The green, green grass (and the red, red hills) of home

The green, green grass of home — acrylic on canvas, 305 x 405 mm, 2014
The green, green grass of home — acrylic on canvas, 305 x 405 mm, 2014

Sergei Bongart’s advice to study nature, exaggerate light and be less inhibited (the quote I posted here on Friday) is more than a little to blame for this painting which I started on Friday morning and finished off on Saturday afternoon. It is based on one of the photographs I took during our DC-3 flight over Christchurch last year.

View of the Port Hills from a DC-3, Christchurch, 2013
View of the Port Hills from a DC-3, Christchurch, 2013

Because I wanted to exaggerate the landscape, I decided to go with a fairly adventurous palette (inspired by, among others, the late, great Friedensreich Hundertwasser’s ‘Blobs grow in beloved gardens’ 1975 and ‘Green town’ 1978.

But where did the red hills come from? Well, the bright red is my complementary exaggeration of the dark green trees. And the sheep? That was my way of introducing a calm focal point ― something to suggest that perhaps the hills were not on fire : )

The green, green grass of home, detail
The green, green grass of home, detail

Above and beyond

A little jaunt over Christchurch last week in a 1944 DC-3 has yielded quite a crop of new photographs… I’m really pleased with them, especially considering how small the window was and that we were basically right over one of the wings! Anna Cull DC3 Amy (officially ZK-AMY) is a fairly rare bird and will, sadly, be retiring early next year. The day of our flight was quite hazy and more than a little bumpy but the experience was pure magic. Amy will soon be on permanent display at the Ashburton Aviation Museum.Anna Cull DC3 flight The photos not only show Canterbury’s beautiful farmland in all its patchwork glory, they also show how altered Christchurch is ― earthquakes have removed many familiar landmarks and made the cityscape rather beige and boxy ― but perhaps that is a post better left for another day.