A Stroll Down Memory Lane, the Visual Chronicles of a Plein Air Painter, showcases 23 of Kramer’s landscape oil paintings, all done outdoors around the South Island, at Kaiapoi’s Art on the Quay Gallery.
"There are 12 or 13 paintings of Canterbury subjects as well as Milford Sound, Nelson, Murchison, Frankton, Glenorchy and Akaroa."
Kramer’s art journey began as a child after a live art demonstration on the family dining table ignited his interest in painting.
"When I was growing up we had a local artist Mark Thomas living with us for a short time.
"I remember coming home one day and Mark and a friend of his were painting still-life paintings, with subjects set up on our dining room table," he says.
"I was fascinated and always wanted to try it."
But it wasn’t until much later, during the late 1980s, that Kramer began painting.
"After I was married, my wife and I stumbled upon a lady and her husband from Rangiora painting on the beach at Kaikoura," he says.
"I bought my first set of paints that weekend and have been painting ever since."
The Kaiapoi artist began painting still-life subjects indoors but was encouraged by Mark and others to head outdoors with his paints and easel to take advantage of the natural light.
He tried it and became hooked on the regular outdoor adventures necessary to indulge his new passion for plein air painting which first became popular during the early 19th-century among the Impressionist painters.
"The challenges of painting outdoors like wind, rain and sandflies, the changing light conditions and interruptions from interested onlookers are all part of the fun," Kramer says.
He has experienced everything from car accidents right in front of him, automated sprinklers turned on him in Hagley Park soaking him, and tourists trying to buy drugs from him in Christchurch.
He has been painting outdoors now for about 20 years and has created more than 1000 landscapes on location.
‘‘My main focus on selecting a location is the light which can be intense and flowing over subjects to subtle on cloudy days where everything takes on a form of grey. I am also interested in the way people interact with nature and often add man-made objects into my work,’’ he says.
Kramer never tires of the search to find something new to paint.
"It is like a treasure hunt," he says.
- A Stroll Down Memory Lane, the Visual Chronicles of a Plein Air Painter, is open until November 27.
-By Shelley Topp
