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Article in ArtTour International Art Magazine
Kadira Jennings — A Spiritual Exploration of New Zealand by Viviana Puello
Kadira Jennings is an artist from New Zealand who creates stunning oil paintings that capture her homeland’s beauty and spiritual nature. With her extraordinary drawing skills and use of color, she can create awe-inspiring works that focus on flower scapes and landscapes. Jennings also incorporates Maori symbolism into some pieces, making her art a spiritual exploration of New Zealand’s native culture. Join us in exploring the works of Kadira Jennings, an artist whose paintings will leave you speechless.
Kadira Jennings — Top Featured Artist.
Kadira Jennings is a talented artist making waves in the art world with her extraordinary oil painting skills. Born and raised in New Zealand, Kadira has developed an eye for detail and a passion for capturing the beauty of nature in her work. Her vibrant colors, rich textures, and beautiful landscapes make her paintings captivating. With her incredible attention to detail and use of color, Kadira can create marvelous works that bring her motherland to life. Kadira’s works focus on flower scapes and landscapes, often incorporating Maori symbolism into some of her pieces.
Through her art, Kadira explores her spiritual connection to New Zealand, creating artwork that brings forth joy and wonder. Her unique style has attracted international attention, as she continues to impact the art world with her beautiful paintings.
Kadira Jennings has been greatly inspired by the romantic painters of the 19th century, such as Alma Tadema, and her works often reference their palettes. However, her most significant influence is that of Georgia O’Keeffe. Kadira Jennings admires O’Keeffe for her ability to simplify and cut to the essence of her subject, an aesthetic seen in Kadira Jennings’ own artworks. Kadira Jennings hopes to bring beauty and inspiration to others through her art.
Drawing is integral to Kadira Jennings’ creative process when creating her oil paintings. Drawing is a crucial step for achieving the desired composition, from complicated petalled flowers to simplifying landscapes. After studying the palette of colors and exploring the continuity of the works, she enters a state of meditation, which she calls “BE-ing with the work.” Through this meditation, she hopes to bring joy and beauty into her art. As she is deeply connected with quantum physics, she aims to create the highest vibrational resonance possible in her artwork so that viewers can tap into that energy and receive it back into themselves.
After completing this phase, Kadira Jennings begins an underpainting, laying down the foundation for the work. Next, she journals and uses collages, words, drawings, and mind maps to keep track of her emotional and mental challenges. Drawing is an essential step in Kadira Jennings’ creative process for producing awe-inspiring oil paintings. Through her creative process, Kadira Jennings combines the spiritual with the physical and looks to create artwork that resonates with others and provides joy to all who view it.
Kadira Jennings’ oil paintings are incredibly vibrant and full of energy and life. She skillfully uses color to evoke emotion and bring her works to life. Her palette is inspired by the natural beauty of New Zealand — its lush forests, vibrant wildflowers, and majestic mountains. Each of her paintings is a unique exploration of color and light, blending subtle hues that allow the imagery to come alive.
Jennings utilizes bright, bold colors to draw the viewer’s eye to some aspects of the painting. She often uses warm yellows, oranges, and reds to represent the sun-drenched landscapes of New Zealand, while cooler blues and greens help to add depth and contrast. Her use of color also helps to capture the feelings and emotions she wishes to express in her work.
Maori symbolism plays an important role in Kadira Jennings’ oil paintings. Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand and have been living there for thousands of years. Jennings has found a way to incorporate traditional Maori beliefs and symbols into some of her art, making it unique and powerful.
La Bella
When creating her paintings, Jennings includes traditional Maori symbols deeply rooted in her motherland’s spiritual and cultural heritage. The symbols she uses reflect the stories and values of the Maori people and their ancient connection to the land. Jennings also uses symbols to represent different aspects of nature, such as the sun, moon, and stars.
“Kuaotunu Bay” Oils On Canvas by Kadira Jennings.
In addition, Jennings includes traditional Maori concepts in her work, such as mana (power or energy), tapu (sacredness), and whakapapa (genealogy). These concepts provide a deeper meaning to her art, evident in her beautiful use of color and composition.
Through her works, she is able to pay homage to the culture and history of New Zealand while bringing attention to its beauty and importance.
Using her art as a medium, Kadira Jennings has created a meaningful way to reflect on her culture and share it with the world.
Viviana Puello
Editor-in-Chief
ArtTour International Magazine.
2024
I achieved some success in competitions this year as follows:
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Gallery 4% - awarded me 2 prizes: I received a Distinction in their Unreal & Non representational competition for my work "Infinite Transcendence" and also in the WIPS (works in progress) & Unfinished Competition for a partly finished painting.
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Grey Cube Gallery's "Yellow" competition awarded me a Merit Award for my Piwauwau entry.
2023
JANUARY:
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Began on a high note, with two paintings purchased through Bluethumb on a layby for eight weeks. La Bella and Shimmering Strength were the two lovelies that went to new homes.
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Also I managed to take a trip to New Zealand, the home of my artist's soul for a couple of weeks. It was my first trip back since the beginning of the covid debacle. I do attribute much of my malaise in 2022 to being unable to return there for my annual creative recharge.
MARCH:
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La Bella and Shimmering Strength were packed up and posted off .
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Bluethumb Gallery included my work in their 'Art For The Dining Room' curation, which was very exciting.
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I also sold the very first painting in my new landscape series. and uploaded one of these landscapes 'The Cove' to Bluethumb for an exclusive 60 day contract with them alone.
JUNE:
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Placed as a finalist with distinction in the international art magazine ArtIdeal's cover competition with the painting Natures Hidden Jewel
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Received a Merit Award for the painting Coastal Sanctuary in GreyCubes's online exhibition.
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Coastal Sanctuary
Progress 1/3/23
Nature's Hidden Jewel
Coastal Sanctuary
2022
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2022 however was another story and the only work of any significance was 'White Island" . And even that one I was stuck on for several months. Follow the link to find out more about it.
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On a more positive note, I was chosen as a Finalist in the Hornsby Art Prize which was hung in September 2022. The painting was "La Bella" - which you can see me working on to the left. La Bella has now travelled to the Northern Territory to a new home.
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Towards the end of 2022 however I came up for air again and have begun work on a new body of work - landscapes in which I am exploring a different palette and a more contemporary style, which have been very well accepted so far. You can find them here: Cathedral Cove and here The Cove.
FAST FORWARD April 2021
Oh my goodness - where did all that time go?
Like many other people, I seem to disappear down a rabbit hole during covid, and didn't really pop out the other end until January 2023.
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In actual fact 2020-2021 turned out to be a great year for selling work. There was only one painting in my body of work for that year that didn't sell. The body of work included several landscape paintings in the style as seen opposite.
FEB - MARCH 2020
My work was accepted by The Art Room Online Gallery for inclusion in their 2020 “Open” art exhibition. The work, 'A Road Less Traveled' has been awarded an Honorable Mention in this exhibition.
JULY 2020
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July has been a busy month at the studio. My work Delightful Secret sold online through Bluethumb online gallery. Thank you Bluethumb.
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I was thrilled to be notified that 'Delightful Secret' had also received a 'Merit Award' from the 'ArtRoom Gallery', in their 2nd annual Botanicals exhibition.
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My work, 'Autumn Beauty' was accepted by The Light Space & Time Online Gallery for inclusion in their 2020 10th Anniversary art exhibition, in which I received a "Special Merit Award." The gallery received 2,129 entries from 34 different countries from around the world, as well as from 41 different states and the District of Columbia. They said of these awards, "Due to the exceptional artwork received for this competition, the gallery also included Special Merit awards and Special Recognition awards for outstanding art. Many of the artists in either of these groups could have easily been included in the upper tier of our winners, as their art was also exceptional."
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020
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'A Road Less Travelled', travelled off to a new home this week. I was a bit sad to see this one go as it is one of my favourites.
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Also leaving the studio was 'Autum Light', pictured below
A Road Less Travelled
84x122cm 33"x48"
Received Merit Award in Landscapes Art Show with Grey Cube Gallery June 2021
Autumn Beauty
SOLD
2019
Every new year brings new opportunities. My work in 2019 was showing at the following galleries
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Gallery Kyo, Old Town Alexandria, United States.
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Gallery Casa Del Sol - Koolewong - Central Coast
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Waterline Gallery - Ettalong- Central Coast
MARCH
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My work was accepted into the Inaugural Exhibition for the new Waterline Gallery on the Central Coast. The opening was on Thursday 14th March 2019 at 6pm. 271 Ocean View Rd Ettalong - located in the Re:Publik cafe.
6/3/2019 - I was awarded third place in an international art competition for my painting - Star of Ishtar.
NOV-DEC 2019
In November my work, Beauty Revealed was chosen as a finalist for the Hornsby Art Prize in Sydney.
This work was also a finalist in the annual 'Leaves and Petals 'online, international competition with Fusion Art Gallery.
Two of the galleries, representing me this year closed down. My current representation is online with
Saatchi Art where my art was chosen as part of a group show Best of June.
https://www.saatchiart.com/art-collection/Best-of-June/153961/291994/view
Apart from my own website, my other web presence is at Bluthumb online.
https://bluethumb.com.au/kadira-jennings
I have recently begun a new body of work, exploring the energy of the landscape again.
Permission To Feel
