28 February, 2026

Seventy-something sets sights on ‘proper art practice’ after lifetime of detours

Late bloomer… At 73, Peter Knowles has opened his first exhibition of paintings in the former Bayley premises on Victoria Rd. His works range from portraits – whether of himself, others or dogs – to the kind of easily recognisable local landscape pictured right.

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“Some paintings take their own life on and start telling you what to do.”

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Nearly 20 years ago Peter Knowles rocked up in Devonport intending to stay for a few months. “I thought it would be like Wales. I went to the pub and got drunk with some builders and bought a house the next day,” he says.
A walk up North Head to clear his head had led to a wander down Macky Ave where he spotted the property he still lives in.
Knowles has enjoyed a few detours over the years, including from youthful studies at art college in the UK. “I met a blonde in a bar and was married by the time I was 20,” he laughs.
But now he has got serious about pursuing his shelved passion for art, with his first exhibition having opened in the former Bayleys office on Victoria Rd.
The local landscapes, portraits and figurative paintings of friends and family are very different from those he painted in his student days in the late 1960s when abstract art was in vogue.
“Now I just paint what I see.”

He reckons the “mish-mash” of styles he has in the exhibition In Plein Sight won’t be where he ends up as a painter, having finally decided to devote himself more fully to the pursuit at age 73, now he has mostly retired from “businessing”, as he puts it.
His work life includes 20 successful years in the car sales business in the UK, before a move to Perth, Australia, and other business interests.
Then it was on to Devonport, where he has enjoyed village life and having a second family, adding two more children to two from his first marriage.
Daughter Annabel Knowles, 21, went through Takapuna Grammar School and has rowed for New Zealand at under-21 level. His 17-year-old son William is just back from a couple of years at school in England.
Knowles found Devonport was conducive to sketching and painting, so he picked up his brush again for the first time in four decades.
He set about depicting people he knew and the place he loves. A first work was of the Sea Scouts hall on King Edward Pde.
His family on Cheltenham Beach is among other subjects, along with a colourful image of two friends relaxing in cane chairs.

Then there are his landscapes, painted at home from sketches. Ask about favourite vistas and it’s a sweeping selection. “From the top of North Head there’s wonderful views back to the city, unique buildings, big curved beaches, crazy trees and clock towers.”
The exhibition has more than 30 works, some of which aren’t for sale because they have been borrowed back from friends’ walls.
Others he brought down from his attic. They range from oils to pastels, with a couple of watercolours.
Dogs feature, and like people, their portraits are something he is open to commissions for.
“I’ve had all sorts of interesting people come in here already,” he says.
For some, he is a familiar face from local pubs and coffee shops. Others know him from sketch classes he has run or are just keen interested in talking about what they see in the paintings.
“Every single one has got a story to it,” he says.
Putting the works on public display came about after a friend serendipitously suggested using the vacant main-street space for a pop-up exhibition.
“It’s a bit cathartic,” says Knowles of hanging it all out there – including a nude self-portrait. He said it felt akin to being on the edge of a swimming pool and wanting to strip off, as he was apt to do, and just dive in.

His classically framed self-portrait – naked in front of a canvas on a trestle, in the library of a generously proportioned Cheltenham villa he once lived in before returning to his Macky Ave house – has undergone a catharsis of its own. As Knowles was preparing for the show, he daubed a wonky orange line and other paint on the image. He wonders if this might be a new direction.
“Some paintings take their own life on and start telling you what to do,” he says. Mostly he works quickly, but says: “I might shape it in a few hours and then spend six months messing it up.”
Knowles is open to exploration and took life drawing classes at the Browne School of Art in Grey Lynn.
He likes the idea of doing more figurative work combining with landscapes.
“I intend to paint pretty much full-time from now on,” he says. “I want to set up a proper art practice.”