Maree White in her converted cow-shed studio	Small boat at Napier - 2008.	Commissioned label for the Point Bush Estate Winery.
Click here to see details of Maree's latest exhibition.

At the beginning of the year the inside of the studio is painted clean white again for a fresh start...

Maree White paints in an old converted cowshed near Whakatane, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand.

The clear, clean, spaciousness of this workspace is also what she tries to attain in her work of New Zealand landscapes.

Growing up in Waimate, South Canterbury, White knew she was going to be an artist at the age of 10 when she held her first solo exhibition of local oil paintings. Later, whilst living in Reefton on the South Island’s West Coast, she was commissioned to paint a number of murals around the town. After shifting back to Waimate in her late twenties further murals were painted for nightclubs, music shops, and a lighting company in the filmindustry in Queenstown, depicting the crew, equipment and landscape.

White, a self-taught artist, now paints with acrylics on high quality canvases imported from Invercargill. Every year she goes on two or three photoshoots around New Zeaand for painting resources. Usually she takes friends with her for fun and to be her chauffeur, because she’s always looking for that shot! Then when she comes home it’s down to the studio to concentrate on producing her work.

White specialises in creating landscapes with a clear, heightened realism which is created through the use of with dramatic lighting and bright colours. She also experiments with portraits.

There is a balance between the photo taken and the memory of being there. The photo holds the factual structure but the memory holds the essence.

Along with spending her last 20 years painting White has also been a musician playing in various quirky bands, touring the country. There is always a tension between time allocated towards music and art.

All of her music is composed, requiring a lot of time to craft each piece. At the moment she plays in a comedy rock-chick duo called ‘The Mouse & Gloria Show’. She likens it to club sandwiches and Lamingtons with a frenetic edge, and a rogue sausage-roll with cream topping thrown in. It’s all very familiar and comforting, but something is very wrong!

White also teaches five classes of adults a week on how to paint and enjoys passing on her skills in order to share the joy of painting.

It sometimes feels like an oil-tanker: music, teaching and gardening all slowly moving forward. It takes skill and discipline to keep it all steady, but after many years of deadlines she has learned to maintain a routine that suits. Swimming and surfing and attempts at meditation help to keep the balance.

White is exhibiting at the 4 Arts Sake Gallery in Ohope, Bay of Plenty - The Red Peach Gallery, Napier, and she also runs her own solo show at the Twizel Events Centre every year.