Harmony
11 – 22 March 2009
Opening preview: Wednesday 11 March 5.30 – 7.30pm
Artist Statement:
Rosie Harper and Susan Skelton are artists with not only different techniques, styles, but also different backgrounds and origins, who have also become firm friends and believe in harmony amongst their fellow artists and within their creativity and friendship. Susan creates abstracts with passion, exploring the boundaries with resulting explosions of colour and shape onto a canvas, reflecting the elements that surround her. Nothing escapes as she captures an angry ocean, soft warm sand, the sun rising through heavy cloud or a clear blue sky. Rosie is in a mad passionate love affair with detail and spends many hours just drawing her art onto a large canvas, illustrating a storybook tale ready to paint for each artwork. Believing that there is not enough beauty in the world today, she paints bright colours, beautiful faces, flowing shadows and light and a touch of surrealism added in to flavour the scene. A poetical tale describing the story is also part of her process, so that each painting becomes a completed tale.
Biography – Susan Skelton:
As far back as Susan can remember she has wanted to paint. Susan’s love of creating has led her to a successful career in the web environment and now that her children have grown and spare time has come back into her life she has picked up a paint brush once again. Susan just adores colour, strong texture, warmth and the feeling of being drawn into a painting. Susan’s influences come from many streams; an angry ocean, soft warm sand, the sun rising through heavy cloud, a clear blue sky. By incorporating these facets into her work Susan produces abstract pieces that are striking and at the same time very pleasing to the eye. Susan also has a great passion for painting the beauty of the female form. Her residence and studio is located in Upper Hutt. www.susanskelton.com
Biography – Rosie Harper:
Rosie is a published, professional artist living and working in beautiful Wellington, New Zealand. Rosie has been very fortunate in her artistic career and blesses every day that she can pick up a brush and create beautiful things in a sometimes ugly world. Rosie’s work has been described as illustrative and obviously comes from her yearning to be a book illustrator from her younger days, but life, love and family took over. Rosie paints mainly in oils as she loves the textures and fluidity achieved. Strong detail is a main focus for her. Rosie has been published in Society Magazine, USA, exhibited extensively in London, USA and Europe and has several private collectors who have become friends and companions through this journey she on, dotted all around the world. She uses the internet (artbyrosie.com – my web gallery) her home and exhibitions to show her work and has exhibited in several shows during 2008 in New Zealand. Rosie’s work is mainly Art Deco style with some Art Nouveau and Surrealism mixed in for good measure and tends to go for illustrative, bright and colourful rather than dark and sombre by letting her imagination run riot. Most of her pieces are large and are meant to own any wall they are placed upon. That initial blank large canvas on the easel sets her heart pumping as she never knows how that piece of canvas will end up. Although Rosie is an artist she is really an art lover as art is a passion for her and would be totally bereft without it. www.artbyrosie.com