John Staniford Artist

I first sighted Hawke's Bay in the dry summer of 1963 when I was a boy of 15,'  I had 'travelled to Napier from the Wairarapa with two friends in an old 1940s Ford. Just two years before I had arrived in the country, and so the site of the bay was a stunning one. The colours of the dry grasslands, the turquoise of the water, and the cerulean blue sky remained in my head.

It was nearly 40 years before I returned here to live. Primarily a landscape artist, I could not find a better stimulus to paint. The high skies and crisp light, the ever-changing colours of the sea and hills, the cliffs at the cape, the rolling hills towards central Hawke's Bay and the mountains.

Steeped in Maori and colonial history, the area offers many pa sites and old buildings to paint. During the summers the land dries out and creates a visual feast of colours: ochres, pink and browns contrasted with iconic cabbage trees and pockets of native trees.

Visitors welcome to my studio at 163 Carlyle Street, Napier, Hawkes Bay Saturday to Tuesday 10am to 4pm ( or phone after hours)