THE ARTIST BEHIND TRANSMITART

My name is Kerri-Lee Gunter and I am a local New Zealand artist based in the beautiful Waikato.

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I was born and raised in East London, South Africa and ever since I was old enough to hold a pencil I have been pulled towards art. I feel as though art runs in my blood. My mum has always been an artist and so was my great grandmother and a few other family members on my mum's side of the family. My grandfather was also an art collector.

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I find my inspiration and passion from nature and animals. I was lucky enough to grow up surrounded by South African wildlife. My grandparents owned a game reserve 30 minutes outside of East London which I would visit often. My grandmother would hand rear animals such as lion cubs, giraffe calves, vervet monkeys, baboons and skunks just to name a few.

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As a child I was given books with blank pages and encouraged to express my creativity in them. At the age of nine my mum realised I had a passion for art and decided to send me to art lessons after school and at 17 I decided to pursue my passion further by studying for a NIC and NSC Art and Design Certificate in East London which I completed at the end of 2008.

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In February 2009, at the age of 20, I immigrated to New Zealand with my parents and sister for a better future away from my birth country's unfortunate crime and corruption. New Zealand became my second home and allowed me the opportunity to study art further with a Level 5 Diploma in Painting, and later, a Bachelor in Applied Media Arts. I miss South Africa's wildlife terribly but I am fortunate enough to be able to hold on to the memory of them through my art.

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About my work

I create realistic portraits of loved ones, pets and wildlife. I strive to attain as much detail in my work as I can and to capture my subject’s true emotion and personality. I love how I can create a platform for people to feel emotion through my art, whatever that emotion might be for them.

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I absolutely love to work with clients and am currently taking custom orders. You can find my portfolio of every pastel portrait I have created thus far here where you can see a range of subjects I have worked on and to get an idea of what your portrait may look like if you choose to commission me. If you aren't sure how the commission process works, have a look at how to order. You can also view my price guide for an understanding on commission sizes.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to send me a message. I look forward to hearing from you and working together to create something  special.

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What materials do I use?

I use artist quality pastels in all my portraits as they allow me to blend and build up my layers very easily and achieve a soft paint like effect with a lot of detail.

My favourite brand of pastels which I use for my original art and commissions are Derwent pastel pencils but I also use Faber-Castell Pitt pastel pencils, Rembrandt and Mungyo soft pastels on a special card called Clairfontaine Pastelmat which has a bit of tooth to grip the layers of pastel.