Holiday news

I had a wonderful holiday in Otago with my boys.
The itinerary was to fly to Dunedin and collect our large van ( with seats removed to enable 3 bikes in the back), buzz through Dunedin up to Wanaka via Lawrence. We would leave from Queenstown.

On arrival I fell totally in love with the city of Dunedin. It was a wrench to drag myself away from the city and my lovely Family were totally nice about driving me round and letting me collect the property sections of all the local newspapers knowing full well I was in denial about leaving. We drove up via the coast to Lawrence, Roxburgh and Wanaka  in along slow curve of a day , stopping only for food. Having said that, we are part hobbit, so it was elevenses, early lunch, lunch pudding, afternoonses , snack fruit shopping( boxes of cherries, apricots and wild cherries)....by the time we arrived in Wanaka I had pacified my sorrow by eating a punnet of cherries and an assortment of good country fare. My romance with Otago is ongoing and I imagine will remain so lifelong.

Wanaka. The van was quickly christened Louise( no idea why, something to do with Charles always saying " Louise my Squeeze. Not to me, to the van). The house we rented was just lovely and more than I was expecting.

The holiday started with frantic activity of mountain biking and me painting...by the time we left we had all slowed down , read some books, swum in the lake, gone on walks, eaten food, more food and good food, played several board games and take a LOT...because that's what we like to do on holidays. re-connect.

Ok,nuff talking, let me show you the hideousness of the place.

Naseby Highway( for Rabbits)

I was delighted to receive a phone call  on Friday evening informing me I had won the Landscape category at the Aspiring Art Competion in Wanaka! I am so pleased because I really loved painting it and I hoped someone would love it as much and it seems a number of people did ..and better still, someone bought it! Double whammy!

I am off to Otago again soon to paint some more. As we speak, I am trying to whittle down my equipment to fit in my already edited luggage( due to bicycles taking up a lot of my luggage allotment). But I know I will do it because i Have done it before and at least I can post things back here! If I sell enough work, I am going to buy a section of land with a view , build a studio and paint until I am blue in my face! That's the plan, at least..........and maybe it will be in Naseby!

Naseby Highway(for rabbits)
oil on board
52 x 52 cm

No mess and a white shirt.

When I first started painting, I managed to get paint everywhere: on clothes, on face, in hair, on walls , keep naming things (yes , dogs too) and you get the picture. I was very messy and oil paint is not great on any surface.

 Sidenote: Babywipes remove paint from hands in the gentlest manner I have discovered. You're welcome.

Over the years, I have managed to get less messy( it's all relative, lets be realistic) and clothes have seen less and less damage. There has to be SOME mess, otherwise it's no fun, but on myself...not so much anymore.

Yesterday saw me paint in a white shirt. A LINEN white shirt. If that does not say " BRAVE" in a studio, what does?! Actually, I have been painting in it for a while and as I had a photoshoot in the studio ,  I wore it. The grubby apron was a good counterfoil to the white shirt.

Anyway, here are some of the photos........Thank you Vicki!

Studio sale update and some mutterings

Ok, change of dates.

The studio sale will now be on BOTH sat 5th and Sun 6th December.  I had too may people howling in dismay because they were going to miss the sunday for a couple of reasons( best one was the local fishing competition)

So, from 10 am till 4 pm, come on round to the studio and have a look and a chat.

158/2 Gillard road
Ngahinapouri
Hamilton

I have yet to clean my studio because that would be too smart and frankly, I am too interested in painting right now.

I hit a bit of a block. Not a train-smash, just a meh moment. So, I decided to mix things up a little and do everything I have NOT been doing recently.

I painted small
I painted on canvas
I used a palette knife
I chose subject matter that is NOT my norm
I chose colours that are not on my normal palette.

It worked. I feel a lot better and I love what I made.

In the end, isn't that what it's all about?

detail of a painting with palette knife

The Imagined Bouquet

30 x 30 cm

oil on canvas

Studio sale Time

It's time for my annual studio sale. Time to find good homes for many paintings, sketches, framed and unframed works, works on paper, canvas..all sorts.

Come see what my studio looks like and get a glimpse of my working world.

Date: 6 december 2015

Where: My Studio @
158/2 Gillard road, Ngahinapouri, Hamilton, New Zealand

Open 10 am till 4 pm.

If you want to come but cannot make the date, just leave me a comment and your contact details and we can make a plan for another date.

An few examples of what I have to offer...there are LOTS more!

The sculpture park plein air weekend

I was invited to paint with a myriad of other artists at The Sculpture park , in Tauwhare, last weekend. It was only 3 days after my arrival back from South africa and, as if to ease the transition, it was a scorcher of a weekend with temperatures hitting the high 20's.
The sculpture park is the site of an old quarry and the entire park has been lovingly turned from barren quarry into gorgeous arboretum and is positively littered with sculptures.

The crowning jewel has to be the quarry which has since filled up with water and hosts waterlilies and frogs. I knew I wanted to paint there so I hauled all my gear to the top of the park(huffing and puffing) and spent the days painting on a little state projecting out over the water. It was hot but fabulous. Many people traipsed past, some stopped and chatted, most agreeing that it was, indeed, a fabulous place to be and to paint.

The most magical time was pre-people , around 9 am, when the frog chorus was loud and hearty.

I shall try and post photos of the other paintings once I have found them ......I am having technical issues !( most probably all my own fault!)

Since then I have been on a camp with 20 10/11 year olds and 9 adults who all snored in various degrees ranging from "light drone "to " dear god, is he going to start breathing again soon!!!!!!". The walls of the cabins were thin and my earplugs not dense enough.

It was, however, remote and we were all "unplugged" for a week, which was very good. But I missed my music!

Rose amongst thorns

I go walking most mornings here is Somerset West, my childhood hometown. I walk along familiar streets,looking at old haunts, houses of friends long gone and marvelling at the affluence of some areas: palatial residences with swanky Francophile names , high walls, ornate gates and immaculate gardens. It's all slightly mad.

Every now and then, I come across an older home, thatched roof, thick,white plastered walls with an overgrown garden , parched and missing the accessory of neighbouring gardens, the automatic irrigation system.

I think it is all the more beautiful for its abandon. The wild creeps in.


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