Whangarei artist, Donna Bird, lives onboard a boat with her husband, Griz at McLeod Bay, which is a quiet coastal community on the east coast of Northland, New Zealand.    It's the perfect place for her work: “It's wonderful painting on a boat.  There are no interruptions.  No TV, no radio.  Just the sounds of the seabirds, the wind in the rigging and splashes created by fish leaping out of the water,” she offers.

    A keen observer, one captivated by her natural environment, she focuses her attention on birds, on fish, on the way the sun reflects off the seawater, on the sky, on the myriad of shapes the shoreline trees take and on the architecture of coastal buildings. These form the basis of her current body of work, of which there are now more than 100 striking and beautiful images.

   While buildings feature prominently in her work, Donna said she had a very special connection with her animal subjects and feels she's working in collaboration with nature.    She said: “I feel I'm connecting with the animal subjects I draw and paint to the point that it feels as if the birds, seals, the turtles and other animals I capture images of, are posing for my work.”

   Unlike most contemporary artists, Donna is self-taught, as she only spent 2 years as a child at school and did not choose to be formally trained in art.   She had family members who had artistic leanings, including an uncle who helped to inspire her and she recalls that her unconventional artistic journey began onboard a yacht at 4-years of age in New Caledonia.

   She spent a lot of time living onboard a boat during her childhood and here she discovered a passion for drawing and painting, which eventually became her main means of escape from the shackles of childhood trauma. “Art became my main coping mechanism and I became addicted to it, because I found it so therapeutic,” she offers.

   The pictures on her website are primarily inspired by the natural surroundings seen from the boat she lives on.  Most are of sea views near Whangarei, where you'll find some of the most beautiful scenery in the world.  

   Donna offers: “While I love traveling to new destinations that provide my work with new subjects, I'll be hard-pressed to find the drama I find here.   It's spectacular and really beautiful.  I absolutely love it.  You try and find it somewhere else.   You won't.”