Shirley Cresswell is a fulltime artist based in Taupiri, She also spends much of her time in beautiful Matarangi gaining much inspiration for her always popular beach walkway paintings.

“Our beautiful beaches inspire many of my paintings. To feel like you can walk into a painting, feel the sand, the light breeze and see the waves crashing in. I like to think that the painting is like looking out the window at somewhere you would love to be. It hopefully makes people remember special days they have had enjoying the beach with their families.

I adore old dinghies and I just love to imagine the adventures people have had in these beautiful boats. I attempt to make my paintings 3-dimensional so that you can feel like you want to climb inside the boat or stroll down the walkway”.