From rural scenes to bird life

110315PBpainters IN OILS: Don Hill and Gaye Downing are ready for Artists Open Studios starting this weekend. PICTURE: PAUL BROOKS

Artists Gaye Downing and Don Hill are, once again, combining their talents for the upcoming Artists Open Studios.
Every second year, the pair use Don's studio to present their work to the public.
While both paint in oils, Don's work is mostly vast rural landscapes, impressionist scenes of country and coastal life in New Zealand, while Gaye concentrates on the intricacies of New Zealand bird life on a much smaller scale.
"I do smaller paintings too," says Don. "Not everyone can afford big ones." He has also created monster "canvases", too big for most walls.
In Don's big, open studio at his home on No 2 Line - just past the Matarawa Church - the two artists have a wealth of material for display.
There is plenty to catch the eye but one enormous triptych [three-panelled] work is an obvious attention grabber. It is a scene from the Wairarapa settlement of Ngawi where bulldozers are used to launch and collect fishing boats from the shore. A quick internet search reveals Ngawi has more bulldozers per head of population than any other place in the country.
"It's the only way to launch those big boats," says Don. "Some of them are 30 foot. They just float them off and don't even get their feet wet."
There's a seal colony nearby; Gaye remembers the smell, although the endearing aspect provided by baby seals is memorable. Some of Gaye's paintings are strong on cute factor - like the sparrow enjoying a dust bath. Her birds are definitely centre stage, with the background often indistinct but giving the subtle impression of a suitable landscape. Her kakariki, for example, is in a forest but there is little definition behind the bird.
The frames she uses are as much of a trademark as the paintings themselves; chunky, dark, profiled frames that give the birds a cuddle more than a wooden border.
Gaye started painting in 2010 after years as a graphic artist and designer.
"I started with fruit," she says. "I always wanted to paint Renaissance style, and never thought I could so never did anything about it. Then one winter I was bored and decided to paint a portrait of my son." That's where it started.
"You like the detail, that's probably why you started painting birds," says Don.
"I painted a sparrow, for some reason," says Gaye and she will continue to paint them, especially since a nearby art lover is collecting them through a gallery. "I like the North Island Robins and the tomtits. Sparrows are actually the hardest bird to paint, just to get the colours.
"My painting has to be finished in one sitting, so the paint is still wet." she says. "I start early in the morning and finish that day."
Don works in the same "wet in wet" method - alla prima - but creates his art differently. "I would do the sky and the mountains, down to the bottom of the mountains," he says, pointing at a large South Island landscape. "But I would finish it." Then he would add the landscape below the foot of the mountains in one day and later add the animals and/or people.
"The Ngawi one, I would have done the sky and hills in one sitting - it probably took me about 20 hours. You just keep going; it's easier than if you stop." Some colours "go off" quickly; others stay wet for ages.
"The whites take the longest to dry, up to a week, but the browns can dry on the palette," says Gaye.
They say some people paint in layers, even in oils.
Don has been painting since he was 10 and in 1997 he went full-time. "It's not like going to work; it's like I retired 20 years ago," says Don.
They both paint on masonite and frame their works for exhibition, Gaye signing her work, surname only, in the wet paint with a six-inch nail, Don signing his in red paint.
¦Don and Gaye are number 62 in the Trail Guide at 678 No 2 Line, between Durie Hill and Fordell.