Rangitoto and views of the city

Sarah-Jane Smith could not have hoped for a better venue than Takapuna Boating Club for her first solo painting exhibition.

The club’s stunning view towards Rangitoto from its balcony reflects scenes in her own vibrant works, which often feature boats and seascapes.

“I put more colour in and see patterns in the water underneath. I don’t paint to be realistic. I’m impressionistic,” she says.

P-class yachts are depicted racing with vividly coloured sails. A lone yachtsman is seen in another more glowering work. The volcanic cone of Rangitoto takes on a triangular form, reversed in a shadow shape across the waves, angling inshore. Other watercolours take in harbour views from Devonport towards the city.

Around 10 of Smith’s paintings go on show at the club for a single night on Wednesday 17 May.

The connection came through a club member. Smith says she had initially thought the club might put up one of her works, so having a show in such an appropriate setting was exciting.

The former North Shore resident says: “I’m incredibly drawn to the area.”

She volunteers for occasional shifts at Land and Sea Gallery in the Devonport ferry terminal and has sold several of her paintings there.

Cruise ship visitors might pick up a scene from their travels, but she says it is locals who have shown the most interest.

It was on one of her frequent walks up Takarunga that she was first inspired to try painting boats, which she does using her imagination guided by a mix of reference photographs of water and clouds.

Smith has been drawing since childhood, growing up in Central Otago and then Rangitikei. Her father dismissed the notion of an art career as any way to make a living, but she is grateful he paid for her to have watercolour lessons. She loves the medium’s freshness and how it conveys movement.

As an adult teaching English overseas, Smith developed her skills, including while living in Hong Kong, where she took a tertiary foundation art class for a year, later going on to tutor others.

Asian art’s composition and perspective has been an influence, but so too have been the colour palettes she saw in textiles while working in South America.

Now 52, Smith says she views herself as a “teacher-artist”. Lockdown provided another chance to hone her talents, working with online resources and the Bargue drawing method to further develop technique.

Gaining more recognition and time for her work is the dream. “I would love for it to become more, that someone can say, That’s Sarah-Jane Smith art”.