Now in Year 12, Brooke’s enthusiasm for the artistic process is clear, and the appeal of approaching a blank canvass to develop eye-catching and beautiful artwork is a source of constant anticipation and excitement. With her attention currently focused on still life images, this talented artist is inspired by a range of mediums as she finds her own creative voice.
“Ever since I was younger, I have always enjoyed turning nothing into something. For me, the joy comes from the process of creating, and finding ideas in order to produce art,” enthuses Brooke.
“Something our Art teacher, Mrs Buxton helped me do, to make the creative process a bit easier, was to find inspiration online. There are so many different perspectives on just one topic available on the Internet, which has helped me discover my personal style and preference."
Brooke’s extensive Year 11 coursework for 2019 was based on two local heritage sites - The Elms / Te Papa and The Battle of Gate Pā, and also included still life vignettes based on items from ‘Hands on Tauranga’ – an object lending library within the Tauranga Heritage Collection.
“Two topics I focused on last year, were 'Vintage Tea Packaging' and 'Shell & Stone Patterns' which I really enjoyed, as I was able to turn such simplistic images into more abstract pieces with the help of bright coloured paints and watercolour,” Brooke explains.
“The workload for IGCSE Art was a lot, so trying to find time to fit everything in was a bit challenging but using the Internet to help me find ideas I could elaborate on, helped me get everything done on time. Finishing a project and seeing what I had created was definitely the biggest highlight.”
A fan of the impressionist movement, Brooke has always admired Claude Monet's landscape paintings, and believes he is a big influence in her own work.
“His style is quite unique and identifiable, even though there are so many other pieces of art with the same subject. His use of colour and his ability to blend them so seamlessly together is exquisite. Someone else with the same sort of painting technique which I also really love is Édouard Manet, but his focus is on people as well as landscapes. The expression he shows through people’s faces and even the vintage clothes and accessories they wear is so detailed and very intriguing to me.”
Brooke aspires to a future career in the art world, although is she currently keeping her options open as to exactly what form that will take.
“Art has been a big part of my life and I am very lucky to have a skill which I enjoy doing so much. If I wasn't doing art, in some form in the future, I cannot see myself being happy.”
