A while ago I explored the Arthurs Pass area with my good friend Dulkara, we walked up the Taramaku River, bush bashed through the thick & steep bush up to the open tops where we spent three days traversing the ridges. On the second afternoon, after lots of up and down ridge-line scrambling we approached Lake Morgan...
Camp Stream Hut, a historic musterers hut on the Te Araroa trail near Tekapo with Roundhill in the background. A magical place to visit, especially in the late afternoon although once the sun falls it becomes bitterly cold. On this particular trip the walk out was sodden with snow melt and my feet lost feeling in the last main river. Brr…
Inspired by an almost dreamlike trip along ridge lines, past Lake Morgan and to the top of Mt O’Shanessy the painting is slowly taking shape. I really wanted to capture those warm, golden, summer West Coast rays that you...
While the mountains are freezing and the nights are long it's one of the best times of the year to settle in and put some quality time into painting… I have been making excellent progress on the artworks behind me in the above photo, already adding in lots of detail layers and rich washes of colour. Yet there's...
Again the team at Potton & Burton have put together a unique selection of NZ art for the 2025 Landscape in Contemporary New Zealand Art Calendar. The calendar features 12 vibrant contemporary images of the New Zealand landscape by artists Diana Adams, Hamish Allan, Caroline Bellamy, Michelle Bellamy. I have three artworks featured in...
I have been hibernating in the studio and putting many hours into the Lake Alexandrina painting. As it is a fairly large scale painting this has meant there is room for lots and lots of detail, more so than I imagined. This painting has had some fun aspects, and the contrast of subject matter has kept it interesting. From the smooth water, with the transparency...
I’m excited to let you all know that you have a chance to get your hands on one my back country art prints while subscribing to one of the most informative and interesting outdoor magazines in New Zealand. For the month of July if you join Wilderness magazine you’ll be in the draw to win one of four backcountry art prints...
Recently we decided to explore the St James area from the Hammer Springs end. It had been on the list for a while, the weather was not looking the best, but there was a small window between windy fronts also it was the last chance of the season for 4WD access. The opportunity to 4WD in made it so much easier to bring the kids along and explore further back into the area. We started exploring the Edwards river end, with a fresh dusting of snow on the tops that melted quickly, and while it was blowing hard on the tops...
The Little Spotted Kiwi/Kiwi pukupuku painting is coming along nicely, with lots more intricate detail being added and layers upon layers of green making the fauna feel quite lush...
St Arnaud Range is very easily accessed from below, in fact so much so that I took my kid’s along the range recently to explore one of the places I find most beautiful. Here is the route that we took along the range and down Powder Valley. Also some...
Not much sleep was had sausaged between two kids that flung their arms into my head all night long and with a full moon lighting up the tent, but I emerged well rested and to a most spectacular and still morning. A few of us wandered around exploring the plateau while others stayed cocooned inside while the first fingers of sun...
After many seemingly endless weeks painting in the studio and in the middle of the school holidays before the first winter snow, the perfect weather window approached. Boots, packs and gear were scattered throughout the house half packed and ready to go, however I was still only half committed. The looming dread of listening to the kids 7 & 8 fight, whinge and moan while I carried over a third of my body weight up 1100 vertical meters...
