"I'm a big believer in making art about what matters, what you're passionate about."
This year that includes a number of smaller pieces featuring cats.
These smaller pieces are around 20cm, not taking up as much wall space.
"They are made in the same way as my other pieces but are just a bit different.
"They're smaller and a puuurfect fit as I love cats."
Ronda Thompson is also experimenting, this year featuring a number of her well-loved Wellington scenes but also including a number of scenes in different locations while adding brighter colours added to her palette.
"I've upped the colours.
"I've been doing Wellington scenes for such a long time, and this year I've got a few different scenes."
Among them are paintings of autumn trees and their falling leaves painted from a picture of a friend's property in the Wairarapa, historic cottages on Wigan St in Wellington standing out among the grey buildings on either side, and a scene from the window of a place Ronda stayed at on the Coromandel Peninsula featuring stunning greenery and trees.
"I like the stark contrast between the cottages and the tall grey buildings surrounding them on Wigan St," Ronda said.
Even in the paintings of water scenes Ronda has made subtle changes by increasing the brightness and adding new, brighter colours to her palette.
"I just decided to get a bit brighter, I've upped the colours.
"The boat colours are brighter, I've added some pinks and purple to the sky which is reflected in the water."
Working with bronze, Michelle Retimana has continued to create Cirque du Soleil-inspired figures along with wall art depicting oars, whale tails, feathers, ginkgo leaves and dolphins tails.
Included in the show this year is the Richard T Nelson Awards for Sculpture.
Michelle has had two of her pieces - Tranquillity and Balance, selected as finalists.
Both pieces feature women elegantly elongated.
"I play with the figure and stretch them so they are not proportionally correct but they look correct.
"Sculpture as art doesn't seem to get much attention so it's nice to have the award and be recognised as a finalist."
The awards aim to recognise excellence in New Zealand sculpture and seek to foster a market for small scale sculpture so collectors can enjoy them at home.
The awards are valued at $20,000 with a premier prize of $15,000 and five highly commended prizes of $1000 each.
Another artist to step out of the box is Kim Kobialko from Studio Reset, who has taken the leap from 'pretty art' to modern art.
Playing around with light and shallows, this year's collection is inspired by the banana with the masking tape concept artwork title 'Comedian' by Maurizio Cattelan that was showcased at the Miami Gallery, Art Basel.
Consumed the same night it was sold as a social media stunt and performance art, Kim wanted to create modern art that would stand the test of time.
"The difference this year is that I'm now a registered beekeeper with my own hives, and making my own encaustic medium.
"I can now harvest my own wax which feels really good as it's sustainable and has enabled me to come full circle with my art.
Creating 12 pieces in handmade frames, Kim said, "I wanted it to look three dimensional, which I have done with many layers of wax.
"I've moved from pretty art to modern art."
Micheline Robinson has created large pieces focusing on the positives of being in New Zealand at a time like this, with Covid-19 still ravaging other areas of the world.
"One piece is called It's a Wonderful World, which is one of two big, bright, bold pieces with roses and birds flying, focusing on the positives."
Also from Kāpiti is self-taught painter James Brewer.
The show is from June 4-6, open daily from 10am–6.30pm at TSB Arena, Queens Wharf, Wellington waterfront.
