Portraits
At the age of seven having created a charcoal drawing of my brother(it was extremely good) requests started to come in for commissions from my local community. It proved, from that point forward, to be the backbone of my professional career as an artist. It created a freedom for me to pursue my dreams of being an artist. It allowed me to develop my work without relying on any commercial influences.
The portrait has always been a reaction to the subject. If my response to a subject was negative the portrait would not happen; although that has rarely been the case. The portraits, as displayed here, cover the length and breadth of New Zealand and many overseas countries.
Although entering competitions has never been high on my list as a sixteen year old I painted a portrait of our rowing coach at school, Peter Irvine. He became noted as a winner of the Maadi Cup ten years out of twelve years of his coaching tenure. The piece was entered into the then Kelliher Portraiture Award at which, although not winning, I receiving a highly acclaimed merit. Since that time I have been a sporadic but well received entry into the Adam Portriature Awards in Wellington. Watch this space.
Consequently over the years my financial base relied heavily on my portraiture. Latterly when the mainstream work gained in popularity and demand portraiture became less and less of a percentage of my total output.
Interested in commissioning a portrait? Please get in touch.
