Colleen Henderson
APANZ member
After years of doing charcoal and conte drawing someone at the Auckland Art Society suggested I try
pastel - for the colour. I was hooked! I exhibited as a Working Member of the ASA for several years before
it ceased to exist in the 1980s. I then joined a group of fellow ex-members to do figure-drawing, portrait
and still life on a casual basis. Returning to teaching in 1990 meant less time for painting but allowed for
a number of trips overseas and visits to fabulous galleries in Europe, the US, Russia and Australia.
Then in 2017 we moved to Nelson and I revived my PANZ membership. The South Island scenery and, for
the first time, my own studio, inspired me to start working more regularly and learn more about pastelling.
I attend the weekly group at Mapua where we gain a lot from working together in the same medium and
have benefitted from workshops taken by visiting pastelists, local and overseas. I also enjoy attending a
fortnightly informal figure drawing group in Nelson. I like to work from sketches and use reference photos
to a limited extent, usually straying from the image to create my own painting.
