As I’m getting back into the studio to start a new year, I’m thinking with gratitude about all the interesting people and cool opportunities I experienced in 2023 and setting my intentions for what I want to create in 2024.

I’m super excited to announce I’ll be kicking the year off doing a collaboration with Walker & Hall. My painting ‘Sunrise’ will feature on the front of Walker & Hall gift cards this year. Keep an eye on my socials for the launch of this project!

One of the highlights of 2023 was being selected for inclusion in the Walker & Hall Waiheke Art Awards exhibition. I had the pleasure of attending the gala night at Cable Bay Vineyard on Waiheke which was lots of fun and a great celebration of all the artists involved.

Walker & Hall Waiheke Art Awards 2023 — Walker & Hall Waiheke Art Gallery Catalogue 2023

Towards the end of last year, I had started to experiment with some new brighter colour palettes, no doubt inspired by the longer, sunnier (thankfully!) days that were starting to appear. In particular I’ve been interested to explore blues and greens in my paintings. These are colours that used to feature heavily in my botanical work but hadn’t really made an appearance in my ‘black florals’.

These colours have made my work feel more abstracted somehow and have released me from the binds of realism that I was still tenuously clinging to. I’m excited to see where this development will lead.

As I review my body of work for the year, I’m reminded that all I can hope for is progression and this is where my motivation to keep painting lies. I want to be able to convey more, free myself more, and express more harmony and beauty in my work. I’ve come to think of this as closing the gap! The gap between my abilities and my sensibilities. It often occurs to me that this might be an impossible task, and I kind of hope it is, or one day there will be no point in continuing to paint.

So long as I see my work developing, and that gap closing up even the tiniest bit I’m a happy camper. The journey really is where it’s at for me these days!

In other news, I am preparing for my first foray into the NZ Art Show in Wellington this year. This event showcases hundreds of selected artists with all work being for sale. If you’re in Wellington over Kings Birthday weekend (May 31st to June 2nd) it will be well worth a visit! I’ll be talking more about this as I prepare work for it over the next few months.

On that note, I’ll leave you with this lovely and somewhat humorous piece of feedback I recently received from a collector regarding my work.

“Thank you Rebecca for creating Sky Bloom. We chose very neutral colours in our home so we could bring it to life with pieces of art we love. I LOVE Sky Bloom. I love the blue of the sky and the pop of pink flowers against the luscious green leaves. It reminds me of a place we visit in summer that is very important to me. Every time I look at it, it makes me smile. Thank you.”
I thought I would share my father-in-law’s feedback too. In a very matter of fact way, he said “it makes a very drab room look a million times better!” – M Thorn

I’m off to dive into my paints to see where inspiration takes me…..

Wishing you a great start to 2024!