Don Binney, painter and great lover of the West Coast, has suddenly died aged 73. Binney was in hospital for other reasons when he suddenly had a heart attack and died.

Binney had a place at Piha for quite a few years and was an astute chronicler of the place, mourning the inroads made by development on the natural beauty of Piha. In 2010 he published the book, Drawing the West Coast, in which he decried the arrival of what he called “ostentation and tat” at Piha. With his artist’s eye, he expressed what many of us feel about the relentless push to drive the wild out of Piha.

Binney celebrated the glory of our native birds in their landscapes before it was fashionable and this remained central to his vision for all of  his life. He was a founding member of the Waitakere Ranges Protection Society and regularly gave his art for environmental causes that were dear to his heart.

He was a generous man, a great “character” in an era when that is a rare thing, and a profound lover of the West Coast.

See here for the article on the Herald on Sunday. 

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10834306