Aotearoa New Zealand Watercolour Journey

Last month I posted about my New Zealand Sketchbook.  I made it primarily for my European friends, none of whom had been to my homeland, but when I received my copy I was disappointed with it, because although it was for my friends, there was nothing personal in it. I had included information about each place I had painted, but it seemed bland without the personal touch. 

So I decided to have another try and added personal information about why I was in the place I was painting and with whom. The paintings are the same but this time there is a story accompanying the pictures.  I posted copies to my EU friends and they tell me the personal stories made the book special for them. 

Perhaps even tourists wanting a momento of their travels would prefer the Watercolour Journey version as well, I'm not sure. 

It's available through your local online bookseller or through Amazon.

Nelson to Wellington

Goodbye Nelson

I had a very smooth flight from Nelson to Wellington this morning. There were two smoke plumes in the distance and people were scanning the surrounding bushland for fire. The hostess said lots of her Nelson colleagues had been evacuated and we're living with friends.

Hello Wellington

Twenty five minutes later I was landing in Wellington to clear skies, a completely flat sea, and unusual heat. There has been a fire in the city here as well, but it was put out quickly. 

Suter Gallery in Nelson

Nelson has a marvelous little gallery, the Suter Art Gallery, set in the Queens Garden, which is a green refuge near the city centre.

Queens Garden

 At the moment there is an exhibition of Alan Pearson's paintings and Steve Fuller's ceramics. Both are definitely worth visiting. Pearson's paintings, mostly portraits, many with some sort of grey tinge, are memorable (perhaps especially for a portrait artist? ) and Steve Fullmer's ceramics large, colourful, interesting and fun.

I especially liked a vase type sculpture with multi layers and written comment on the outside. 'Jesus said buy Steve Fullmer's art's said one inscription.

Steve Fullmer's ceramic

Watercolour of bridge in Queen's Garden, Nelson

Nelson fires (2)

Smoke haze enveloped Nelson in the morning yesterday.  Three thousand people have been evacuated from Wakefield just south west of the city. Then at 2:30, after the  afternoon concert we came out and could see that another fire had broken out near the city..

Fire near the centre of Nelson

it was just up the road from  my hostel and I got a note from my friend in Stoke (on the way to Wakefield) saying she thought she should come and get me as the hostel was very near a big nature reserve and if that caught alight I'd be having to leave in a hurry. So I am now in Stoke and much relieved.  We both felt better having someone to talk to about this unfolding catastrophe. The civil defence issued a notice saying anxiety is common in these situations and it is best to talk to others!

I don't think I would have slept much at the hostel even though the fire was largely controlled by nightfall. They had two helicopters working on it almost immediately.

Nelson fire

Coming back from a concert in a tiny church at Lake Rotoiti, we saw smoke  billowing from the hills nearby.

Poor Nelson. The sky is now orange, covered in smoke from a huge uncontrolled fire in  nearby Wakefield. The country is tinder dry as there has been no rain since Christmas.

Wednesday: the fire has doubled overnight with four farmhouses lost.  One of my concert seat neighbours got a message yesterday not to come home. The fire feels very close.

Smoke over Nelson yesterday afternoon

Adam Festival 2019 opens

Adam Festival Facebook post

The organisers of the Adam Chamber Music festival in Nelson can be proud of themselves. They produced a wonderful opening concert.

Apparently it was sold out almost immediately. Their solution to all the extra requests for tickets was to add 80 seats behind the stage. It worked well and those who got the late tickets had a great close up view of the musicians.

Isel Park in Nelson

Nelson is dry and brown, apart from the vineyards with their rows of unnervingly green vines.

The picture below was taken in Isel Park in Stoke, a southern suburb of Nelson divided by  the road which leads south to Murchison and the West Coast. Isel Park ist a hidden gem, an historic house with a beautiful garden, enormous trees and wide, now brown, lawns.

Isel Park. The figure under the tree shows how big it is.

Two southerly storms over recent years decimated the place, blowing over many of these enormous giants not used to being so buffeted. I suppose the drought will weaken the hold of the remaining trees.

Agapanthus flowers are flowering everywhere in Nelson, including Isel Park

A stream through the park idyll.

Birdseye views

On a clear day, a flight from Wellington to Nelson offers wonderful views of the terrain below. The plane is small and flies low enough for good visibility.

The plane takes 40 passengers  plus hostess

Leaving Wellington

Leaving the north island

South island, heading for Nelson

The photos were taken by my seat neighbour, a young Dutch woman on a two year work visa. She was snapping photos out of the window so I handed her my phone and she took a few for me as well.

Nelson Jazz Sketches

Lambretta at Lambretta's

The sketches and paintings I did at the Nelson Jazz Festival are now online here.



The motor scooter (left) is high on the wall at Lambretta's Cafe/Restaurant which hosted  some performances... I drew it while I waited.






http://www.artsmitten.com/gallery/14/nelson_jazz0.htm

Wearable bears

Mike's Ward's Bear Jacket

 Nelson, well known for its arts scene, is the home of the wearable arts festival which eventually got so big and famous that it was moved to Wellington.

One of the entrants is Mike Ward: artist, city councillor,  former MP and local identity. His latest entry (you can see it at his art studio in the city) is a treat - a wearable bears jacket - all the bears made by Mike from sackcloth and demin. I liked the sleepy bear on the sleeve.

Small bear hangs on

Famous in Nelson

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Painting Miho Wada (Image: Martin de Ruyter, Nelson Mail)

The Jazz Festival has taken over Nelson with jazz in bars and cafes all over town. The planned jazz in the park was washed out yesterday and reconvened in a local church. I was there painting when one of the organisers spied me painting a funky Japanese jazz artist called Miho Wada.. He wrote me a long note asking to show Miho and the crowd the painting, with a big PLEASE! at the end.

The photo is from todays's Nelson Mail newspaper.