It looks like training for some crazy adventure race, but no, its actually an 'how can I get up to the top of this mountain range as fast as possible and back down again to photograph at sunset'. It's really good to fully explore an area, and get a 'feel' for the surrounds so that it can be translated into the scene. Here I 4WD, biked & then walked through thigh deep snow to get to the top of the range at 1655m as fast as possible. The views were spectacular, and it was unreal up there, completely different form the Nelson Bays area, with vast expanses of rolling openness and endless desert like browns in the valleys.
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...
