Debbie Tipuna

Tauranga artist and illustrator Debbie Tipuna works from a home studio with inspiring views of the harbour and a short walk from the beach and Opopoti (Maungatapu) Marae. Debbie began sketching her “Bird Riders” series while in Italy on an Artists’ Residency and these images have now been released as a series of prints that are now in stock at New Zealand Fine Prints. Tipuna says “I have been practising art all my life mostly in and around family and less arty full time, (paying) work. Prior to Christmas 2016 I threw caution to the wind and quit my sensible job as a children's librarian to become a full time artist, (again). My favourite things are Maori art and design, old pieces of wood, juicy bits of hand made paper and I have an unhealthy obsession for Gouache and tiny, no I mean really tiny, paint brushes.”