Kawakawa Bay - Jeff Surf Fishing

Kawakawa Bay!  I posted the last picture without the fisherman and now you see the fisherman, my son -Jeff.  This bay is beautiful and Jeff was at such peace just standing waiting for "his fish".  Unfortunately we he didn't catch anything that day, and we all tried.  After Thanksgiving is over I think I would like to try a Maori Warrior!  

Jeff helping me with my pole!

Jeff & his dad fishing together

Pretty picture of the bay.

New Zealand Surf Fishing

I started this painting last year in acyrlics and I didn't like it so I decided I would wait and do it in oil.  I have been working in oils for the past year and this is my first large painting in oils, 28 x 22.  This is Kawakawa Bay in South Auckland, it's on the east coast. The fisherman is missing at the moment and I hope to get him in the painting by the end of next week. New Zealand is so pretty and the colors are so vivid  and I really tried to capture that in the painting.  I am guessing that I will work more on the clouds and little more on the water before I add the fisherman!  If I could revisit any one place that I have traveled to it would be New Zealand, in fact I would love to spend a year in New Zealand.  It's absolutely beautiful.  ...and I still don't know how people walk barefoot on these rocks!

More Poppies

One more painting of poppies from the Glacier National Park Lodge.  This is 12 x 12 painting of the poppies and other flowers from the gardens at the Lodge.  No more poppies, I am tired of poppies! At the moment  I'm working on a picture from New Zealand  of my son surf fishing.  I also want to do a painting of a New Zealand warrior, I think I am fixated on New Zealand because I am waiting for my brand new granddaughter's arrival some time this month.  Of course this baby will arrive in New Zealand as a Maori princess!

Just 1 of 200 pictures from the gardens at the Lodge

Glacier National Park

Poppies - Glacier National Park

Me on my bike - Hwy to the Sun

This past July we took two weeks and rode out to the Tetons, Glacier National Park and the Canadian Rockies.  Of course we had had to take the scenic Highway to the Sun ride   The road is a 50 mile, paved two-lane highway that bisects Glacier National Park east and west.  It spans the width of the Park, crossing the Continental Divide at 6,646 foot-high Logan Pass.  We stayed at the Lodge in Columbia Falls, Montana and they had beautiful gardens.  I must of taken 200 pictures of their gardens.

Our bikes - Hwy to the Sun

Moko-the art of the Maori tribal tattoo

 Moko - the art of tatto - it has always been part of the Maori world in New Zealand.  It is about beauty, and belonging.  No two facial moko are ever alike.  It is usually gendered.  A women's facial adornment was usually the darkening of the lips and the design was on the chin continuing to the throat.  Most of the facial tattoos we saw were in the tourist areas, we did run into a few elderly women who had the facial tattoos.   I was amazed at the skill of the Maori artists, swirling curves of black on shoulders, thighs, lower back, arms, upper feet, it goes on and on.

This little girl was one of many in her school and her tattoo is only temporary.  I thought it would be fun to show you the progression of the painting!

New Zealand - Maori Student - it's only paint!

New Website, New Facebook Page exciting!

Wow I have my new website up and I'm liking it.  deniselipusch.com  I had to purchase new software for the website so there is a bit of a learning curve but I am getting there.  I have some exciting new goals for the end of 2012 and the start of 2013.  Having my website, my blog and my new artist facebook page all linked together is just the beginning.   http://www.facebook.com/denise.lipusch.art

Koru & New Zealand Poppies

January 13th was my last blog.   I now have 5 paintings for my New Zealand show.   I spent way too much time on the Surf Fishing picture and sure enough I have decided to start over with that painting.   Before I start it again I decided to take a break and painted poppies.  I am so excited it only took me a week to paint these 4 paintings!  Yeah!!  Next I start on the Surf Fishing painting again and some blue flowers which are the same color as the sea in New Zealand!  

The first day we arrived in New Zealand we spent time in Auckland's Botanic Gardens.  

The colors of New Zealand are amazing!  

New Zealand Poppies

Five New Zealand Poppies

I wanted this painting to be a little sketchier and I tried to get the koru into this painting.  

Keep reading the koru is at the bottom of the post.

Just Playing Poppies

I had fun with the shadows on the bottom poppy and yes 

the koru is in this painting also!

Koru
The koru is much more difficult to paint than the poppies!  I plan to paint one
koru for every series of paintings I do.  The next will be blue.

 New Growth or Koru, which is Maori for bright.  This shape is based on the new unfurling silver fern frond and symbolizes new life, new growth, strength and peace.  The koru is used in a stylized form as the logo of Air New Zealand and as an iconic symbol of New Zealand flora.  If you look closely will you may find some of them in the poppy paintings!

Surf Fishing

Winter has arrived in Indiana, only 13 degrees this morning and snow covering everything which made it a perfect day to paint.  You must be asking "who" is surf fishing??  Well make sure you follow the blog as I will update the picture while I am working on it.  New Zealand has very rocky beaches, nothing like the Florida white sand beaches but equally as beautiful.  In fact the colors of the rocks, sky and water are much more vibrant in New Zealand.  In this painting I am attempting to push the colors to what I remember from our trip to this beach.  The rocks were so rugged and sharp, I felt like a very senior citizen trying to navigate the rocks and then I watched children, adults and dogs scurry across the rocks barefoot as if they were walking on the Florida beaches!  New Zealanders are definitely a rugged group of people.  

Hongi

Well this is my first painting for My Zealand Show!  In November of 2011 my husband and I went to New Zealand to visit our son, Jeff and his wife Stormye and it was a fabulous trip.  Jeff and Stormye were our tour guides!  Jeff married Stormye in Las Vegas but Stormye's heritage is Maori, from New Zealand.  Stormye's grandparents and mother are all from New Zealand, but Stormye had never lived in New Zealand.  Stormye and Jeff decided to move to New Zealand  so she could experience her heritage.  The "Hongi" is the pressing of noses - a welcome gesture for the Maori.  We visited Stormye's Aunts, Uncle and cousins but no one actually greeted us with the pressing of noses though it was much talked about on all our tours.

This is a pastel painting of Stormye greeting the warrior on the Waka (canoe) at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds.  A canoe that is 35 metres long and requires a minimum of 76 paddlers, nothing like the canoes in Indiana!  The Wakas were elaborately carved and this one, the Ngatokimatawhaorua, had a carving of a warrior at the end of it.  Well I plan to learn much more about the Maori's and my daughter-in-law as I prepare for my New Zealand show.