Get inspired

Meet paint carving artist Hannah Jensen Fox

Christchurch artist Hannah Jensen Fox is a paint carver. What is paint carving, you may ask? It’s a technique which involves building up to 80 layers of paint on a canvas and then carving unique designs into those layers. Using different pressures, Hannah is able to reveal intricate designs and a multifaceted kaleidoscope of Resene colours.

After two decades of hard work, she has loyal fans across the globe and has commissioned works for customers in the US, Germany, Dubai, Hong Kong and New Zealand.

Art has been a lifelong passion for Hannah and when it comes to her work, she is heavily inspired by nature. “All its stunning colours, textures and intricacies that come from just being, growing and time,” Hannah explains. “I’m also inspired by the greats like Albrecht Dürer – his stunning line work and incredibly detailed etchings – and Pablo Picasso for pushing boundaries and changing up what we thought we were looking at to something of pure magic.”

The process to create her stunning pieces is a detailed one and takes time. “Depending on the size of the work, a small 200mm round can be carved in a day, while a large animal portrait can take six to eight weeks or more,” she says. “The prep, however, takes the longest. I apply one to three layers a day – mostly one layer in the winter – and each board ranges from 40 to 90 layers of paint. Now that I’m doing duet-palettes (two colours side-by-side), it’s double the amount of time because I only layer one side at a time. Good things take time, as they say!”

Christchurch artist Hannah Jensen Fox has been using Resene Lumbersider Low Sheen paint to bring her creations to life for more than 20 years.

Her distinctive technique involves carving though up to 80 layers of Resene paint.

After discovering Resene Lumbersider Low Sheen 20 years ago, Hannah still uses it to this day and likens it to carving through butter. The colour selection is another reason she continues to use this particular product over anything else.

“I sincerely adore the range and it’s so inspiring to be able to pick such glorious colours to work with, layer them up and carve back through them with such detail,” Hannah says. “It really does bring me and others so much joy. Especially as I love teaching this technique, and I hold weekend workshops where everyone turns up with their favourite Resene testpot and gets to take home their own carved work by the end of the weekend!”

Connecting with her online community is an exciting and rewarding aspect of her career and is constantly evolving. “Going viral on Instagram five years ago connected me to so many more art lovers and buyers worldwide,” she says. “I used to have so many hours in the studio and therefore more time online to connect and share my work throughout the day. But in this season of life – as a mum with a little one – I share the snippets I can of my process and appreciate all the connection and support from my audience as we grow alongside each other. I share my love of nature and studio life as I create.”

She is heavily inspired by the intricacies, colour and textures of nature, carving through the beautiful colours of Resene Saratoga, Resene Grass Hopper, Resene Tulip Tree and Resene Bleach White.

This piece of a woodpecker surrounded by compass and echinacea was a commission from a US family who visited Hannah at her studio while holidaying in New Zealand. This work features the colours Resene Persian Red, Resene Mai Tai and Resene Negroni.

Becoming a mum has influenced Hannah’s life and work immensely and compelled her to create this passion work of a humpback whale and her calf, which uses layers of Resene Alabaster, Resene Tangaroa, Resene Escape and Resene Undercurrent.

Becoming a mum to daughter Zara, now two, has exponentially impacted Hannah’s life and work, but has also allowed her to channel her energy effectively and maximise her time and creative flow.

“The biggest impact from becoming a mum is time – time to yourself, time to create. I currently only have small windows to be in the studio. But it’s incredible what you can achieve when you set your priorities,” Hannah explains. “I adore spending time with my daughter and adventuring outside together, but when I’m in the studio I’m flat tack, using that energy to create and surrendering to this time in my life, which I know will change soon enough.

“It’s very different from the daily 12 hours I used to spend in the studio. It’s been an amazing time to get clear on what I want to create and share with the world, channelling a new force within.”

Hannahs’ career highlights include the time when she sold out a little cafe exhibition in a day and was subsequently commissioned to create 150 stamp carvings inspired by that show over the next three years.

“Other highlights were when the CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi came to my studio, guaranteeing me a show at their gallery later that year, and my last solo show at Allpress Gallery. I’d been invited back for the third time and really wanted to push my work, creating large-scale animals once again to wow the audience.”

Hannah’s advice for budding artists? Keep creating! “It’s amazing what comes when you are in the practice of doing. Don’t let the thoughts of failing stop you from creating. Not everything I’ve created has been amazing, nor do I expect everyone to enjoy what I do, but I do it for me and I believe if it genuinely comes from the heart, then it’s easier to connect with others.”

Hannah’s favourite Resene colours:

Carving a path for others

Not only does Hannah inspire her online community by sharing her process, her popular paint carving workshops allow aspiring artists to learn and try out a new technique. Wellington artist Hikurangi Edwards attended one of these workshops and is now a prolific paint carver herself, using the technique to create intricate Māori-inspired designs. “It puts a modern spin on the traditional Māori wood carving to tell the stories of our tīpuna,” she explains.

Check out our article about Hikurangi’s process and inspiration to find out more.