‘Redwoods I’ acrylic on canvas, 150 x 150 mm, 2023. Available.
Giants with branches That try but never quite touch The scattered blue sky.
‘Redwoods II’ acrylic on canvas, 150 x 150 mm, 2023. Available.
I never get tired of painting the Hamurana Springs redwoods and have plans to paint larger versions of these small studies in the not too distant future. I have so many paintings planned though (I’ve just bought half a dozen canvases because the sales are on ~ and I’m about to buy half a dozen more), I think these two may have to wait until next year. So if it’s a little quiet on the blog, it’s only because I’m busy painting.
“Making a different mistake every day is not only acceptable, it is the definition of progress.”
The Pleasant Valley Sundays, acrylic on canvas, 405 x 405 mm (each canvas), 2023. Available.
The Pleasant Valley Sundays were painted to exhibit at this year’s Pegasus Bay Art Show and are based on a view of Port Chalmers from the Lady Thorn Rhododendron Dell lookout on a misty summer’s day in 2017 (the photograph below).
“I used to think I knew all the answers. Then I thought I knew maybe a few of the answers. Now I’m not even sure I understand the questions. Nobody knows anything.”
Pete Nelson
I had a plan and I had time. I thought I had time. I had three months and then two… and then two weeks… two days… and when I ran out of time, I stopped.
For your viewing pleasure, I have put together three slideshows of the key stages in each painting’s progress: WIP 1 ~ charcoal drawing / basic composition WIP 2 ~ tonal underpainting to determine values WIP 3 ~ exploring colours and resolving issues Final ~ “A painting is never finished — it simply stops in interesting places.” Paul Gardner
Pleasant Valley Sunday I
WIP 1
WIP 2
WIP 3
Final
Finding the shapes in the middle group of trees and adding one final pale blue glaze to the water and distant hills (in the final image) really made the whole landscape ‘pop’ ~ and then, with a careful scattering of power poles, I stopped. This style became the template for the other two paintings.
In case you’re curious (and I certainly was), the big red building in the foreground is Buffalo Lodge, a turn-of-the century hall that has been transformed into accommodation and listed with Airbnb New Zealand. We will definitely be checking it out next time we visit Dunedin.
Pleasant Valley Sunday II
WIP 1
WIP 2
WIP 3
Final
The variety of houses in the second painting was a joy to behold. I initially thought the pointy building in the middle was a café because it didn’t look like any of the surrounding houses. In reality, however, it is a delightfully unusual residential property (online research is a wonderful thing). The roof is not conical and is not quite as tall as I’ve painted it ~ but that’s how it wanted to be painted and so that’s how it is.
Pleasant Valley Sunday III
WIP 1
WIP 2
WIP 3
Final
The beautiful character house in the lower left corner (above) is one of my favourites in the Pleasant Valley Sunday series. I looked this one up online too. The house, built in 1907, was for sale last year. No doubt it sold for a little more spare change than we would’ve had available. Still, it’s nice to dream.
So… more trees, more houses ~ a splash of orange light and a bend in the road, deep purple shadows and a few more power poles. Three paintings completed. Or one triptych. Either way, that was quite a mission.
It took a little over six weeks (six weeks of actual painting time) to finish all three. A lot of thought went into finding a sort of architectural abstraction in the trees and also into limiting the amount of detail in the buildings so that the manmade appeared more organic and vice versa. If it hadn’t been for the deadline of the art show, I would probably still be painting them.
It’s officially the first day of spring here in New Zealand and it’s raining art shows. Following on from a successful exhibition at The Bridge Hub in August, last night we set up for the Pegasus Bay Art Show.
My panel this year includes four brand new paintings. And by “brand new” I mean that I finished painting them over the weekend. When I signed up to take part, I only had two paintings that met the criteria (which included that artworks be less than three years old). Silly me, I thought that three months would be enough time to sort that out… but then I decided to exhibit at The Bridge and paint three new paintings for that show. Time was ticking. Ticking. Ticking.
It was the Pleasant Valley Sundays (the three square landscapes, bottom left) that almost broke me. But I made it. Just. I’ll write more about them and the new treescape painting (top left) and show you some WIPs in my next two posts.
The Pegasus Bay Art Show is open Saturday and Sunday with more than 70 artists taking part this year. And tonight is opening night. Exciting!
My solo exhibition is now all set up and I’m thrilled with how it looks in the gallery space. You can see a video walk through on my Facebook page.
I’ve called the exhibition ‘Diary of an Optimist’ because my paintings are like a diary — the view from a window, memories of a holiday, the words of a poem or a song — real and imagined landscapes celebrating the beauty of everyday places.
The Gallery
The Cabinet
‘Te Waikoropupū Springs I & II’
…word art…
…purple art…
‘Tin Roof Rusted’
There are several paintings that have never been out of the studio before… so that’s exciting too. The exhibition is on until the last Sunday in August at The Bridge Hub Gallery, 51 Bridge Street, South New Brighton, Christchurch.
‘Spring Snow’ acrylic on canvas, 155 x 155 mm, 2023. Available.
Here’s another small offering ready just in time for my solo exhibition at The Bridge Hub Gallery. ‘Spring Snow’ is a very textured study of snowflakes (the flowers) in Hagley Park. We still have another month before it’s officially spring here in New Zealand but these hardy little bulbs always show up early.
The exhibition ‘Diary of an Optimist’ 🙂 will start tomorrow and run until the last Sunday in August at The Bridge Hub, 51 Bridge Street, South New Brighton, Christchurch.
Anna Cull ~ Art & Music 