‘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.
‘Beyond the Tree Line’ acrylic on canvas, 250 x 510 mm, 2023. Private collection.
‘Beyond the Tree Line’ is one of two paintings I started in March 2021. Both paintings had such strong beginnings that I decided to put them to one side and concentrate on other things for a few weeks. The plan was to wait until I had a very clear sense of what to do with them (i.e. and to not be afraid of ruining them). Two and a half years later, I finally found the courage to tackle Tree Line. And I’m very glad I did. The first WIP (work in progress) photo below is from 2021. The other 2021 painting is still waiting patiently…
Photo reference
WIP 1
WIP 2
WIP 3
WIP 4
Final
This South Island landscape is one I first painted in 2017 with sheep. I decided to paint this one without.
It is time once again for my annual retrospective. Here is a collection of nine favourite paintings from the last year ~ three birds, a port, a rainbow, a river, a few fuchsias, and lots of clouds and trees. Of course other things also happened. There were the colouring-in pages that I created at the start of the pandemic (when painting was the last thing I felt like doing but I had to do something). I also gave my blog and profile picture a bit of a makeover, created a Portfolio page, and made a new range of arty little fridge magnets. But, really, when it comes to art, if I’m not putting paint on canvas, I’m not happy. Six months went by e.v.e.r. s.o. s.l.o.w.l.y. and then ~ for no particular reason that I can recall ~ I started painting again. Putting together a collection for this anniversary post, it seems to me that I may have made up for the lost time : )
‘The Language of Trees’ acrylic on paper, 148 x 210 mm, 2020‘The First Daffodil’ acrylic on paper, 148 x 210 mm, 2020. SOLD
I have so many painting ideas waiting in folders that I’m in no danger of suffering from “artist’s block” any time soon… but then there are so many ideas, sometimes I’m at a loss to know which one to paint next ~ so maybe that is a kind of “artist’s block” after all. In an effort to reduce the backlog, I’ve started a series of small studies on paper ~ and I’ll be choosing the subjects more or less at random, so anything might happen : )
The first two to get picked from my ‘photos to paint next’ file are a tree dripping with autumn leaves (2017) and a daffodil positively radiating sunshine (2013)…
Anna Cull ~ Art & Music 