'Wanganui River View', 1998. Watercolour.
I have had times were I have been very fond of watercolour, mainly as a way of sorting out colour before starting a piece in oil. I have also produced many watercolours for the fun of it, the process being more relaxing and less taxing than oil painting. I have many old sketchbooks full of pictures like this but I haven't really indulged of late.

'Mowhanau', 1998, and 'Mowhanau', 1998.

Both of these pieces are from my final year at art school and both featured in my graduate show.

I spent a lot of time at Mowhanau beach during my last year of study and it became a recurring theme in my painting. As you can see the painting was quicker and looser and the palette was more muted from diluting my paints (with too much turps) to make them last. These photo are quite dark too.

'Wanganui River', 1998
This is one of the few pieces I have left from my last year of art school. This piece was originally much wider but when making the frame (from good old recycled river wood) I made a mistake so cut the piece to fit the frame. The view is from the path up Durie Hill where I used to live. I would walk past this spot and down the path to the river on my way to school whenever my car was out of action. I might put up a few more older pieces in the next few posts.

From top, 'Mt Anglem from Lee Bay, Stewart Island', 2003, and 'Hutt River', 2001.

Both of these images feature in my in profile in the book 'Seen this Century'. The first is from a series that I did after a trip to Stewart Island over the new year in 2002/2003. The second from around a dozen pieces of the Hutt River from my first years in Wellington, both are quite loose in style.

Rio, 2007.

Just a couple of photos to go with the paintings. Need a private conversation? Here's an idea how but keep it under your hat.

'Copacabana Beach, Rio, Brazil', 2009
This is the second of the South American ones so far, some new pieces will be painted in the school holidays in three weeks time. Until then it will be back to some older work to keep things ticking over.

'Rio, Brazil', 2008
I had a tour guide for the day and was very keen to get the statue of Cristo Redentor in the foreground of this piece but, at the point where it was best to get that view, it was very foggy and so I had to settle for this. This is the first of the original ten South America pieces I had planned. I have only finished two to date but there are school holidays coming up. This photo is a little washed out but you get the idea.

A few pictures from the Africa trip. Most of the images so far have been of the landscape so they are a little reminder of the other main reason for me wanting to go there. From top to bottom, 'Lioness-Serengeti' (Tanzania), 'Lake Kariba' (Zimbabwe), 'Wilderbeast Migration-Masai Mara' (Kenya), 'Shark Cage Diving' (South Africa), 'Cheetah' (Namibia) and 'Silverback Gorilla' (Rwanda).

'Cederburg, South Africa', 2008.
To date the only piece I've done of South Africa but I can see that I will need to revisit my books and complete more Africa pieces, I originally only intended to do ten for a show and this was the last.
This was the view from behind the guest house I stayed at, travelling down the western side of South Africa and stopping just off the highway. The Cederburg range is in the distance.

I will put a few more Africa photos up tomorrow just to sum up the time I spent there.

Soussusvlei, Namibia, September 2007

Just a few pictures I took to give you a better idea of how beautiful the place is, the critter at the bottom is obviously hungry for park warden!

'Soussusvlei, Namibia', 2008.
Another dark image but captures some of the sun on the beautiful dunes at Soussesuvlei, said to be some of the oldest sand dunes in the world, I will add some photos soon.