Kia Ora from New Zealand
 

Hello everyone. I thought it was time to introduce myself as i have been reading this forum on a daily basis for about 12 months and feel i know you all already. My name is Jayden Dickinson i live in the Bay of Plenty New Zealand. I am married to an amazing woman and have two wonderful little daughters. I work as a full time Graphic Designer and illustrator but oil painting and drawing has always been my passion. Although my education has been to a greater extent about design and "art" i refer to myself as self taught as i am constantly learning and discovering (mostly by making mistakes). In the last 12 months through reading this forum i have tried more techniques, pallets and media than i have in the last 10 years. I have attached some of my work in different styles (apologies for the poor photos i have yet to dig into that section of the forum). I hope to learn as much as i can and develop a career in this industry as i have found that there is nothing more challenging and interesting.

Hello Jayden, welcome to this International forum.
You are very skilled and I am excited to see what you will come up with.
How is the situation for portraiture in New Zealand, is there a local tradition for painting naturalism?

Welcome to the forum Jayden, I have had the pleasure to visit New Zealand some years ago. Both south and noth island. very beautiful. Your work is really outstanding.

Hello Jayden and welcome.

Your work is great! Hope to see more of it here.

Hi Jayden,
Nice works! ( what mediums did you used?) I see that you have very inspiring ( and some almost frightening) subjects to paint !
Welcome to the Forum !

Welcome to the Forum, Jayden! I'm very intrigued by your stark and spare compositions. Your graphic design background shows to your advantage in that you know how to pare your compositions down to the esentials and arrange them effectively. Your contributions will be an asset here. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work.

Thanks everyone for your kind welcome.

Hi Allan thanks for your coments. "is there a local tradition for painting naturalism?" Throughout my schooling i have always been taught techniques leaning more towards expressionism but i keep being drawn back to naturalism. I couldn't say that there is a strong tradition for painting naturalism in New Zealand but some of the past NZ artists i admire definitely sway towards it eg. Charles Frederick Goldie.
"How is the situation for portraiture in New Zealand"
There seems to be plenty of call for corporate portraiture although stylized contemporary figurative work is definitely more popular in local gallereis.

Sorry Marina i should have listed mediums (begginers haste).

The first image is my wife and daughter minutes after she was born. Titled: First Day. Size: 400 x 560mm Medium: Cont

Welcome, I'm looking forward to seeing what else you will come up with. These are very strong, powerful paintings. I like your very direct style.

Jean

Thanks Jean I really liked what you did with "the boy with the red hair" Im also looking foward to posting some of my more current works and getting some criticism.... merits or faults.

Welcome to the forum, Jayden. Interesting work. Thanks for posting.