ella thomas

This is a record of my art making, the experiences that I have in everyday life that inspire me and a document of the paintings that I produce. Sometimes I will mention different facts or stories that bear some relevance to manu / birds and New Zealand native flora. One of the key ideas within my work is the celebration of the uniqueness of the native species within Aotearoa / New Zealand.

Friday, February 4, 2011

tui waiata tira




Tui Waiata Tira 2011
  Here is the latest addition to my Waiata series. She was enjoyable to paint and many rich colours layered up within her feathers. The image that I used for inspiration when painting her was high contrasting tonally, this gave her a pronounced controur on the brow.  Because of this I nick-named her Frida.

Waiata tira is a choral song; a song sung as a choir without actions. I imagined her listening to the dawn chorus, waking up and contemplating joining in. On my other blog; ellaQuaint, you can see the process as to how I layered up her feathers.

She is available for purchase from toggle; enjoy
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About Me

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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.