Legally blind Katikati artist still exhibiting 60 years on

Colleen O'Byrne, artist from Katikati. Photo / Supplied.

Colleen O'Byrne had an early start at painting and had her first exhibition at age 5.

School inspectors came around to her infant class and gathered up all her paintings — on brown paper — which they made into a book for the 1940-41 Centennial Exhibition in Wellington.

That was the last they saw of that work.

In 1962, Colleen gathered a small group of friends also interested in painting. This was the nucleus of the Katikati Art Group. Sixty years later, she is still exhibiting in the 2022 Art Exhibition to be held at the Katikati Memorial Hall from September 29 to October 4.

"I enjoy expressing my ideas, impressions and personality through my artworks," Colleen says, "many of which are in homes worldwide."

The wall of her lounge is covered in paintings, a literal gallery and in a corner, her studio.

"I love all mediums," she says, "and I loved drawing as a child, but at 16 was too young to go to Elam Art School and in the end, I never did. Now I stick to acrylics as they're easier on my eyes."

Colleen suffers from macular degeneration and is legally blind, but that doesn't stop her painting. She loves painting boats, moody seas, the sky and seabirds. For two decades she sailed yachts, crewing and racing from North Cape to Mayor Island. Many of her paintings reflect this in atmospheric swirling motion, often in marine colours.

Everything comes from her head.

"This is a memory of sailing to the Barrier," she says of a graceful yacht heading into rough weather. "I learned to sail on P-class, then Flying Fifteens. I crewed for anyone short of a crew, and eventually graduated to the bigger yachts. I even sailed in that beautiful classic yacht Ariki in the Tall Ships race in the Bay of Islands."

In 2007 Colleen changed her style to suit her capabilities, applying a looser, more impressionistic aspect of her work while keeping up with the times. She sells in the Katikati Exhibition and in her Greenpark Village Art and Crafts weekend. Her Snapfish books record the huge output of her works.

Aged 87, she doesn't let obstacles stop her.

"I'm continuing to express myself through light and shade, all the colours and tones of the spectrum are the emotions of my life."

You can view Colleen's work in the Katikati Art Group gallery on the side of the Memorial Hall. It is open most mornings.