Pick of the Week: 'Bush Magic' by Liz Hart

  • 8 April 2018
  • Sarah Holden

Our Pick of the Week this week is Liz Hart's gorgeous watercolour study, 'Bush Magic'! Well-loved for her classical renderings of landscapes, flora, coastal scenes and still life in watercolours and acrylics, Liz never fails to bring an elegance and romantic atmosphere to her subject. 

New to our Tairua gallery, 'Bush Magic' exudes an understated air of magic, mystery and aura. At a moderate, intimate scale, the piece lures us into the window of the bush, enhanced by the clean and simple crisp white framing which allows the painting to really stand out. 

 

 

As with many of her landscape and flora works, Liz keeps to a limited colour palette, allowing her dynamic, refined brushwork to be the star of the piece. With soft lilacs and vibrant aubergines paired with complementary tones of lime, forest green and chocolate, 'Bush Magic' demonstrates Liz's natural sensibility for colour - no shade is out of place and is only strengthened by the colours surrounding it. 

Watercolours demand the painter to work with considered control, and may require patience with drying time, or for the artist to work quickly to blend while the colours are still wet. To create the variety of delightful textures in 'Bush Magic' Liz works with both techniques, skillfully using the brush as a tool for generating an array of delicate flickers and dappled pools of colour. Drawing from the Impressionists, Liz works to capture a moment in time, recreating her personal perception of the light falling onto the trees and plants across the forest floor. 

Concerned with mood and atmosphere over strict replication, Liz continues to explore the boundaries of representation in her painting, challenging herself with how much she can convey with the brush without straying too far into abstraction, still enabling the viewer to share and enjoy her perspective of the environment.  

Traditionally the historic European convention of Landscape Painting could have several functions, including to serve as a channel through which to show an appreciation or a reverence for nature. 'Bush Magic' invites the viewer to take a pause: to take a moment to appreciate our beautiful surroundings of native New Zealand bush. 

We imagine 'Bush Magic' to be the perfect piece to create a sense of restfulness in a space, a timeless painting that allows you bring a little slice of nature into your home. See it now in our Tairua gallery! 

Interested in enquiring about 'Bush Magic'? Contact us here. 

 

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