Exhibition: Old, New, Borrowed, Blue

Sat 5th Oct - Mon 28th Oct 2024, OAS Gallery (Dunedin Railway Station)

I have one piece in the Otago Art Society’s spring exhibition, “Old, New, Borrowed, Blue”. I chose to enter my favourite plein air painting, of our sprawling horse chestnut tree which provides me a lovely little sheltered spot for painting and other mahi.

Behind the tree are a number of native beech trees (which I wrote about in my Substack newsletter) and between the beech, the chestnut, and the undisturbed leaf litter I almost always see riroriro and pīwakawaka, and often see tūī and korimako as well.

The tree also provides shelter for my butterfly garden, and every year we get a healthy population of kahukura and kahukōwhai (our native admiral butterflies) - sometimes they even land on me!

This painting was made while sitting under the tree. I started with a drawing in India ink, and gradually built up layers in watercolour and gouache. It was a joy to paint, and I hope that comes through in the final piece.