Wish you were here.

With my very good friend, a watercolour painter like me, after a whole year later than planned, we finally got outside last Saturday to paint together. There were so many distractions, like beautiful birds, and driftwood and dogs, that we didn’t actually paint much. So when I got home to my orderly and functional studio…

MAR 2019: capture a wave.

JUN 2018: tho winter is so dark and grey, must get outside to play.

MAY 2018: paint the same subject in a different way.

SEP 2017: show the end of summer.

Mission: create a feeling of tension and uncertainty.

Mission: create fog and mist with paint on paper.

Mission: read the tides, currents, charts, shipping lanes and weather before heading out.  

Mission: show the close proximity of the islands on a clear day.

The blank sheet of watercolour paper is sometimes daunting. Or sometimes you are lost in the quagmire of self-doubt. Or whether there’s any point in painting another painting…

Mission: raise two birdlings ‘Another Hard Days Night’  | 2017 | 6×6”

Mission: create with seasonal colours. ’Orange and Black’ | 2018  | 8×8”

Mission: prove the impossible. ‘Red cedar’ | 2017 | 9×12”  

Mission: decide whether an estuary can be called a beach.

Mission: Create a visual likeness of the movement of the wind blowing the beach grass.

Mission: find a place for a quick nap while on the road up-island.

Mission: there’s a nook and there’s a crannie. Grab a toe-hold. Who’s your grannie?    

Mission: show love with paint. Lust. Harmony. Perhaps monogamy.

Mission: tree-like shapes, no leaves, starkness. How can I make it more interesting?  

Mission: create a focal point. It’s hot. No breezes but the sweet smell of moss on warm rock.

Mission: mix water and pigment onto paper – what will be will be.

Mission: capture the character of a tree worn and weathered, gnarly and regal.  

Mission: convey a sweltering hot, west coast day on the beach. How does that island look so distant while on other days it’s a stones-throw away?

Mission: paint loose. Paint wet on wet. Go less for representation. Create a suggestion.

Mission: create water with movement, crashing onto the rocks and shore. It’s water so use lots of water in my brush?

Mission: with a loaded brush and a white sheet of paper, capture the movement of wind.