“I was thrilled to be approached by Venture Taranaki in August 2007 to create a large painting to grace Sir Elton John’s dressing room for his December concert at the Bowl of Brooklands. The brief was to paint a work that would encapsulate the beauty of Pukekura Park, in which the Bowl is nestled.
I subsequently spent a number of days walking through the Park with my camera taking reference shots for the work. Being just prior to the Taranaki Rhododendron Festival, I was awed by the splendor of the flowering Rhododendrons and Azaleas and their verdant native bush setting. The resulting painting was LUSH – Pukekura Park.
Taranaki is a home to many gardens of national and international acclaim and the ensuing paintings from this series have been based on sketches and photos I have taken in Pukeiti, Tawa Glen and Pukekura Park. These works have been well received and I am now looking forward to returning to the Pukekura Park in summer to focus on some of the later bloomers; namely Hydrangeas, the water-lily ponds, and the exotic plantings in the Fernery.  I also have plans to further develop the tropical theme in this series by painting gardenscapes based on my various visits to the Pacific Islands.”

Paintings from the LUSH series are executed with thick impasto acrylic paint, which gives these works a textured, painterly finish. As well as Pukekura Park, this series also includes gardenscapes based on Taranaki’s Pukeiti; New Zealand’s premier Rhododendron garden. Both gardens are listed by the New Zealand Gardens Trust as Gardens of National Significance.

By joining Caz’s mailing list newly available LUSH paintings will be emailed to you to preview.

See Testimonials or email Caz for more information about commissioning a painting. A further sample of the LUSH series can be found on the Newworks page.