Artist Profile:

Shirley Cresswell

“Our beautiful beaches inspire many of my paintings. To feel like you can walk into a painting, feel the sand, the light breeze and see the waves crashing in. I like to think that the painting is like looking out the window at somewhere you would love to be. It hopefully makes people remember special days they have had enjoying the beach with their families.

I adore old dinghies and I just love to imagine the adventures people have had in these beautiful boats. I attempt to make my paintings 3-dimensional so that you can feel like you want to climb inside the boat or stroll down the walkway”.

Shirley Cresswell is a fulltime artist based in Hamilton, New Zealand. Her beautiful paintings are exhibited in galleries throughout New Zealand and in her home studio. Shirley has developed her own style and technique painting photo realism in acrylics. By applying paint in many layers she achieves a realist style that captures light in her work.

Shirley has won numerous awards for her paintings. In 2013 winning first prize at the Auckland Easter Show, the Cliftons people’s choice award 2014 in Auckland and features on the cover of the 2015 New Zealand Art Calendar.

To kick off 2015 Shirley has created one of the giant egg artworks for the Whittaker’s Big Egg Hunt to support Starship Hospital alongside New Zealand’s leading and emerging artists, designers and celebrities. Her egg, a beautiful beach and sand-dune panorama painting called “Dune Eggcursion” has been proudly sponsored by Resene Paints.

Shirley’s paintings are sought after by art collectors in New Zealand and internationally, with paintings in private collections in United States of America, Canada, England, Europe and Australia.

Awards

2014    Cliftons Art Prize 2014 People’s Choice Award Auckland

2013    First Place $5000 award Auckland Easter Show NZ in Colour “Bay of Islands- Paradise "

            Third prize professional artist category- Clinker Dinghy

            Merit award – Omaha the dunes and beyond

2012    First place - professional category Snell’s Beach Summer Art Exhibition (Jetty in the mist)

2009    Great Waikato Art Show - Runner -up award (Fairfield Bridge)