Mother and Child Painting

I have just completed 'Mother and Child, 2009'. This is a lovely warm painting and as always with Mother and Child works, this has been a very enjoyable piece to paint.

You are welcome to stop by and view at the studio if you are in the area (Tauranga, New Zealand).

Kind regards
Bryce

www.brycebrownart.com
07 577 1613





Email Bryce Brown

Agape - Stage 6

You can view progress on my painting “Agape” here.

Thank you for your interest.

Bryce Brown

Agapé stage 4

Hi,

I have completed another stage of Agapé. Click here to view. Painting anatomy to this degree is something very new for me and somewhat of a challenge. Whilst I aim to capture the essence of Michelangelo's Pieta, I'm also carefully maintaining my own style, as well as heightening the emotion of the piece with light and colour.

Regards
Bryce Brown

P.S. Did you know that you can sign up to receive an email of the posts I make here? This is a quick and easy way to not miss any of my posts. Click here to sign up.

Lightly on the Land Exhibition

Bryce will be exhibiting a collection of new works at the Zohar Gallery in Mt. Maunganui, New Zealand, opening on January 25th.

Bryce says of the body of work in the "Lightly on the Land" exhibition:

This is my strongest, most defined and most honest body of work yet. These paintings reflect a lot on the lives of my wife and I. Catherine has an amazing ability to be in the garden up to her knees in dirt, transforming within minutes into the most amazingly beautiful woman who could dine quite comfortably with royalty! This is about New Zealand women who carry an air of realness.

The 2007 book New Zealand’s Favourite Artists features Bryce as one of the sixty artists who are currently impacting on the New Zealand art scene. His images have also been used in the 2008 Calendar of the same name, as well as other various corporate calendars throughout NZ.

This will be Bryce’s eighth solo exhibition. He is a full time artist living in Mount Maunganui with his wife Catherine (who runs The Dance House Tauranga) and their four children.

Bryce Brown Nouveau Elegance Exhibition January 2008

Byrce Brown's exhibition "Nouveau Elegance" will take place at the Zohar Gallery in Mount Maunganui starting January 24th, 2008.

Bryce describes Nouveau Elegance as an exhibition that captures an old world grace, beauty, style and elegance with a twist. These figures are honest, humble, beautiful creatures who dwell lightly upon the land, gracing it with their presence as they go about their daily lives.

Woman Gathering Fruit

This is classic figurative work by Bryce Brown. Highly textured brush work with simple background and an almost naive representation of the subject figure. Here a woman is caught picking up a piece of fruit from the ground to place in her basket.

Woman gathering fruit 122 x 90 cm (sold)

Little Sailor

Bryce Brown's figurative painting "Little Sailor" is still available and he is offering to donate half of the sales proceeds to a New Zealand Youth Sailing Trust of the buyer's choice.

If the buyer has no preference for the charity, then Bryce will nominate the beneficiary.

The price of the piece is NZD2000.

Contact Bryce if you are interested at info "at" brycebrownart.com.

Every Step

Mother and Son Painting - Every Step

A continuation of my current Mother and Child series - Every Step incorporates the same 'protective' elements as Mother and Son and Kaitiaki, also highlighting the interdependency and love of mother and child. Once again, I feel that this painting has been an important step for me in any ways - it's theme and title are very relevant.

Every step 112x102 cm (44x40") Acrylic on Canvas Bryce Brown 2007

A Good Drying Day Painting Bryce Brown

A Good Drying Day

Bryce comments in his email he sent me with his latest painting, "Painting the grass alone took about 10 hours! I love it.... I think it's a real break through in many ways."

I agree, Bryce - this is a fantastic painting and I can imagine why the grass took you so long, but your really pulled it off!

As someone who was born in New Zealand, this scene of mum hanging out the washing sure does look familiar.

76 x 60 cm acrylic on canvas

Parched - Reworked

Greetings,

I spent another day painting over the dress of the figure in Parched. It has a much softer look with more flow and I'm glad I spent this extra time on it. All I can see when I close my eyes now is pleats and folds in fabric!

Compare this to the original image of this figurative painting I posted the other day.

This painting will be in Tauranga's Masterpiece exhibition along with seven more of my paintings, as well as works by nine other Tauranga artists.

Parched - Figurative Painting

Parched

Parched soil surrounds the figure as she reaches down to feel it's dryness, reminiscing on days when it was fertile and productive. I have adapted this piece from an earlier work I painted in 2005 called St Martin's Summer (seen below at the end of the post) where figures in the background were gathering apples. The new painting now focuses on one main figure, with only the memory of more fertile times.

30 x 30" (76 x 76 cm) Studio price NZD2400 (Gallery price NZD3000) free shipping within NZ.

Boy by the Sea Painting

Boy by the Sea - a Painting by Figurative Artist Bryce Brown

I am continuing with the theme of paintings figures by the sea. "Boy by the Sea" is based on a photo I took of my son Oscar sitting on the rocks at Leisure Island, Mt. Maunganui, New Zealand.

Boy by the Sea
Acrylic on canvas 20x30in (51x76cm)
May 2007

Boys at Play at the Beach

Greetings! This piece has just been made available. It's one of my 'small works' which I'm not really painting any more of (on this scale anyway) mainly because I enjoy the larger canvas so much more.

When this piece was painted, I was aiming to capture the same feeling of scale as the larger works which, when seen as an image, works quite well I feel. Surprising that the size is only 20 x 20 cm (8 x 8"). Small enough to mail! Let me know if this is of interest and I can send more info and a larger image.


Boys Playing with Ball at the Beach
Acrylic on canvas 20x20cm (8x8")
Bryce Brown, Figurative Artist

Guardian (Kaitiaki)

Guardian (Kaitiaki) by Bryce Brown

Guardian (Kaitiaki) is about the role the New Zealand Maori play in being the guardians or "kaitiaki" of the land and of each other (their "whanau").

The woman in this painting is guardian of the child, and they're both reaching out to touch the land that they cherish and care for.

I believe we are all custodians of the land we live on and of the people that surround us.

Guardian (Kaitiaki) 40" x 40" acrylic on canvas sold (Canadian collector)

Bryce Brown's next exhibition of his figurative art will take place at Holy Trinity Tauranga.

Go here for details of the Tauranga Masterpiece exhibition at Holy Trinity Church, June 2007

Mother and Son Painting Reworked

Painting of Mother and Son Reworked

Bryce Brown emailed saying "I decided to spend another 2 days on this painting! I feel it's my best Mother and child piece yet."

Bryce also told me that he's working on a second, larger mother and child piece which has quite a Polynesian feel to it. He's hoping to send out an image next week sometime.

Two Boys - a Painting by Bryce Brown

Two Boys - a Painting by Figurative Arist Bryce Brown

Bryce just sent out an email today offering this piece at "studio price". Bryce writes:

This is a piece that I painted in late 2005. It's one of the only remaining paintings from the Being Here exhibition. It's in my studio and I could send it straight away if you are at all interested. It's a fantastic and very dynamic piece, but it's been in my studio for a while and I would be keen to move it on.

The painting is set around the rocks at Mt Maunganui.

Size is 110 x 101 cm.
Studio price would be about $2500 (plus shipping if outside New Zealand).

Mother and Son Painting

Mother and Son Painting

76 x 76 cm. Acrylic on canvas
Bryce Brown 2007

Bryce Brown has just released his latest painting entitled "Mother and Son".


Please note that subsequent to this posting, Bryce Brown did some rework of this painting which can be viewed in the post "Mother and Son Painting Reworked". Use the Contact link at the bottom of the page if you are interested in purchasing this or any of Bryce Brown's figurative paintings.

Harvest Men Painting Bryce Brown

This painting called "Harvest Men" was recently completed by Bryce Brown as a commissioned piece for a European collector of Bryce's art. Bryce comments about Harvest Men: "This piece underwent a few transformations as far as subject matter went. In the end I decided to leave it open for translation as to exactly what the men were harvesting...The tall, slender baskets add a feminine element to the painting, it has great warmth and a calming stillness about it.

Acrylic on canvas
36" x 26" (91 x 66 cm)

Four Ladies - Painting by Bryce Brown

Figurative Painting

Four Ladies by Bryce Brown

Bryce Brown's figurative art is characterized by a somewhat naive style. His paintings are not about capturing the minute details of his subjects; rather, they are an emotional experience of human relationships and intimacy as experienced in family life or work. Background detail is often absent, or just enough to provide the context of the relationship of the figures in the painting. His figures are typically painted with faces that are flat and featureless, and the limbs of the figures are often "meaty" with "fisty" hands and "clubby" feet. The figures are rarely painted alone; communing or toiling together are common themes. The figures often appear as if they are from a by-gone era with women in dull-colored frock coats and hats, a technique that removes the distraction of the material and physical while providing emotional punch. The painitngs appeal to our emotional reactions and romantic responses to "the good old days", a time when life seems simpler to us and human relationships seemed more important than they are today. Bryce Brown's figures have not yet yielded to the spin of the technological centrifuge that pulls us apart from our kith and kin in our "modern" lives, and as I contemplate his paintings, I experience a reaction of envy for the complete innocence and purity of the human relationships of the figures.


"Four Ladies" is a fine example of several of these aspects.


Four Ladies by Bryce Brown Acrylic on Canvas 51x67cm.

Brothers Acquired for John Deere Collection

Figurative Art

Brothers by Bryce Brown

2005 was a big year for Bryce Brown. He not only had 3 exhibitions that he had to paint for, but out of the blue he was also contacted by the John Deere corporation who wished to acquire his piece "Brothers" for its art collection. Of course Bryce was delighted to close the sale. The painting depicts three rural workers in the sun-burnt fields of late summer taking in the harvest. There's no sign of a John Deere tractor in the painting; far from it, these "brothers" toil with the sweat of their brow, a wheelbarrow, and their meaty forearms and hands.

Brothers
Bryce Brown 2005
Acrylic on canvas 122x182cm

Journey - a Painting of Devonport by Bryce Brown

Figurative Art

Journey by Bryce Brown

Journey is set in Devonport, New Zealand, around the turn of the last century. The Hotel on the corner is the old Flagstaff Hotel which was removed in 1900 and plans were drawn up for a grand hotel to be built, called The Esplanade Hotel which is still there now. The title 'Journey' was chosen to show that the couple are on a journey together, the male, a sailor will soon depart on his journey and also that old Devonport, then very much just a little isolated naval town, was on a journey of its own.

Bryce Brown 2007
Acrylic on canvas 83 x 122 cm

Mother and Child Painting - Golden Moment

Mother and Child Painting

"Golden Moment" by Bryce Brown

Golden Moment was part of the "Art in Hospitals" exhibition March 15th 2007. It was auctioned off with paintings by thirteen other well-know Bay of Plenty artists to raise money to purchase suitable art and to raise awareness of the importance of quality artwork in hospitals.

Golden Moment
Bryce Brown 2007
51 x 102 cm sold

Painting of Mother and Child at the Beach

Mother and Child Painting

This recent painting by Bryce Brown is smaller in size than he usually paints. Bryce says it's partly because he enjoys the challenge of the constraints of size, and also because it gives the viewer a sense of intimacy, drawing the viewer in closer than large works do.

Mother and child at the beach

Bryce Brown 2007

Acrylic on canvas

30 x 35 cm (12 x 14")

Introducing Figurative Artist Bryce Brown

Bryce Brown lives and paints in Mt. Maunganui in the Tauranga area of New Zealand. His work is in private collections in New Zealand, Europe and the USA including the John Deere art collection in Moline, Illinois.

Born in Auckland in 1971, Bryce grew up in the lush Northland surrounds of Whangarei. He began to take art seriously in the mid 90s, with the outstanding beauty of the Northland area providing him with a major source of inspiration.

High passion for art became the main drive for a 12-country world tour in 1998 taking him to all the major European galleries. Again, nature and the people he observed and met in his travels provided him with ideas and artistic stimulation.

On his distinctive Euro/Polynesian figurative style, Bryce says:

I like to explore human nature and movement through my paintings. I use strong line, texture and color to accentuate human form and emotion. I have my favourite artists and although they definitely have had an influence on me, I feel I have taken just enough from history to add to the style I have now. Whilst it is hard not to be influenced by the likes of Picasso and Leonardo, an artist needs to find what it is about these greats that they love and pursue their own style with the same amount of passion as they did.

Bryce currently lives at Mt.Maunganui, New Zealand with his wife Catherine and their girls Olivia and Brianna and their sons Henri and Oscar.

Bryce Brown's website is located at brycebrownart.com