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Corrugated iron is a canvas for Vicki’s realist art

12 May 2022

Like the beginnings of plenty of innovative art styles, Vicki stumbled upon painting on corrugated tin by chance. Her husband cut the shape of New Zealand out of the material to hang in the garden one weekend, and Vicki painted its surface. More than a decade later, corrugated iron has stuck as her main canvas, and her realism artworks continue to be brought to life with Resene paints.  

 

Vicki with her artwork at Eyebright Country Store, where her work is displayed in Richmond.

“My art is based on realism, usually with people and usually of places we love to go,” Vicki says. It was family and friends who first encouraged her to sell her art, originally oils on canvas.

She found a gallery to sell her work in the arts centre of Christchurch. “She loved my work, she wasn’t convinced about people in my paintings, but once a few sold she said do it. The 2011 earthquakes changed everything; I packed up my family and we stayed with cousins in Auckland, and the gallery was lost.” Without gallery representation in Auckland, Vicki says she found it hard to justify buying expensive canvasses. Enter the corrugated iron.

 

Resene Decadence, Resene Adrenalin, Resene Bilbao, Resene Guru, Resene Black, Resene Red Hot, Resene Grapevine, Resene Turbo and Resene Alabaster feature in her work.

“We made more New Zealand shapes and sold them on Trade Me and a few retailers. My first foray into painting on the tin professionally was being approached by a company to make and paint five kiwis for a building in Franz Joseph.” Vibrant in Resene Dizzy Lizzy, the biggest artwork was 2.5m high.

“They are still there and looking great. Over time my paintings have become more detailed, so now resemble my early canvas work but are for the garden.” Vicki says the tin is smooth, apart from its bumps of course.

 

Resene Adrenalin, Resene Bilbao, Resene Guru, Resene Black, Resene Red Hot, Resene Grapevine, Resene Turbo and Resene Alabaster bring this piece to life.

“Using Resene Lumbersider makes me feel like a child at school with pots of paint, it helps me loosen up but not too much.”

Recycled galvanised roofing iron is her main material. “I used to use it as is, but now my husband flattens it out a little on a rolling machine at his work. It squashes differently each time which is good. I cut the tin with a plasma into various sizes and draw and cut any foreground features I will rivet on later.” Painting follows.

She was supplied with Resene Dizzy Lizzy for the kiwi job, and she says she saw how great it worked. “I then discovered the fantastic range and convenience of the testpots, and the fact that they were Resene Lumbersider exterior paint.”

 

Vicki says she loves the variety of Resene paints and the vibrancy the colours achieve.

Resene Decadence, Resene Adrenalin, Resene Bilbao, Resene Guru, Resene Black, Resene Red Hot, Resene Grapevine, Resene Turbo and Resene Alabaster regularly feature in her work.

“Resene Red Hot might be my favourite, our landscape sometimes lacks red so I like to pop it in somewhere. I also sign my work in red.”

Now based in Tasman, Vicki paints as her fulltime job, exhibiting her work at Eyebright Country Store in Richmond. You can also find her most Sundays at the Motueka Market.

Published: 12 May 2022