Autumn Ramblings

Hi everyone,

Where did April go?
The weather has certainly turned at the lake, with a few days already where snow has dusted the tops, and frosts which have finished off my flower gardens til spring. I’m busy putting the garden to bed under a layer of pea straw , no more gardening for a few months now.

We’ve just come home from Central Otago , where the Watercolour NZ Paintaway was held at Clyde. Around 50 painters and partners gathered to paint, talk and generally socialise . This is a beautiful area and many focused on the autumn colours, which were spectacular. Lots of old stone buildings, the blue of the Clutha, and even other painters.

We headed a bit further afield - off to St.Bathans to visit my great grandparents in the cemetery , then lunch at the Vulcan hotel (which great grandad helped build) , then the tiny Welsh settlement at Cambrian’s. The Cambrians community has done a great job of restoring the old schoolhouse, with wonderful displays of old photos etc. It’s a pretty special thing to be able to sit at a desk in the classroom where your Nana and her siblings went to school more than 100 years ago! Here’s a strange thing - I was talking with one of the otherpainters that night, and his great grandparents had lived there too - in a place that only had about 12 cottages , so they would have been neighbours !

My favourite spot , though, was the top of the Nevis Range, looking out across Otago . At around 4000 feet this is the highest public road in NZ , and to be up there on a calm sunny day is special , as it’s under snow in the winter! As I painted there were people flying past on their mountain bikes, yelling and laughing as they rode back down to the valley. And we even spotted a Karearea on a nearby boulder.

Each morning there was an informative session about plein air painting for anyone who is just starting out. Then each evening we gathered to eat dinner and talk about the day- we managed to fill most of the community hall with a pop up gallery of paintings, many of which sold to locals .

A lovely weekend and a big thanks to Pete James from Marlborough who organised it. If you’re not a member of Watercolour NZ I suggest you join- there are two of these get togethers each year, a great newsletter and lots of workshops and other useful stuff. You can find out more at https://www.watercolournewzealand.nz/

I’ve been busy planning workshops for later in the year ...

29th/30th August here at my studio - “Taking a Line For a Walk”

Two days immersed in drawing with different materials - the workshop (playshop?) will be aimed at showing you that , despite what you've told me, you CAN draw :) We'll be finding out a bit more about how our brains work ,playing with different kinds of drawing materials, and discovering together how to put subjects down on paper . I hope that you'll come along and join me - no experience required , just a sense of adventure. Please contact me for more details. There are just two spaces left for this .

12th/13th September - A weekend Beginners/Refresher watercolour workshop here at my studio.
Please contact me for more details.

Saturday 10th October- (in Nelson ) “Sketchy Details “

I’m teaching this one for Art Group Nelson but anyone is welcome to join in. We’ll be going out to sketch then using those sketches to construct a painting or two back at our venue. A great way to learn how to quickly gather info to use later. Let me know if you’re interested and I'll pass on the details.

We’re about to head back to Australia for a couple of months, this time embarking on a camping loop of Queensland, so my next couple of blogs will tell you what I’m up to! We will have housesitters here, but Iwon’t be asking them to open the studio, so Korimako will be closed May 25th to August 2nd.

Keep warm, enjoy the quietness of winter and, hopefully, do some painting.

Jan :)