Fantail Rangitoto Leather Long Wallet

"I am New Zealand artist of Russian origin. I travelled a lot and currently settled down in Waitakere, West Auckland. It is a very special place where  is beautiful and powerful, people are friendly , the art community is flourishing. You simply can’t run out of inspiration here!

Art has been a lifetime journey for me: my hobby, passion, escape,  of happiness and now it is my profession that I thoroughly enjoy. I paint every day, what can be better!

My painting process is simple: I spend time at the beach, in the forest, in the garden, admiring the beauty and taking a lot of photos of the same place from different angles. I save the photos  my computer and start working on  and colour scheme. The goal is to make the image looking like work of art, not like a photograph. The subject itself doesn’t matter. As long as I can play with colour and light, I am happy.

My art is known for its distinctive style and vibrant colours. My favourite colours are red, orange and yellow, hues of sunshine and fire, warm, passionate and expressive.

As a painter, I consider myself influenced by Paul Gauguin, Maryanne North and Russian traditional decorative art.

The world around me fascinates me, I see it in a beautiful, mysterious way and believe in  power of art."

---Irina Velman