Matt Coates is a self taught Watercolour Artist from Titirangi, Auckland. My two boys keep me busy but also provide me with lots of great inspiration for my Art. I’ve always had a passion for creating Art since I was five and studied Art right through college and then Graphic Design at Polytechnic.

Matt has been painting in watercolours for the past ten years and loves the vibrant colours of the watercolour pigments and the unpredictable results when the paint and water react with the textured paper. How you control the paint has a lot to do with the final outcome of the painting. This is probably the biggest learning curve of this medium, Matt Explains. Once the paper is dry, is often is completely different from how it looked when painted, so you need to think ahead and predict the outcome.

He combines his illustration style (using ink pens to outline areas and add texture) with the watercolours to produce unique original art that he is proud of.