En Plein Air with Trev
Posted on August 10, 2016 Leave a Comment
When you get the opportunity to paint alongside an experienced painter you grab it and that is exactly what I did when it was suggested we go and paint out on location together. How much I have to learn and here is someone who has been on the painting journey for over 35 years as a professional artist. What an opportunity! Such a gift.
Our first en plein air was to be at the local Taupo Harbourmaster’s building. I was even on time which shows how keen I was (I am sure you can guess by that comment that being on time is not one of my best attributes) but today I was ready and present…eager.
Trevor Dowman and his wife, Adrianne, have been a gift from heaven to me as I have begun my sojourn into the art world. (You can see his art here) So willingly they have shared advice and ideas garnered from their own years of adventuring. And here today I watched him lay out his paints, size it all up and begin applying that paint magically to the canvas.
I took a different view to Trevor and did mine in paletteknife. I made some rookie mistakes like not being organised enough to have the right sized canvas so took one that was WAY too large for a two hour session. Then to add insult to injury I forgot my palette. I had no choice but to begin my HUGE painting with a TINY paletteknife as it was the only knife that would fit inside the waterjar lid… the only thing I could utilize as a makeshift palette. Guess what I will remember next time?
Eventually, back at the studio, I finished my project. And for all it’s hurdles I am pretty pleased with my first attempt at painting in the open air.
Avalanche
Posted on August 8, 2016 Leave a Comment
Clever daughter had been giving me photography lessons.
“Sit on the rocks and use your knees as a tripod,” she had been telling me. “You get great movement shots of the water.”
It had seemed such a long way down to the ground after all our sitting in the car that I declined the offer for now and tucked the advise away for another day.
Perched on her rock she stayed there for a time while I wandered off to photograph other ‘higher up’ things … like the bridge than ran over the Rangitikei River just beyond us.
The wind whipping down between the high clay cliffs was biting around the edges of my jacket so I finally opted for the car again. Reluctantly she joined me.
With the wind on the outside we began looking back through the photographs just shot.
BOOM!
It wasn’t like an earthquake noise that comes like a train getting closer and then ebbs away. Instead, although a similar noise level, it was suddenly just there and all enveloping. In a moment of time my brain was flooded with all sorts of thoughts…’was there a truck behind us? No, we are at the end of the road. What’s happening? Earthquake? No, wrong noise. And then as I was looking this way and that trying to source the huge rumble I spotted it.
An avalanche.
We had been enjoying the river right on a U-shaped bend and thus the sound was bouncing and finding us from every direction. But directly opposite on the other side, a large portion of the clay banks had come tumbling down meeting with the river. With all the rain over the last few weeks it was really not surprising. There was hardly anything to hold those extremely high cliffs together.
Wow, that was an unexpected adventure for the day.
Although we were totally safe on the other side we decided we had had enough of that adventure and began moving back towards the main road. I would like to go back and explore this amazing river some other time though. …Fascinating!
#Grateful for safety
Whangaroa Inlet
Posted on August 3, 2016 Leave a Comment
A day trip away with my darling dearest had me relishing in the idea of en plein air painting in a new location. I was keeping an eye out for anything special that might be a good subject.
And there it was…
It must have been because I was paying particular attention because I have driven this way many times before and not noticed this beautiful old tub languishing in the shallows.
It wasn’t long before easel and paints were out and the morning drifted by way too fast. This secluded little spot on Whangaroa Inlet between Lake Rotoiti and Lake Rotoma will never pass me by unnoticed again. That’s the beauty of painting…these places and times magically become added to my storehouse of wonderful memories… even when the painting goes to a new home like this one has.
An Udder Story
Posted on August 2, 2016 Leave a Comment
Since we have been gone from New Zealand, small town New Zealand has gone through a make-over which is absolutely delightful. All these little towns doing something comical and quirky to show their particular flavour to the world.
And the town of Bulls is no exception.
On the road into town there is a sign saying that the people of Bulls do not tolerate domestic violence… they think it is terri-bull. 🙂
and further down the road ‘we, the residents of Bulls, are response-a-bull’.
Or the town medical centre boasting it is ‘cure-a-bull’
Bulls – it really is a town ‘like no udder” hahaha
#Grateful for the laugh. Thanks, Bulls.
If It Weren’t For Ya Gumboots…
Posted on August 1, 2016 Leave a Comment
An unexpected road trip with Jo is always going to be filled with fun and laughter. She is the Queen of Disney Princess music and her theatrical bent and gorgeous voice have you singing along before you know it…Okay, it might have been just my finger tapping on the steering wheel but I was definitely smiling and enjoying her joy. I might have heard one or two, or most of these, too many times over the years. These parents who complain about the endless reciting by their four year old of Frozen haven’t heard anything…wait until you have heard every Disney movie for the last twenty six years and then come tell me!
Our journey took us through the country town of Taihape … the home of the gumboot. So, it was only natural to take my turn and share a song I knew
I’m pretty sure I got some concerned looks as she watched her mother singing away. Being clever she even tried to put me off track by adding in a version of ‘Waltzing Matilda’ from across the ditch, but my roots run deep and I stayed on track.
Bet she won’t forget Taihape in a hurry 🙂
#Grateful for the fun.
Autumn Watch
Posted on July 5, 2016 4 Comments
A normal morning walk with the dog was all set up to be nothing but normal until…
Until I heard that quiet voice telling me to take my camera.
I hesitated.
The dog was already doing circles in the back of the car all eager and excited, and I had a list of things to accomplish for the day. I wanted to get on with it.
But…
I know He knows things I don’t. Back inside I went and picked up the bag and camera. In fact I decided to be super organised and take the big telephoto lens as well.
We were off.
The dog all rearing to go like a wound up spring so that when I opened the door on arriving at Wharewaka she was out in a shot and straight down to the edge of Lake Taupo anticipating a swim to retrieve each and every piece of pumice I was willing to throw. The game went on endlessly as we walked the beach with me trying to keep the camera and lens free of all flying water each time she emerged and shook all 30-odd kilos of fun-loving dog.
I was beginning to wonder whether I had heard him right. I had been carrying this heavy piece of equipment for quite a while.
And then I spotted it. I am pretty sure it had spotted us a while before.
Flip on over to this link to see the finished product. 🙂
#Grateful
Colour in My Culinary World
Posted on June 30, 2016 Leave a Comment
We have no garden, so I have made a substitute with pots and although I can grow quite a lot of vege there is no way I can grow it all. So, that beautiful logistics co-ordinating daughter was online even before I had finished my moan and found me an online source that delivered to my door within twenty-four hours of picking.
Sounded great.
So, I gingerly placed my first order, hoping I wasn’t going to be scammed or just terribly disappointed.
See, I have canaries and I love to give them fresh produce out of my little garden, but I had run out of kale with the summer white caterpillar influx and me not getting the nets over quick enough. So, I gave them supermarket Kale and they plum refused it… not even a peck. Which is were my moan was originating from because if the canaries know what is good without being able to read the labels or see where it was bought from, then surely, we should be eating the same good stuff. Fancy feeding my animals the cream while I eat the dregs!
But what kind of produce would I find after it had been couriered here?
Well, gotta say, it was magic!
A box overflowing with colour and a freshness you could smell. Good heap of variety too, with a few exotics added in. We’ve been having a smorgasbord of delicious organic dishes for no more than I would have paid in the supermarket except for the $10 courier fee that covers ANY amount of goods even down to here. It really is a delectable deal.
Of course, the acid test is trying it out on those canaries.
Yep, they were into it like they hadn’t been fed in a year. Here’s a link if you are interested in giving them a go. I highly recommend their service and products.
#Grateful for today’s order of organic fruit and veg bringing colour to my culinary world.
Keeping it all together
Posted on June 29, 2016 2 Comments
We had taken so long to organise ourselves to get ready that I chose not to go back for my gloves…bad mistake right there!
By the time we had biked into town on a dreary cold Taupo winter morning our fingers were bitter cold. So, after our jobs were done we popped into the bike shop and got ourselves a pair each of these all sports merino gloves that a friend had highly recommended.
Fingers now encased and beginning the trek home we passed a beautiful shop poster with some random snowboarding down a mountain peak. I do not even look at such pictures, I mean, who really does that, but my darling dearest was quite taken with it.
“WOW! Imagine doing that!, he exclaimed as he stopped to admire it. “I could do that, too.”
Trying my hardest not to be a cynic, I looked at him sideways wondering how he could even entertain such a thought. It’s not as if either of us are really the Ironman type.
“Really?” I say, “And how’s that?”
“Oh, I wouldn’t look as graceful as that, but…:
Just quietly I am already snickering (read that as rolling in hysterical laughter on the inside)
“…I could come down that slope even faster, and do way more cartwheels.”
“Ah! I see what you mean. You could do it but it would be in a rather more ungainly fashion.”
Acting all insulted he replied, ” Hey, I never said ‘ungainly’.I at least thought you would have used words that started with ‘S’ like ‘Spectacular’ or ‘Sensational'”.
“How bout ‘sexy'”, I add.
“Oh, no!” he said emphatically. ” All the sexy bits would have been left on a rock halfway down the hill”.
#grateful for the way we can laugh and tease each other, but, if it’s OK, I’ll keep him off the slopes so that I can have him altogether. I like him that way.
Sumptuous
Posted on June 28, 2016 Leave a Comment
Sunflowers are sumptuous!
Sumptuous in colour.
Sumptuous in flamboyant abandonment.
My desire with this painting done in oil with paletteknife on a large canvas was to evoke all those indulgent feelings amidst a riot of colour. The thick oil applied in long sweeps and the very tactile flower centres make your fingers itch to touch it 🙂
Truly sumptuous! (follow the link to find out more)
Life Class
Posted on June 27, 2016 Leave a Comment
That you should do Life Classes is something you hear everywhere among those who like to paint.
I used to do them way back when, but I got REALLY sick of looking at everyone’s bits and pieces. I mean, is that really life? I might make a quick dash from the shower when the kids are not at home (I can hear them groaning at the thought) but generally, I do not do life in the nude. Even when the contours of the land were alluring curves ebbing and flowing gracefully rather than the crevasses and avalanches of the present, I still didn’t do it. We are frowned upon and taken off in a little paddy wagon if we go down town like that, so why must I continually have to subject myself to it for the sake of good art?!
I am not going to.
Instead, I have decided to do life classes as I see it. Drawing people is a great exercise…getting the nose just right or the angle of the chin… and, quite frankly, the folds on material wrapping the body can be even more difficult than skin. All within a specified time frame to boot.
This week my first model was my hard-working son. Studying for his last uni exam of the semester had him as a captive subject…even if he kept moving. I think his mind was on the study more than Mum drawing him which was probably a good thing.
#Grateful for his patience each time I put him back into position. And may you do well in your exam, Son.
Lynda Symons Artistry 