Today I went for the usual walk up my local mountain. It was a gorgeous sunny day, very few clouds in the sky and a lovely cooling breeze. Enjoying the view as I walked clockwise, around the road, a sudden movement in the tree tops to my left caught my attention. I looked up and was fortunate to see a kereru perching high up in a eucalyptus tree. It mate then fluttered up next to it. They were as well-fed as the ones I had depicted within my painting. Surprisingly wood pigeons can be very fluid, graceful fliers. Two days ago I witnessed one fly vertically above the very same tree. It then stalled, and in a perfect, parabolic arc dived back down, out of view. Just beautiful.
Three times in two weeks. It is weird, am I noticing birds more since I have been painting them? Maybe they have recently moved into the neighbourhood.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Harakeke Tui
I completed this work today. After completing the comissoned piece, I couldn't resist doing another tui work. I had a new image that I was keen to give a try and I am thrilled about how the tui turned out. Unfortunately I also go a call from the library about the very same, and other library books. I don't think that I will be thrilled about the incurred fines! Serves me right. The harakeke or flax is slightly transparent which contrasts with the solidity of the birds.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
A Lovely Surprise
Getting out-of-doors, in and amongst nature is something that I find productive for my art making, but also calming for my spirit. My regular walk is a wonderful way to start the morning. I leave the house half asleep and inarticulate, to return refreshed, revitalized and ready to face the day. Oh, and face what ever ideas I need to resolve and paintings I need to continue upon from yesterday. It is a lovely little ritual.
I was walking up Maungawhau (Mt Eden, one of Auckland's very special volcanic cones) the other day. A retreat from the hustle and stink of the city. There are many gorgeous native trees up there and you can frequently hear and see tui, swallows and other birds. After reaching the summit and having all of the cobwebs blown out of my head by a brisk South Easterly. I started to make my way down through the track that passes by the kumera pits. Overhead flew a cluster of birds, it was a silhouette that I had not seen up there before. They were larger forms that I was used to seeing, my immediate assumption was that they were sea-birds. Maybe they had flown inland to avoid some of the shonky weather that we had been having. The shape of them was not right for a seabird however. As it turned out, after getting a close up view of one's chest, the white and grey-blue determined that they were kereru! I don't think that I had ever seen them anywhere in Auckland except for out in the Waitakeres. It made my day.
I was walking up Maungawhau (Mt Eden, one of Auckland's very special volcanic cones) the other day. A retreat from the hustle and stink of the city. There are many gorgeous native trees up there and you can frequently hear and see tui, swallows and other birds. After reaching the summit and having all of the cobwebs blown out of my head by a brisk South Easterly. I started to make my way down through the track that passes by the kumera pits. Overhead flew a cluster of birds, it was a silhouette that I had not seen up there before. They were larger forms that I was used to seeing, my immediate assumption was that they were sea-birds. Maybe they had flown inland to avoid some of the shonky weather that we had been having. The shape of them was not right for a seabird however. As it turned out, after getting a close up view of one's chest, the white and grey-blue determined that they were kereru! I don't think that I had ever seen them anywhere in Auckland except for out in the Waitakeres. It made my day.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Pohutukawa Tui
Ella Thomas 2007
Triptych 3 canvases
305mm x 405mm
Archival acrylics on canvas
Another work that I added the finishing details yesterday. It was a private commission which is to be gifted to a family over in America. I am thrilled with how it has turned out, the composition I find pleasing; the layering and contrast within the colour palette.
Tui are one of Aotearoa's most iconic birds. It has a vivacious personality and delightful song. The pohutakawa, New Zealand's christmas tree that lines our coast lines with velvet splashes of crimson.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Porokaiwhiri Kereru
Ella Thomas 2007
Triptych 3 canvases
305mm x 405mm
Archival acrylics on canvas
This is a work that I finished this week. I am so happy with how the layered colours have captured the luminescent quality of the kereru feathers. They are such hilaroius birds and look like they just shouldn't be able to fly because they are so fat.
Porokaiwhiri is the Pigeonwood tree that provides berries which Kereru love to devour.
Kereru is the New Zealand wood pigeon.
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About Me
- ella thomas
- Auckland, New Zealand
- Ella Thomas is a contemporary artist who lives in Auckland, Aotearoa. She is of Ngapuhi descent and has a passion for the beauty of the whenua (land), the sea and for the unique flora and fauna of New Zealand. The concepts that are explored within Ella's work are based upon notions of conservation, ecological balance and extinction. Her paintings often feature nostalgic patterns reminiscent of the mid to late 1800's, the era when European colonization occurred. It was during this time that many unique species of birds became extinct. The rarer a bird became, the more prized a specimen of it became. Alive or dead. Much of Ella's paintings are celebrations of the unique character of our surviving taonga (treasures). Ella has a Bachelor of Visual Arts and has been working within arts related industries for many years. She has paintings in collections nationwide, Australia, England and the USA. Finally the plunge has been taken and Ella has committed herself to fulfilling a dream, that of becoming a full-time artist.