Follow the Painting Process

Over the coming months I'll be collaborating with Pest Free Token on a special series of paintings celebrating New Zealand's native ecosystems and the incredible work being done to restore them.

What drew me to Pest Free Token was their willingness to tackle an old and seemingly impossible problem with ingenuity, optimism and a fresh way of thinking. Their passion for creating positive change is contagious, and their vision of a trap in every backyard recognises that while the challenges facing our native wildlife can feel overwhelming, small actions taken by many people can make a real difference. Their work is helping communities around New Zealand play a meaningful role in protecting and restoring native species.

Through this project I want to celebrate the beauty, wonder and resilience of New Zealand's native ecosystems, while sharing a hopeful vision of what is possible when communities come together to care for the places they love. These paintings are inspired by the world we're protecting and the future we're helping to create, one small step at a time.

I'll be creating a series of three circular paintings inspired by alpine, bush and coastal environments. Throughout the project I'll be gathering stories, observations and ideas from the Pest Free Token community, allowing the experiences of those working to protect these places help inform the final artworks. The completed paintings and accompanying print release will help raise funds for Pest Free Token, supporting their vision of a future where New Zealand's native species can thrive.

This page will document the journey from the first ideas and field observations through to the finished paintings. Along the way I'll be sharing the stories, challenges and discoveries that help shape the final works. If you'd like to see how a collection of wildlife encounters and conservation stories slowly become three paintings, you're invited to follow along.

Week One: Collecting Stories, Encounters and Observations

Every painting begins somewhere.

For this project, it it began by asking questions. Over the first week, I invited people to share the experiences that have shaped their connection to our natural world. Rather than deciding what should appear in these paintings, I wanted to learn from the people who spend time observing, restoring and simply enjoying our alpine, bush and coastal ecosystems.

I was interested to hear:

• What wildlife encounter has stayed with you?

• What is something in nature that most people walk straight past?

• If you could preserve one thing for future generations to experience, what would it be?

• What species would you love to see thriving in your area ten years from now?

• What changes have you noticed that tell you conservation is working?

The response has been extraordinary.

Stories arrived from every corner of New Zealand. People wrote about hearing kiwi call through the night, robins following trampers through the bush, glowworms lighting forest tracks, cheeky kea, whio raising their young, stingrays gliding beneath them, rare alpine plants, tiny insects, overlooked fungi, returning kākā and countless moments that reminded them why these places matter.

As the stories accumulated, patterns began to emerge. They weren't simply about individual species. They were about discovery, connection, hope, recovery and special moments that stay with us for years. They revealed just how deeply people care about the places they love and our flora and fauna.

These stories will become the foundation of the paintings. Not by illustrating every encounter, but by helping shape the ideas, emotions and themes that will run through them.

This page will continue to document that journey as the project evolves from conversations and sketchbooks to compositions, painting process, challenges, breakthroughs and, eventually, three finished works inspired by the shared experiences of people across Aotearoa.

Week 2 - Designing the Paintings

This has been by far the hardest stage of the project.

Over the past week you've shared some incredibly precious memories with me. Stories of wonder, hope, recovery and connection. I feel a huge responsibility to honour them all and do them justice.

The problem is... it's impossible to paint every story literally. I don't want these works to become ecology posters, filled with individual species but missing the deeper story. Instead, I want to paint the feelings and themes that kept appearing again and again.

How do you paint connection? Awe? Wonder? Hope? How do you show that everything in nature is woven together and that every small part matters?

On the surface it looks like nothing is happening. The kids are at school. I finally have time in the studio. But instead of painting, I tidy. I walk the dog. I stare at blank canvases. It feels frustrating, as though the hours are slipping away and the school holidays are getting closer.

But this is how the process works. The thinking isn't separate from the painting, it is the painting. Then, almost without warning, one thought appears. Another follows. The fragments begin to connect and suddenly the direction becomes clear.

Two of the three paintings are now drawn onto the canvases and ready for paint. The third is still evolving, but I've learned not to force it. It will reveal itself when it's ready.

Week Three, Four, Five - First Strokes

School holidays are never quite what you imagine they'll be. Even with the best laid plans, life has a way of taking over. Between family, a few unexpected curve balls and a short trip away, the paintings sat untouched for almost two weeks.

Today was my first day back in the studio after twelve days away from the canvases. It felt good to pick up a paintbrush again but it takes a day to remember the plan and be confident in the process again. Although I haven't made as much progress as I'd hoped, this is how it goes a lot of the time. Some weeks are about painting, others are about family or living the experiences that inevitably find their way back into the paintings.

I'm looking forward to getting properly stuck in again next week and watching these three paintings begin to properly take shape.

Week 6 - The River Emerges

After a couple of interrupted weeks it felt good to finally spend uninterrupted time in the studio. The composition is now fully decided. Most of the landscape has been blocked in, with the waterfall, river, trees and boulders all finding their place. Very little is actually finished though. At this stage I'm more concerned with relationships than details, making sure the light flows through the valley, the depth feels convincing and the eye naturally travels through the painting.

One thing that has surprised me is how naturally the idea of weaving has emerged. As the composition developed the tree trunks, river and valley began crossing and overlapping like strands in a plait. It feels like a fitting metaphor for everything people shared with me during the first weeks of this project. No story exists on its own. Every species, every memory and every place is connected to something else.

I particularly enjoyed the challenge of painting the river this week. I tried a new technique which I’m really happy with. I’m always a bit daunted by painting moving water like this. There’s so many layers to it; the underwater rocks, the reflections, the rapids and waterfall. I’m never quite sure where to begin but this weeks experiment has taught me a lot.

The foreground remains almost untouched for now. Rather than rushing to finish it, I'm treating it as the place where many of those shared stories will quietly weave into the landscape. Next week I'll begin work on the alpine painting while still mulling over the details for this one. I often find that stepping away allows me to return with fresh eyes before tackling the final layers.