- Home
-
Paintings
-
Prints
- Works in Progress
- Contact
-
Resources
-
Camp Stream Hut is a historic hut found nestled in a shallow valley near Camp Stream at just over 1200m. Originally used as a musterers hut, the current structure is the second on this site, replacing an earlier hut built in 1898 that was destroyed by fire. The corrugated iron from the original hut was salvaged and repurposed in the construction of the present hut. Maintained by the Mackenzie Alpine Trust and retains a vast amount of character and always has great stocks of firewood.
Due to the hut having such a large amount of character and history I had wanted to paint this scene for many years. I visited the hut many times, and came to the conclusion the sun had to be just so and there had to be snow around as the scene was very brown. I ended up biking, hiking and running through meltwater and frozen sludge one afternoon to study this scene. As I left on dusk a lone hiker arrived at the hut commenting on the quiet evening and the spectacular star show. With solidly frozen feet I made my way out passing a few deer silhouetted against the ridge, a magical clear night, although very cold.
Roundhill and the Two Thumb Range stretch out behind the hut in this scene with the rolling tussock hills caressing the hut. I really like how the snow hugs one side of the range and along the ridge, also the snow patches around the hut. To complete the scene is the stack of firewood to keep the occupant/s warm that night.
Available as a limited edition art print
At a very early stage is Birdcage Hut, with the first heavy base layers laid down and the initial details emerging.
Situated towards the head of the Cass River near Lake Tekapo Birdcage Hut is nestled against the Haszard Ridge on the valley floor at just under 1100 metres above sea level.
This hut is a derelict one...
After this latest snow dump we feel so lucky to have spent time just before it immersing ourselves in the Molesworth. Access in winter can be a challenge, snow and ice on the passes and we just heard that the rivers in Rainbow got blown out after the last rain/snow storm I imagine these are impassable now as they get gauged out very quickly.
It's very cool to see others just as passionate about the area as us - when we turned up it made me laugh to see another ute had skis in the back (although they had biked in) nothing was going to stop them going in! It would have been a very long...
I'm getting into the finer detail now on the Poolburn Dam painting. The morning mist rising off the cool water as the sun warmed it was a challenge. It adds a great mood and is only visible for such a short time early in the morning so I really wanted to include this...
