After the Beehive, some cake designing perhaps?

Prime Minister John Key's donated artwork Beehive 10. Photo / Supplied

He probably should not give up his day job, but Prime Minister John Key has won some encouragement from experts for his artistic endeavour.

Mr Key has donated a sketch called Beehive 10 to an art auction to raise money for Christchurch's Linwood College. The Herald has been assured the sketch is Mr Key's own work.

In 2002, "Paintergate" erupted after it was revealed that then Prime Minister Helen Clark had signed an auctioned artwork that she had not painted.

Last month, a flag doodle Mr Key scribbled while on TVNZ's Breakfast programme fetched $10,150 in an online auction.

Linwood College art auction organiser Tom Davies said he hoped Beehive 10 would fetch an even better price when it went under the hammer on March 26.

Through a spokeswoman, Mr Key said: "I clearly don't have much artistic ability, as you can see, but I am always happy to contribute to good causes where I can. I chose to draw the Beehive because it's one of New Zealand's most iconic and memorable buildings."

His work got a mixed response from experts.

Otago University senior art lecturer Judith Collard said Mr Key's work was "surprisingly confident".

"[It] has a nice reference to Kiwiana, with what I presume is a Buzzy Bee. I like the idea of representing the Beehive as a birthday cake, or is it a boat? Maybe after the Prime Minister leaves his current job, he might consider a career as a cake designer."

Herald art critic TJ McNamara said the work was "conceptually rich but technically raw".

"The emblematic bee that hovers over the work self-consciously recalls Matthew Arnold's description of Shelley as an 'ineffectual angel beating in the void his luminous wings in vain'."

Christchurch artist Keith Morant, who has also donated work to the auction, said Mr Key's sketch was "steeped in human truth". "Its spontaneity and warmth of direct communication tells me that this is a person who is secure in his mentality and true to himself."

Herald arts editor Linda Herrick said the sketch showed potential. "But his oeuvre of late shows signs of being stuck in a rut. Stylistically, he needs to advance his technique and his artistic vocabulary."

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