Hannah Jensen’s art is unlike traditional painting because she works in reverse. She applies between 40 and 80 layers of Resene Lumbersider acrylic house paint to a ply board before carving into by hand with a simple Speedball linoleum cutter to reveal various colours and create detailed images filled with depth, texture and shadow.
A graduate of the Auckland University of Technology, where she studied intaglio, screenprinting, lithography, etching, and research into Japanese woodblocks, her current technique stems from a happy accident in 2003.
In love with the Scandinavian aesthetic, Hannah began experimenting with a large tin of white house paint and coated a wooden board with 23 layers.
Initially planning to carve through the paint into the wood, she instead carved a design of gannets directly into the paint instead.
“At first, I was annoyed at how thick it was, but within seconds, the light bulb went off, and I knew I could carve into the paint,” she says.
“My first paint carvings were shallow into the white paint for highlights, and then deeper into the wood for shadows. They were quite amazing.”
Hannah begins with an idea, then searches for the right image or photograph before choosing her colour palette.
Adding one to three layers a day, the layering process takes approximately four to five weeks. Once the paint is dry, she sketches the design.
The intricate carving alone, where she asserts varied pressures to reach different layers, can take up to eight weeks. Finally, she paints subtle washes back into the work to add depth before spraying it with a matt varnish.
As a lover of the great outdoors and an avid hiker, biker, and surfer, Hannah finds inspiration in nature. “Any plant, tree, flower, ocean life, spring growth or the change of a season is magical,” she explains.
Her artworks have featured leopards, silverback gorillas, polar bears, hares, wild horses, Japanese cranes, elephants and peacocks.
Time spent with the animals at her father’s South African game park, where he lived for the last 16 years of his life, was hugely inspirational. “The wild animals stole my heart,” she discloses.
“I would spend hours walking around my dad’s game reserve, watching the animals: warthogs, kudus, impalas, giraffes, wildebeests, baboons, hippos, and more.”
With her art, Hannah aims to convey her passion for wildlife and create a connection between them and her audiences, encouraging them to consider the plight of endangered species in our contemporary world.