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Karekare Residency by Lyn Bergquist

For 33 years and 360 artworks, and counting, Lyn has been painting successfully with Resene Lumbersider paints and still solely uses them today...

The Karekare residency is open to four artists a year as a residency and studio space to work on art pieces on the West Coast of Auckland. It is organised by Eden Arts and is courtesy of The Karekare Trust which makes the Dorothy Butler homestead available to artists.

Lyn Bergquist was granted a three week residency in late summer and completed eight works centred on Paratahi Island and the loneliness of Karekare Beach. Lyn has captured the emptiness, isolation and broad expanse of the beach, fascination with the tidal sand patterns and the power of the cliffs and sea.

The colours of Paratahi Island, ‘The Sibling That Strayed Too Far’ were also an inspirational feature along with the visual aspects of the island which change the shape of the island from an innocent ‘sugarloaf’ to a menacing ‘battleship’ blockading the shoreline. The paintings have been exhibited at the Karekare residence in April 2019 and will have a further exhibition at the Pah Homestead along with the other three resident artists from December this year until February next year.

The colours of the west coast beaches and overcast skies were the colour inspiration for this project. Lyn uses Resene acrylic paints using strong primary colours – Resene Resolution Blue (bold blue), Resene Turbo (energetic yellow) and Resene Guardsman Red (bold red) – plus green with Resene Japanese Laurel (bright green), Resene Black and Resene White then mixes colours on his canvas or on his palette as he paints. For 33 years and 360 artworks, and counting, Lyn has been painting successfully with Resene Lumbersider paints and still solely uses them today.

Lyn’s works won the Resene Total Colour Installation – Experiential – Product Colour Maestro Award. The judges said “a beautiful and striking collection of artworks, the clever use of colour so accurately captures the landscape and brings it into works that can be enjoyed for years to come. This series of works gives a coloured insight into the moodiness of the landscape and Mother Nature at its best. It makes you want to break out the testpots and get painting.”

Artist: Lyn Bergquist
Winner: Resene Total Colour Installation – Experiential – Product Colour Maestro Award
Project: Resene Total Colour Awards 2019
From the Resene News – issue 4/19