I am set to open my 3rd annual exhibition at South Sea Art Gallery in Russell on December 13th; ‘The Gifts My Angels Gave Me’ – a selection of new oil paintings.
The show will run until the close of January 2015 and is a cash and carry event if needed.

2014 has been a hugely productive and insightful painting year for me.
Suffering the debilitations and pain associated with a freak auto-immune disease in late 2013 certainly shifted my focus and abilities as an artist.
It was through these 8 months of bed-ridden illness that I have arrived at where I am now.
I discovered a new painting platform deep inside, and a yearning and drive to rise above all and fight it out. I have always painted from a spiritual place, yet this drove me to an even deeper level. Words cannot express this place of wonder.

The most of my work for the year has been comprised of large commissions, which were harrowing at the time, due to my physical limitations, yet looking back now, what a blessing to have conquered ‘the beast’ so to speak and to have moved my art into a new arena and furthered international clients and sales.

Previously I have continued along one theme for the year, exploring in depth and detail the faces behind that theme and what courses beneath the skin in an evocative and visual way as I see and feel it and in turn paint it. This year I sidelined and explored 4 predominant themes.

My study of Angels and Faces as Icons will always be a deep part of me, it was welcoming and challenging to continue along with this, discovering many more emotive strings that needed creating onto my canvases.
The beauty and strength, solace of the Geisha was also very much a part of this year, working on a whole series and commissions that followed. This was very rewarding in the aftermath of my illness. I have two paintings included in this exhibition which are indicative of this.
After having a vision of a massive weeping Buddha as a painting, on seeing a small stone statue in one of my client’s gardens, gave birth to my most significant painting to date in my art career; The weeping Buddha, For the Buddha Wept.
I chose to create him in a style of my tippy-headed angels, beseeching.
I have 2 other smaller Buddha-inspired paintings in this exhibition.
The fourth predominant theme for the year was the discovery through a dream sequence of the Rusalki. Rusalkas or Rusalki are the Slavic counterpart of the Greek sereines. Rusalkas are said to inhabit lakes and rivers. As I have explored mermaids previously, this collection was a wondrous and highly emotional commitment.
I have several Rusalki in this exhibition and the first in the series which has been recently sold, will feature too, as it is a necessary piece within this theme and was my starting point.

I have had a rich and highly successful year contesting and beating all odds both physically and creatively. I am proud to share with you this diverse representation of my 2014 year.
I have much planned for the coming art year both here in New Zealand and abroad

Namaste

Sandra-Jane

For further information on this exhibition please view my listing on EventFinda