One of the South Island's best loved artists is visiting Auckland and bringing with him over 20 years of work.
Central Otago artist Grahame Sydney is touring his show, which consists of paintings that reflect the reality of the landscape he lives in.
With each brushstroke, Sydney captures sultry skies, vast rolling plains and snow capped mountains.
"I do feel it's my corner of the world, I feel uncomfortable whenever I'm away from it," he says.
His paintings are a celebration of the ordinary.
"I love that notion that you make something ordinary into something far more special by turning it into art".
For North Islanders, it is the first opportunity to take in these southern vistas in more than 20 years, and for Sydney it's enough that he is there to see it.
"A lot of people want you dead of course because it would increase the value of your work - I think a lot of people would want me dead!"
Sydney's book 'The Art of Grahame Sydney' won last year's Montana book award for non-fiction, as well as the readers' prize.
