The New Zealand wildlife art prints of Surface Active

Five Surface Active art prints on a sunlit gallery wall.

A gallery of The New Zealand Nature T-shirt Company wildlife art prints of Chrissie Terpstra and Shaun Waugh.

Since we were kids Chrissie and I have been enthusiasts of the natural world. As design pARTners since 1985 our New Zealand wildlife art designs are an expression of this.

I finished four years of study in Graphic Design at Auckland Technical Institute in 1983. After a five year career as an advertising art director in Auckland, Christchurch, Hong Kong and Reykjavik I was equipped through illustration, graphic design, drawing and painting to achieve our aim of creating a variety of stimulating visual images that originate from the experiences and knowledge of the natural world that Chrissie and I bring to our collaborations. By way of our brainchild, Surface Active – The New Zealand Nature T-shirt Company, as a design pARTnership, we create wildlife art of native birds, reptiles, mammals, insects, trees, plants and landscapes at locations all over New Zealand that I photograph, and we research the image libraries of renowned New Zealand wildlife photographers in search of reference for illustrations of iconic imagery.

Limited edition Tuatara under ancient light print (A0 – 84 x 120cm).

The Surface Active range of New Zealand nature t-shirt designs has been developed since back in 1985 when we first started screenprinting on the kitchen table, as a shared hobby in our flat in South Brighton, with frequent updates of new designs between 1988 to the present. We display our latest limited edition wildlife art prints using specialist room mock-up software. Please revisit every few weeks, I’m sure there will be some fresh images for you to look at.

‘Surface Active—well made in New Zealand’ t-shirt neck label.

As full-time professionals 1988–2003 Chrissie and I designed over 100 original wildlife art designs with New Zealand, Antarctica and African “big five” megafauna themes. Since 2003 we have continued creating new designs and during lockdown 2020 and 2021 we created a new design every few weeks.

Wildlife Art Prints for Sale

Original New Zealand nature art prints for sale—all digital paintings, pen and ink drawings and charcoal drawings by design pARTners Chrissie Terpstra and Shaun Waugh.

Browse here to buy limited edition art prints depicting New Zealand nature subjects. We have about twenty original Surface Active designs in development for exhibition purposes which will be added over the month of January 2022, so there will soon be plenty to look through.

We hope that you enjoy browsing through the wildlife art we have for sale. Feel free to send us an e-mail to consult with us over the particulars of your order the pricing and framing specifications below are intended as a guideline. The range of options for framing simplified into three basic options here. Options of matt size, colour, the range of frames and glass options are best discussed in detail via email or over the phone.

Limited Edition Red-billed gull, New Brighton dawn print, A0 size – 84 x 120 cm (from $700), A1 size – 59.4 x 84 cm (from $500, indicative, prices subject to change due to post-pandemic inflation in price of printing and framing, shipping costs additional).

Red-billed gull/tarapunga New Brighton dawn

Artwork of New Brighton pier at dawn viewed through the silhouette of a red-billed gull/tarapunga in flight. This composite digital painting of a red-billed gull is an apt symbol of New Brighton and the South Brighton spit, an area that Maori named Te Karoro Karoro (the seagulls chatter).

1. Box framed ultra smooth photo paper prints. With a protective satin laminate. NZ delivery Addresses: Supplied bonded to a 3mm board-backing, laminated and framed ready to hang. (*Only suitable for NZ shipping.)

2. Framed canvas prints. Stretched over a wooden frame. The print surface is protected with a satin varnish and presented stretched over a frame without glass so that they look like an original artwork.

3. Unframed canvas prints. Canvas prints with a protective satin varnish. All dimensions given are approximate, therefore it is recommended that you do not order a frame until you have received your print. When presented inside a frame without glass the wildlife art looks similar to an original oil painting.
*NZ delivery Addresses: Supplied bonded to a 3mm board-backing ready for traditional framing. Or supplied varnished, unstretched and packaged rolled in a postal tube ready for framing.
*Non-NZ Delivery Addresses: Supplied varnished, unstretched and packaged rolled in a postal tube ready for framing.

4. Traditional framed prints printed on ultra-smooth photo paper or heavyweight watercolour paper. These traditional framed prints behind glass, a surrounding matte and with metal or wooden frame are only suitable for NZ shipping. Board-backed print on photo-paper or heavyweight watercolour paper.

Reproduced from an original wildlife art digital painting by wildlife artist Shaun Waugh. Frames have been individually selected to compliment the artwork and the pigment ink printing has been sourced to be of archival quality and show off the images at their best.

Red-billed gull/tarapunga sunrise, New Brighton limited edition print. A0 size print pictured from $700.00, see price list below for detailed pricing of signed limited edition prints and framing.

Jewelled gecko, Banks Peninsula, New Zealand

Paua of the Pacific, Aotearoa, New Zealand

Paua of the Pacific, Aotearoa, New Zealand art print. A0 size from $700.00, see price list below for detailed pricing of signed limited edition prints and framing.