Sheila Brown works full-time as an artist creating works in oils, acrylics, water colours and mixed media from her studio in Christchurch. 

Born in America, most of her childhood weekends were spent in the mountains of New Hamshire with family, involving hours of either painting or drawing with so much nature to investigate and record, it soon became obvious that there was talent there to be explored.

Landscape Design took Sheila’s attention for many years but marriage to a New Zealander, a move to New Zealand, the arrival of two children and twenty years between the two careers has seen Sheila return to fulfilling her potential as an artist. Sheila took the leap to become a professional painter soon after winning the opening Award at the Invercargill Licensing Trust Exhibition in 2005 and more recently first prize in Dunedin’s Gaye Croft Award.

Sheila describes her painting style as a ‘cross between expressionism and abstraction’. She works freely with a palette knife laying down colour spontaneously, then refining her work with delicate brushstroke detail. Inspired by the coast - Sheila has always lived by the beach and her art reflects this strong influence – sea birds feature as frequent subject matter, along with seascapes, landscapes and New Zealand native birds. 

‘The seagull is a beautiful bird; just look at the colours. For me the seagull represents freedom, summer, peace.” – Sheila Brown