“By the time it came to the edge of the Forest, the stream had grown up, so that it was almost a river, and, being grown-up, it did not run and jump and sparkle along as it used to do when it was younger, but moved more slowly. For it knew now where it was going, and it said to itself, “There is no hurry. We shall get there some day.” But all the little streams higher up in the Forest went this way and that, quickly, eagerly, having so much to find out before it was too late.” A.A. Milne

If, like me, you are feeling a little older and a little less like running and jumping and sparkling these days, that’s okay. “There is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”

‘Travel With Me’ and ‘We’ll See the World’ are two small paintings inspired by the mighty Waimakariri River, a braided river that flows 151 kilometres (94 miles) from the Southern Alps across the Canterbury Plains to the Pacific Ocean. I took the photograph that became the reference for this diptych back in February… which seems like a lifetime ago now… back before we really had any idea what 2020 had planned for us. It was a wonderful trip. We spent the weekend at Lake Brunner and performed at a music festival. I felt much more like a little stream back then.

While painting this scene, I thought a lot about that trip away and about how so many of us are having to travel vicariously and virtually this year. I have also been thinking about what it means to ‘travel’ and about how we travel when we are stuck in lockdown ~ hopefully we are making good use of art and books and music and videos and conversations ~ and that is what the titles of these paintings are intended to reflect.

My travels this year have included watching online tutorials and time-lapse videos of artists producing the most wonderful landscapes and portraits ~ I thoroughly recommend Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year and Portrait Artist of the Year and also the Put Some Colour In Your Life series.

Safe travels, everyone.

P.S. Below is the reference photo that I used for the paintings ~ a quick snap taken through the car window on our way to the festival (and no, I was not driving).