intrigue me. I am constantly learning and improving my technique and find teaching forces me to slow down and investigate how the process works, so I can explain to my students.”
Paintings featured in the mini-gallery:
- Charlotte selfie
- Otaru houses
- Aoraki Landform
- Poppies
- Two old chooks
- Arum lilies
Phone: 021373887
Website: www.charlotteswebdesign.co.nz
She is involved with many artists and events by serving on the committee of Watercolour New Zealand and as President of the Wellington Art Club. Charlotte is an Elected member of the Academy of Fine Arts and exhibit widely. In 2023 she will lead painting tours to Japan in the spring and fall.
Charlotte teaches watercolour technique, portrait drawing and painting and weekend workshops at Inverlochy Art School in Wellington, Wellington High Continuing Educations Centre, at Wellington Art Club and for Watercolour New Zealand. Topics include reflections, flowers, landforms, portraits.
Follow Charlotte on Instagram @charlottehird or Facebook
Email: charhird@gmail.com
Elaine Kermode
Life Member
I am a self-taught painter in oils and have been painting seriously for about 25 years. My preference is to paint landscapes from my own photographs, particularly rocks and cascading water scenes.
I find portrait painting a challenge that is gratifying when the work is completed successfully. I have had a couple of private exhibitions that were well received.
My aim is to bring a 3D effect into my artwork. Mosaicing and bead jewelry making are my other interests. I belong to Seatoun Arts and Crafts Club as well as Wellington Art Club where I enjoy the social aspect as well as technique advice from the members.
All my work here is for available to purchase
I’m available for commission work.
Phone: (04) 380-8315
Judy Langham
Immediate Past President of the Wellington Art Club
Judy Langham (married name Laird) previously worked for Televison NZ before becoming self-employed as a graphic artist.
She has dabbled in oils and acrylics all her life and was encouraged to join Watercolour NZ, where she worked as a Committee member. She exhibits regularly at the WNZ annual ‘Splash’ Exhibition.
She is also a member and exhibits with the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts.
E-mail Judy
Phone: (04) 934 3046
Judy enjoys monthly outdoor painting sessions which she finds extremely beneficial. She is a member of the Wellington Art Club and regularly attends their Wednesday sessions; where the following watercolours received their finishing touches…
President of the Wellington Art Club 2017 – 2020.
Gail McMaster
The beginning of my art career started in 1998 when I first to Whitireia Polytechnic and exhibited my work at Pataka gallery after passing the Diploma in Visual Arts. I should have continued into getting the Fine Arts Degree but I went to The Learning Connexion in Taita for 6 years part-time. I wanted to make it a lifestyle and part of my life. I also passed the Advanced Diploma Level 7 while I was there and it was my first taste of University Art which was interesting.
Unfortunately my art career was not enough to live on so I have had to go back into the workforce and now my art is only part-time. This seems to work best for me. I joined Wellington Art Club and paint and
exhibit my work. I recently sold a painting in the exhibition at Malvina Major and two at the Sacred Heart Cathedral Restoration online Exhibition.
I get a lot of inspiration from nature, the sea, in the trees at the Botanic Gardens and also from other artists. I like the old artists like Monet for his colours and Van Gogh also all the other Impressionist artists. I am going up to Auckland to view the Michaelangelo paintings of the Sistine Chapel as I may not get to see the originals just yet. Also the art club always has workshops to attend.
My goal for this year is to really focus on my art career and produce more work to exhibit.
Olympia Osborne
LIFE Member
Immediate Past President
Olympia is the immediate past President of the Wellington Art Club (2009 – 2017), and a LIFE MEMBER of the Wellington Art Club.
She is also a member of Seatoun Arts & Crafts. Olympia’s talent has also been recognised by The New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, whereby she was chosen as one of a select few throughout the country to exhibit her works in their Solo 22 exhibition.
Olympia has also displayed her work in a significant number of exhibitions during her time as an Artist.
The inspiration for her Art comes from her love of the New Zealand landscape, especially the surrounding Wellington seascapes.
Olympia has lived in Wellington all of her life and currently resides in Miramar. Her parents immigrated to New Zealand before she was born and often reminisced about their Greek homeland. Her travels to Greece have given her an appreciation for the Greek culture and of the landscape, which she expresses through her paintings.
Over the past four years she has exhibited her impressions of “things” Greek with other New Zealand artists of Greek descent, in the flourishing Hellenic Festival Art Exhibition.
Olympia regularly attends the Wellington Art Club and finds being part of a working group of enthusiasts very stimulating. Their advice over the years has greatly influenced her style and has helped add to her skills.
Olympia has also benefited from the many weekend tutorials run by the Wellington Art Club under well known artists such as Randall Froude, Merv Turner, Graham Braddock, John Crump, and Richard Ponder.
Linda Smith
From early years art was always my first interest, but I began sketching and painting in earnest when my children were quite young. However family and work commitments meant there was little time to seriously pursue art.
Recent paid employment involved facilitating art therapy + crafts groups.
Classes I attended included molding + casting, collage and print making.
I resumed regular painting again about 8 years ago and have experimented with several mediums and subjects and attended several local painting workshops.
Here is a small selection of my paintings some of which are for sale.
If you are interested in my paintings please contact me on 04 934 1795.
Annette Straugheir
I am Wellington born artist of Dutch heritage. Art has been something that I have enjoyed from an early age. Spending time doodling and painting as a child was a favourite pastime. I naturally loved art at school and managed to achieve school certificate art. I had a lot of fun painting posters for myself and friends in the 70’s when I was in my teens, using bright fluorescent poster paint. I attended an art course run by Gary Griffiths when I was pregnant with my first child in the early 80’s; but then life became too busy for art. When my children were older I returned to art and attended many art courses and workshops in acrylic, watercolour, pastel and botanical art. I have learned an incredible amount and was inspired by various talented tutors over the years. As a member of the Wellington Art Club and Watercolour New Zealand for the last 10 years, I have exhibited my paintings at various locations and exhibitions in Wellington. My art has been sold to both local and overseas visitors. The artwork I produce is inspired by nature and the places I have visited. |
I have a passion for painting landscapes in watercolour or acrylic. My love of flowers has led me to photographing and painting exotic flowers. Painting portraits in watercolour or acrylic is another area of art I enjoy because of the detail involved in producing a likeness.
Anne Taylor
I am a Wellington writer and editor and, in my spare time, I’m passionate about drawing and painting. Being on Motu Kairangi, Miramar Peninsula, and the South Wellington coast among the sky scapes, water, rocks and plants is freedom, inspiration and ‘soul medicine’ for me.
Since getting involved with the Wellington Urban Sketchers group in 2017, I have been aiming to take my sketchbook with me most places and have enjoyed experimenting with different styles and mediums.
I keep a visual diary of my all-year-round swims in Wellington, and enjoy the challenge of ‘reportage sketching’ – capturing an event on location, as it unfolds. Drawing is the route that takes me from observation to that joyful space of imagination and expression.
I have exhibited in many group exhibitions at Aratoi Wairarapa Museum of Art & History. I had a solo exhibition called Opportunity in 2013 at Aratoi. I won a Friends of Aratoi Art Award in 2013.
My work can also be seen at Kotare Arts Studio, Greytown and on Instagram @annetaylorart.
I am publishing my first book – Pages in the Wind, a compilation of Wellington scenes as drawn by local urban sketchers – in 2023.
Contact
FB: Anne Taylor
IG: @annetaylorart, @chillfactorwellington
M: 027 489 0704
FEATURED
- Winter Swim
- Path to the beach
- The Rock
- Breaker Bay
- Crown Lynn
- Still Life with Interislander
Dianne Taylor
My involvement in watercolour commenced comparatively late in life after a friend gifted me paint and brushes ….looking for inspiration.
I painted on and off for a few years, learning from art books, but it wasn’t until 2001 that I began to take art seriously and joined the Wellington Art Club and in 2002 joined the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts.
Since then my art works have been submitted and selected to be exhibited at The New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts. I am also a member of Watercolour N.Z. and over the past few years have successfully had work selected to be exhibited in the annual ‘Splash®’ exhibition. In 2017 I was a guest artist at the Splash.
I currently have my art works displayed at The Kiwi Art House, this is a lovely little Gallery at the top end of Cuba Street, Wellington, and have recently been invited to exhibit at Alfred Memelink Artspace in Petone.
Recent sales now see many of my paintings hanging in a variety of countries including New York, Russia, Argentina, France and The Netherlands.
In 2008 I participated in a couple of workshops, one by Malcolm Beattie and the other by brilliant watercolourist, Joseph Zbukvic, and in November 2009 I was fortunate enough to attend a workshop by another brilliant and exciting watercolourist – Alvaro Castaganet. This has driven me to try new techniques with watercolour and allow me to develop my own style. I would highly recommend any new artist to do likewise.
Continuing to try new methods with watercolour has its rewards. In 2010, I was honoured by the presentation of the “Watercolour New Zealand portrait” award, for my painting ‘Dwellers of the Kalahari’.
Working with watercolour can test my patience, but then I look at the exciting, atmospheric, subtle and moody works created by a successful watercolour, and I am once again inspired with this fascinating medium.
Del Te Rito
I have been very keen on all aspects of art since I was a small child. This continued through high school, where I seemed to do quite well in art. I completed part of a commercial art course before marriage and three children became my focus in life. I joined the Wellington Art Club over 20 years ago and have exhibited many times with that group in different venues around Wellington. I am also a member of Water Colour New Zealand, The NZ Academy of Fine Arts and the Seatoun Arts and Crafts group and have had some success in selling there. Well-known artists such as Richard Ponder, Graeme Braddock, Randall Froude and others have tutored workshops I have attended.
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I paint in oil, watercolour and acrylic. I enjoy painting landscapes, including Wellington’s wonderful vistas and cityscapes, flowers, and still life.
I have a large garden, which I enjoy working in, and which provides me with inspiration for my paintings. I am originally from the West Coast of the South Island; this region has been the inspiration for many of my landscapes.
I hope you get a lot of pleasure from my paintings.
Magda van der Walt
I’ve always had an affinity for texture, fluidity and “non-traditional” art tools.
It was no surprise to me, that the moment I came across the travelling iron and molten wax technique, it changed the direction of my art.
The rigid iron and the interplay between the solid/molten state of the beeswax fascinates me. The flowing spontaneity of what the wax will do, gives me a sense that the medium is always one step ahead of me.
Each luminous textured wax artwork is unique, governed only by the wax and its intricate relationship with the heat, bold in colour and with as much texture as the work commands.
Counterbalancing the “hot” wax technique is the slow drying cold wax and oils technique that allows me to further push the boundaries of wax as a medium. The wax works are intended to challenge colour palettes and allow the observer to navigate the subtle balance between delicate and abstract.
Helen Wilson regularly exhibits. She is a past president of Watercolour New Zealand. Member and exhibitor with the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, past president of the Wellington Art club. Exhibits in Village Green, Khandallah and Van Helden’s Gallery, Eastbourne.
I was fortunate to grow up with an encouraging Mother. I can recall a small box of Windsor and Newton watercolours given to me as a child.
And so the progress continued with classes taken with Carl Laugeson (watercolours) and Bernice Smart (oils) as an adult.
Three recent exciting visits to London and Paris have revitalised my artworks. My partner and I viewed work by most of the major artists of the 20-th century which included American abstract artists. Works by Dufy, Matisse, Picasso created a big interest. These artists have transformed my approach to acrylic canvas art. My new direction is painting on large panels using glossy bright colours.
Running alongside acrylic work, I have created watercolours of my local area, namely work of Ngaio.
This area is surrounded by hills which have varying colours and tone. Also of interest are historic houses of the Railway Tarikaka settlement. They are given heritage rating. I love to paint them.
Painting continues to be one of my major challenges. Outside work is my property in the Wairarapa where I grow lavender and olives. One becomes very close to seasonal changes of nature.