What style artist are you?

When people ask me to describe my ‘style’ I guess they are wondering what sort of art container to put my work in. Some typical descriptors people might use for their work are things like abstract, expressionist etc. I’ve always had a little trouble putting my work firmly into one camp. So end up with something rambling (which usually sounds like this ‘well it’s kind of illustrative with a graphic design ish aesthetic, kind of hard edge and blocks of colour sort of thing) that (poorly) speaks more to the output than what my work is about. Yes my artwork can be all of those things, but what it’s really about… is a season. Summer. And it’s about how that season makes me feel.

I spent a good chunk of my life away from my NZ home and I missed it deep in my bones. Endless winters would take their toll and I yearned for long, hot NZ summers and memories of happy childhood holidays - see image of me as a kid (on the left) with my family at Long Bay. For me, summer is a season of simple pleasures, ocean adventures, sun kissed skin, sand in every nook and cranny, friends and BBQs, campfires and starlit nights. It’s a season of vibrant colour, freedom, positivity and happiness. And I’m a little obsessed with it. 

But jeez that’s a bit of a mouthful eh! And at the end of the day it’s what my work might mean to you that matters most. What memories it conjures, what feelings it creates. That’s the most important thing.