Painting Banks Peninsula

Press, 14 September 1988, Page 25

Painting Banks Peninsula

Bill Moore’s sketch books are like diaries of his travels in the New Zealand countryside. KAY FORRESTER reports.

When Bill Moore paints Banks Peninsula he is painting not only what he sees but the history of the area.

"It is an area that I have had ties with. My family has visited it over the years and I taught on the peninsula,” the painter says. He tries to capture more than the trees and buildings, sky and hills.

“I want to put into my paintings something of what the old people say about the peninsula. There is so much history there. I’d like to think my paintings showed some of that.”

Almost 60 oils and watercolours of the peninsula from Sumner to Akaroa are in his latest exhibition, which opens at the Windsor Gallery on Tuesday. The subject of Banks

Peninsula landscapes seemed appropriate for a Christchurch exhibition, he says. A November exhibition in Wellington will include scenes from the Marlborough Sounds and the North Island.

During his lifetime of painting — he began as a 12-year-old — he has captured on canvas and paper much of New Zealand’s countryside. "My sketch books are like diaries of where I went and what I saw.”

There are still some parts of New Zealand he would like to explore further in his painting. One is the Abel Tasman National Park near Nelson.

The Banks Peninsula paintings have been done in the last year that he has been painting fulltime. He left his job as art teacher at Middleton Grange School at Christmas.

“I promised myself to paint full-time before it was time to retire,” he says.

Making a living as a full-time painter is “a bit doubtful” but he is enjoying the freedom of painting when he wants rather than at the end of a day’s work. “Painting takes a lot of energy. It’s good to start fresh on it.” He enjoyed teaching

and sometimes misses the school surroundings. Bill Moore’s interest in art was kindled as a child and he "grabbed as much art as I could through school.” He went on to Christchurch Teachers College where he majored in art and fitted in some part-time arts school study.

“I was a general teacher and drifted when the opportunities came into art teaching,” he says.

He taught art in English secondary schools during a stay in England, which also included study at the St Martins Arts School.

He paints as often as he can on location, although a lot of his work is done in the studio in his home. He works in both oil and watercolour. The beauty of watercolour is that it suits the light and airiness of the New Zealand landscape so well. The style of his watercolours and oils reflects a different approach to certain settings. Some oils of Cook Strait are in bold primary colours — “Simple lines to capture a mood rather than detail: my reaction to the scene.” That modern style is not included in the Windsor show although it will be in the Wellington exhibiton. Bill Moore has exhibited in several centres under his painting title of W. F. Moore. His Windsor exhibition will run until September 30.