FROM FARM TO CANVAS
Contemporary painter Pauline Gough brings bold colour, rural nostalgia, and unfiltered energy to the canvas, capturing the spirit of New Zealand’s landscape and heritage with every brushstroke.
“You can take the girl out of the farm, but you can’t take the farm out of the girl,” Pauline says. Her youth, spent adventuring on a Tomarata farm, continues to shape the themes and textures of her work today, with the rural charm and rugged beauty of New Zealand remaining central to her artistic voice.
Pauline’s art career began fifteen years ago at the kitchen table. Juggling a busy farming life and raising four children, her creative ambitions were temporarily set aside until her youngest child reached high school. With time finally on her side, she painted her first piece and took it to the local café – where it sold immediately. That early encouragement ignited a passion that steadily grew from the kitchen table to the garage, then to a dedicated studio space, and ultimately her dream studio on Sharp Road in Matakana, following the sale of the family farm.
Pauline’s style is expressive and experimental. She paints standing up, allowing for freedom of movement and physicality in her process. Her works – often featuring her default subject of statement cow portraits, but also large florals, landscapes, and figurative pieces – are marked by bold brushwork, rich texture, and loose, energetic strokes.
Rather than beginning with a preconceived idea of a finished result, Pauline starts with a memory or photograph and lets the process unfold organically. Some paintings emerge in a single sitting; others evolve over many sessions. “I love the unpredictability of the way I work and believe it keeps my work fresh,” Pauline notes. While her work leans into spontaneity, the subjects remain recognisable, with minimal rendering and an abundance of dynamic texture.
Since committing to her practice in 2010, Pauline has sold hundreds of works locally and internationally. She exhibits through Of Hand & Heart Gallery, Home Matters, and Mobile Art Gallery, and also welcomes visitors to her home studio. Last year, she took part in the international speed painting competition Art Battle and won her round, and is currently preparing a new body of work for the New Zealand Art Show held on King’s Birthday Weekend and the Auckland Art Show, taking place from 27 to 29 June.
“I’ve never been too academic about painting. In this world of AI generated images, the motivation to create something original and beautiful with my own hands and brain, gets me up in the morning,” Pauline reflects.
