Travel journal - NZ

Last December, we visited Queenstown, New Zealand. It was absolutely stunning.

I was able to do a little sketching on the trip, but there wasn’t a lot time for it.

This week however, I’ve been reliving our travels by painting a few photos.

Thanks NZ, until next time!

A Happy Medium

Yesterday I carved out some time to sit outside and paint. It was just what I needed, carefree painting in the sunshine.

Last year I picked up my paint brush after many years of neglecting the practice. I pulled out my ‘go to’ acrylic paints and started painting. I didn’t realise at the time, but acrylics were never quite the right fit for me. I struggled to get the paint to do what I wanted, always adding too much water, or so it seemed, not enough. I have attempted watercolour on occasion, but never enjoyed the muted colours.

In the back of my mind I had a vague memory of trying gouache when I was younger. I remember liking the opaque colour and how easy the paint felt when I put brush to paper. But I also recall being told it was a hard medium to use, so I never pursued it.

Then I began to see other artist experimenting with the medium and thought I should give it another try. I went to an art store and bought a student set of gouache paint.

These oranges were my first attempt at gouache after many years.

Feeling the paint glide across the paper, creamy and bright, was just how I remembered the medium to be.

I have since upgraded my student set with these Windsor and Newton tubes which are so beautiful to work with.

I am still learning so much about this beautiful medium and I’m loving every minute of it.

A little veggie patch

I call myself a ‘hope for the best’ gardener. Plant seeds, water occasionally and hope for a harvest some day. My most successful crops have been cherry tomatoes and pumpkins that have sprouted from the compost heap.

My little veggie patch began as one garden bed and a compost. One day we brought home a beagle puppy. He loved to follow his nose and eat everything (he still does!). So my wonderful husband built a white picket fence with a charming little gate around the garden patch. This was our iso project at the beginning of the covid lockdowns. Since then the garden has had various levels of love and attention. I’ve had some success as I’ve adopted my ‘hope for the best’ philosophy. This year however, with the help of my dad, I’ve put a little more effort into growing more herbs and vegetables and the little garden has never looked better!

One thing I’ve longed for this in this little veggie patch is a mud kitchen for our three kids. I’ve imagined them creating concoctions while I weeded and tended to the plants. Every now and then I would scroll through facebook market place looking for the perfect kitchen to upcylce. They were either too expensive or too far away to collect. Until finally, one day I found a simple bench with a double sink and a working tap. It was only $50 and just down the road. All it needed was a lick of paint.

The kids loved slapping on the white paint leftover from the fence. I think they got more paint on themselves than the kitchen. But in the words of my four year old, painting was “Really fun! Really awesome!”

I screwed in a few hooks for the utensils I picked up at a secondhand store and the kitchen was complete!

Now the kitchen sits in one corner of the garden. The pumpkin vine curling around, securing its place in the little veggie patch.

The plants are getting tended to, the kids are playing and learning. All we can do now is hope for the best.