Northern gem

New Zealand landscapes painted in Resene by NZ artists

A painter gets a mountain of inspiration from childhood memories.

When Scout invited Whangārei artist Olivia Garelja to create an artwork for this issue, she knew straight away which New Zealand landscape she wanted to paint: Taratara Mountain in the Far North.

“Since the age of five, I used this maunga as a marker of distance – it’s roughly 90 minutes from seeing my grandparents in Kaimaumau, East Beach. I have felt spiritually drawn to this beautiful gem of the north forever,” she says.

Olivia has always been creative, honing her artistic skills on colouring books in the early 1990s. “My mum soon realised she had a perfectionist on her hands at age four when her attempts to fix the slight mistakes with twink weren’t good enough, as the white of the paper was always different,” she says, laughing. “My style over the years has tended to loosen but still always retains a level of detail, even if it is in an abstract way.”

Olivia’s entire life has involved Resene, from murals at primary school to opening her own account as a mural artist. “They really have everything covered for the industry and the artist,” she says. “It’s just great to support local products, and you soon begin to develop a relationship with Resene colour and key go-to tones. The beauty for me and the way I paint is that I get to take the viewer’s eye on a unique journey, seeing how colour is used through multiple layers and how each tone relates uniquely to the next.”

Olivia’s art isn’t just beautifying our pages – we are also auctioning it off via Trade Me from November 15 to raise money for Paint New Zealand Beautiful. This initiative is run by Keep New Zealand Beautiful and supported by Resene, to help beautify our communities with painting projects.

For more information visit scoutmagazine.co.nz

Get creative with Resene – Olivia's Resene colour palette

New Zealand landscape paintings
This series of work features Kiwi artists using Resene Paints to paint New Zealand landscapes. Artwork is auctioned off is in support of Paint New Zealand Beautiful.

View artwork