About Rod Slater

Of the many interests and passions that have come and gone in my life, art and sailing have remained. Pen and ink along with oil painting were the early mediums of choice and there was a certain comfort working with oils because it allowed changes or pausing at any point.

At university, my professors encouraged me to try watercolours; however, I found them difficult and unforgiving. It wasn’t until I was confined below deck in my yacht “Bontekoe” while waiting out a bad spell of weather in Tonga, that I began experimenting with watercolours in earnest.

The hours of watching the sea on long passages combined with the numerous yachts I’d clambered aboard had burned images into my creative conscience that looked for release. Discovering the freedom the medium allowed, curving the hulls of the ship, running fine lines to the sails and filling them with air on an undulating sea that almost moves on the paper, set the hook.

In its liquid state, water is forever moving and changing in form and shape while possessing the qualities of transparency, solidity or reflectivity, sometimes all of these simultaneously. This provides an unlimited source of challenging opportunities for artistic expression and I acknowledge that I have only begun to dip below the surface of this potential.

While specializing in realistic marine art with maritime themes, sailboats, launches, yachts, dingys, water, and reflections in New Zealand settings, the rediscovery of motorcycles has challenged me to capture precision of motors, the reflectivity of chrome with the romance and freedom of cycling. The forgiving nature of acrylics also appeared more adapt for capturing the dramatic shifts from light to dark as well as providing an opportunity to explore a new medium at the same time as a new subject matter.