Show now featuring in Waikanae
By Cushla McGaughey
The Mahara Arts Review opened at the District Gallery on 2 December and will run until 14 January 2018. The exhibition comprises a wonderfully varied range of new artworks from 74 Kapiti and Horowhenua artists.
Warmest congratulations to Julie Leibrich, who contributes Sonnet of the Month on Kapiti Independent News.
Her watercolour and ink, Intimate Connections, won the Special Merit Award sponsored by Picture Perfect Framing.
The little guys in the penguin family
My painting of the world’s smallest penguin is life size. Males usually have longer, thicker bills and so this penguin is a female.
Little Blue Penguins tend to lean forward, instead of keeping upright as other penguins do.
The blue tinge on their feathers is not due to pigmentation.
It comes from light, reflected by fibres about 200 times thinner than human hair.
The Picture Perfect framing represents the nest boxes provided under the Places for Penguins programme.

They give some protection from dogs and seagulls. Crossing busy roads to reach a nest site can also be avoided. Little Blue Penguins readily adopt the nest boxes and have equal or better breeding success there.