“I clearly remember my mum always outside painting somewhere with her easel and palette and, of course, paintings were everywhere.“
After graduating from Elam Art School and doing an OE, Davis discovered and fell in love with the East Cape landscape and its people.
She lives in Wharekahika/Hicks Bay close to her two daughters and 11 mokopuna.
At 63, Davis retired from teaching art to secondary school students on the East Coast. Since then she has been able to concentrate on her own art practice.
“My oil paintings are all about energy, light and movement. I am especially obsessed with depicting water.
“I love that the sea is never static and never predictable. This seems to me to symbolise life itself, which also presents us with challenges and the unexpected.”
The ocean is central to Pru Davis’s new exhibition titled Going with the Flow. “I love that the sea is never static and never predictable.” Photo / Kim Parkinson
Her art has evolved over the years.
“I think I’ve got better at painting water, but it’s taken years of practice.”
Art has always provided her with a living. In France, when she was on her OE, she used to set up her easel on the pavement and draw people’s portraits.
“I also used to do little paintings of scenery and sell them to tourists.”
In 2023, she had an exhibition at Tairāwhiti Museum called Landscapes, but she prefers the relaxed atmosphere and intimate setting of the Matawhero Art Gallery.
Davis paints from photographs and will sometimes do a rough sketch before beginning a painting.
“I usually paint furiously on a new canvas for a couple of hours and then go back and layer it up. I often have several paintings on the go to allow time for the paint to dry.”
The exhibition, titled Going with the Flow, is running at Matawhero Art Gallery at the cellar door of Matawhero Winery until May 10.