At the heart of my work as a landscape painter is a sustained relationship with the land, topography, and the natural world as a living, self-revealing presence. Landscape, for me, is not a passive backdrop to human activity. It is alive with story, memory, and spirit. 

This is well expressed in the Whakatauki

Whakarongo ki te whenua, ka kōrero te whenua – Listen to the land and the land will speak

I am both a reflective and purposeful artist. I approach landscape painting as work that invites contemplative and spiritual attention, and as an advocate-artist offering visual statements for the preservation of wilderness and its soul. For me, landscape painting holds a seamless prophetic and spiritual intention that I hope viewers of my work may sense and consider.

My subjects are drawn from the landscapes of the North Island, especially the forests and coastlines of the Waitākere Ranges, and from regional farm and pastureland that, though cultivated, still carries traces of its original wild, resistant, and feral character.

I work primarily in oil, sometimes using self-prepared earth pigments. I follow a violence-free kaupapa, using materials that avoid animal-derived products.

My studio and small gallery are alongside the Opanuku Stream in Henderson Valley, on the eastern flank of the Waitākere Ranges. Visitors are welcome by prior arrangement.

www.stevetollestrup.crevado.com