Marie Sanders

I trained as a graphic designer at the Wellington School of Design, completing the three year course in 1971. At the time, it was the only design school in NZ, and I was fortunate to receive a superb grounding in drawing skills, with classes in life drawing, general drawing, perspective drawing and fashion drawing, alongside classes in graphic design, typography and photography.

I then worked in the advertising industry where I met my husband Alan, and eventually I specialised in fashion and advertising illustration.

About seven years ago, I was sent a box of Unison Pastels by a friend, and I immediately recognised that this was the medium that I felt most comfortable with. Pastel is essentially a drawing medium, and I loved it. I spent the next couple of years learning how to use them, with tutors including Loveday Kingsford, Claudia Pond Ealey, Zarahn Southon.

In 2004 I began attending a pastel class at the Mairangi Bay Art Centre, where the tutor was Debra Earl. She had a superb feeling for colour, and it was Debra who gave me the confidence to start doing my portraits commercially.

I now teach a general pastel class at the Mairangi Art Centre, which includes classes in still life, flowers, landscapes and portraiture, but my real passion is life drawing and portraiture.