About the artist

Hello and thank you for looking at my art!

My name is Penny Collins and I live in beautiful Kerikeri, Bay of Islands, New Zealand. I moved back to my hometown two years ago to be with my family and get back to my roots. By day, I work as a technical communicator for a small software company.

I’ve been making art consistently for over 20 years. I cut my teeth in Auckland's animation scene. As a cleanup artist for Disney's Dave the Barbarian, and a layout artist for the classic Kiwi series Bro’Town, I honed my skills in composition, figurative work, and precise linework. I also exhibited paintings in group shows and illustrated T-shirts. For employment, I built my technology career while continuing to draw and paint. Since returning to the Far North, I’ve developed a productive art practice.

New work

My latest series is called Nature Queens. These pen-and-ink drawings on paper are inspired by fairy tales and children’s book illustrations. The characters I create exist in an enchanted world. Alone in the quiet of nature, they seem to become part of it, and boundaries between the self and the outer world dissolve.

Limiting the colour palette to solid black, pure white, and patterned greys makes the drawings feel classic and timeless. I’ve employed the Japanese concept of Nōtan, a combination of lights and darks in a pattern of flat areas to create strong compositions. The rich detail of lines, marks, and pattern rewards you the longer you look.

In developing this work, I’ve been inspired by artists Jaime Hernandez, co-creator of the alternative comic book Love and Rockets; John Tenniel, the illustrator of Alice in Wonderland; Aubrey Beardsley, the 19th-century illustrator renowned for black-and-white work; and Daria Hlazatova, a Ukraine artist who specialises in fantastical and richly patterned drawings.

This art series evokes the peace, richness, and beauty of the natural world and how it feels to spend time in it on one’s own.

I hope you enjoy it!

Penny Collins