NZ Artist Rai Hammon

[ënagualí ~ Ꮙℓἇ∂ἇ ኔጡ።]

NZ Artist Rai Hamon

I personally was fortunate to meet one of his younger sisters known as Aunty Grace nee Hamon  ...

She was a lovely lady so friendly & she told & showed me all her photo's taken on travels to Canada in a UV van and all the family's history & many photo's she'd kept of her whanau & Whakapapa in a published book..

But best of all was to also see the originals of some of these wonderful art pieces of her brother Rai Hamon blew me away,he was so into nature and his surroundings in native bush lands,taking observant views of the native forna and bird life in full fine detail all with the point of ink pen...they were housed in a huge wooden hand made box folder, with hinges on both edges kinda like a portfolio when opened they were all in trays layered on top of each other, but each picture was between acid reflecting tissue paper...

Now that she's also passed away back in March 2022 aged 86yrs sadly.. I thought to share this mans wonderful works here,as he was a extremely good artist, his medium was with fine dot Indian Ink pen work, taking weeks, months or a year to complete one picture.

Enjoy his art works like I have,see how fine detail his hand & eye was....

Raven Leads The Way Again.

 Ꮙℓἇ∂ἇ..aka Reɪvən ღ

© - All Right Reserved

A Family tale:-

My Grandmother on my father’s side (fondly known as Nanny Kuia – meaning ‘old woman’ in Maori) was the youngest of 19 children.

My father was born on a kitchen table in a small village called ‘Tiki Tiki’ on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand.

As a family we belong to the Ngati Porou tribe the second largest tribe in New Zealand and thanks to this heritage – I have one very very big family!

Uncle Rei – or Rei Hamon was married to my Nanny Kuia’s sister - Aunty Maia. Nanny Kuia and Aunty Maia are the only two children still alive out of the 19 that were born to my Great Grandparents.

As a young girl – I absolutely LOVED visiting my Uncle Rei and Aunty Maia – they were always so welcoming and full of snuggles and cuddles. I was also fascinated by my Uncle Rei’s Gallery and all of his amazing drawings inspired by the New Zealand bush.

The story goes that Uncle Rei discovered his talent for drawing while recovering from a crippling farm accident which left him almost paralyzed. In 1965, with a family to feed and bills to pay, he and Aunty Maia prayed for a solution.

Upon rising from his knees he picked up a ballpoint pen and pad that had been left behind by his youngest daughter and began to draw - something he hadn't done since his early days in primary school.

It was an inspired beginning. Francis Rei Paul Hamon, artist: Born Auckland, December 17, 1919; died Thames, August 16, 2008, aged 88. Rei Hamon, of Thames, was a self- taught artist whose accomplished pictures were as surprising to him as to his family and his mates.

 Uncle Rei had huge success with his distinctive style of dot art (Pointillism).

With much practice he developed the unique and unorthodox style called Pointillism, a drawing made up of millions of tiny dots. Feeling a little embarrassed with his first works, Uncle Rei cautiously hid them from view but Aunty Maia, found them and showed them to a local photographer who took them to the Director of a leading Art Gallery in Auckland.

Uncle Rei’s first exhibition at New Vision gallery in 1967 stunned the art world. His self-taught pointillist style of high detail and emotion propelled him into a house-hold name. He used his unique art to stop the destructive Forestry Kauri milling of the early 70’s by creating awareness around the beauty of our natural environment and without Uncle Rei and his brother’s protests and lobbying in this area, places such as the Coromandel in New Zealand would be void of Kauri and Pohutukawa trees for future generations to enjoy.

In 1981 Uncle Rei was titled as a ‘Commander of the British Empire’ and remains a New Zealand national treasure.

I am lucky enough to have a number of his limited edition lithographs hanging on my walls. Everyday – I am surrounded by the beauty of his talent and I remember what a loving man he was.

SOURCE:

Some of his fine works:-

Rei Hamon - Bell Rock, Kauranga Valley

[ënagualí ~ Ꮙℓἇ∂ἇ ኔጡ።]

Oreo the black with ring around her neck is a Indian runner shes like almost 12yrs old now and blind in one eye Walnut is a Welsh Harelquin and shes only 2yrs old,and is her service guide...I had another before her called Cocoa but sadly she got egg bound and passed away..so Walnut replaced her in 5 days or I'd have lost Oreo as well via fretting,...ducks are social creatures they seldom are on their own if they are females,or they would die of depression,where as a male can loose its mate but will find another harem with 2 or more single females..I will have to make time to paint them,I've got so many other projects going on right now,renovating my house..but I also have projects outside waiting to be done too,I have plans to put in a fish pond with a water feature waterfall in it..got everything together ready to go in making it, but dont seem to get the time to start it..

[Taikunping avatar ~ Julie Parry]

They're lovely yes please paint them.  For my birthday I've invested in some finer brushes which will help with detailing, I was struggling with the brushes I had to get detailing like eyes and feathers.  I'll have a look around and join the art group.  Oreo and Walnut :) They look similar to the mallards that live in England.  I remember a beautiful moment and it only happened once where pale duck allowed me to stroke her chest, such a sweet duck.  The last time I saw her was March last year with her mate.  

[ënagualí ~ Ꮙℓἇ∂ἇ ኔጡ።]

These particular pieces of art were huge works,some were over 1200 x1000 easy ,they must have taken him years to complete just one..I'm pleased I got to see the originals of them,they were in a huge wooden folder box, it was a honor actually, cos he was very famous NZ artist....and the prints from them dont really do them any justice..I also paint from photo's I've taken or I source online too...you can see them in the art group in here..I havn't thought to paint my own ducks Oreo & Walnut,maybe I should as they really are pretty..

 

[Taikunping avatar ~ Julie Parry]

I haven't heard of this form of painting, thanks for sharing.  I love to find art online and make poems to the pictures.  I'm pretty new to painting in acrylics and have been doing some copies of northern artists work.  More recently I painted a swan from a photograph I took at the marina, afterwards I challenged myself to paint a friendly duck...I called her pale duck, also from a photo.