photography
Akaroa
I was so happy with this scene that I decided to dust off the sketchbook…
… and even though it’s not watercolour paper, it still handles the water from my little travel brush surprisingly well.
The other quick sketch from the weekend has been enhanced digitally using Affinity Photo.
Photos from the road
Here are a few of the photos I took while travelling to and from Dunedin last weekend. Note the snow on the Southern Alps in the middle of summer! Well done, New Zealand!
I couldn’t help myself… the rolling hills, the purple mountains, the different textures and patterns in the landscape, the shifting light, the fascinating clouds… I think I took close to 200 photographs! And now many of them are whispering (quite loudly) “paint me”…
Beautiful seeing
“Your ability to see is your tools of trade; nothing else matters. Beautiful seeing is the desideratum. Remember, when you hear people say they can see a thing but not do it that they cannot really see it. If they did, they could do it even if they put the paint on with their fingers.” Charles Hawthorne
Challenge accepted.
Decide what to do
“It does not take much strength to do things, but it requires a great deal of strength to decide what to do.” Elbert Hubbard
Having decided to paint this photograph of bunting flags and sun umbrellas, I played around with colour options and cropped them to fit a square canvas (see below), and I ended up with two versions that I like equally — and so I’m now going to paint both of them.
Yes, I think Mr Hubbard makes a very good point.
WIPs to follow soon.
