BoulderBay Design & Art

18/03/2024

We had a wonderful time in the historic riverside town of Whanganui with and Travelling with a whippet created some extra work so I decided to tell her story here along with quick snippets of the places we saw. She got teased by a chicken at our accommodation so the chook struts around these pages

30/01/2024

This spread was started on Sunday watching the at our local pool and the right hand page was a snapshot of my day yesterday, walking to the beach for a swim then back home starting work and finishing up at 11pm as I work for Nz parliament and it was the first day back for MPs in the House of Representatives in 2024 The ‘manu’ was invented by kids in possibly Hawke’s Bay / Auckland as a type of dive bomb into the water where you am to make the tallest splash there are different styles eg. The staple, the gorilla, the coffin etc. there were only a couple of young women doing it. The finals are happening in Auckland sometime.

27/01/2024

We had to do a four hour drive from Wellington to then back, for an appointment so there was not extended time to sketch but I kicked off with some ‘frames’ of the drive up. I used photo reference for the details of the art deco architecture and Polly the dog and drew the rest from memory. Again I used a tight colour scheme because with so much going on on the pages it could look chaotic with a full range of colours. It was quite hard to sacrifice the actual art deco colours on the facades but I went with colour harmony this time. Hastings is a very fine place to visit. I particularly liked the graffiti knitting and invitation to take a moment and knit .and.co

21/01/2024

Before the temperature in Wellington got boiling, I went down t the cbd to do a sketch of the where our government and parliament is based What I liked here was how the beehive has its base in gardens and trees and is framed from this angle by palms which I think strongly says ‘Pacific nation’.

19/01/2024

With these pages, I set myself the challenge of painting at each stop along the way during this trip from Christchurch to Picton starting with 10 minutes sitting at Dad’s doorstep when we were packed and ready to go. I almost flagged it because I didn’t want to hold things up for our trip but I’m glad I sketched out Mum’s lovely plants which she always kept looking nice. Next stop was which seems just to be an old no longer used station on the main line. Then it was on to north of . Then where I had more like 20 minutes with my coffee at I added the words and map later This page proved to me that you can sketch something small but evocative ‘on the hop’ without putting people or a schedule out too much. So that’s no longer an excuse not to sketch!

11/01/2024

I grew up in Redcliffs on the north side of Banks Peninsula, Canterbury inhabited by humans since 1100 and shaped by volcanic activity which gives the rocks and cliffs a red hue. It’s been relaxing to spend a couple of weeks back at our family home. Growing up it was all about swimming in the sea, getting out in the sail boat with dad and roaming around the hills growing up. so these are some scenes of this area.

05/01/2024

This spread took a while! I had an hour before closing at the spectacular so drew one the the dozens of over life sized mosaic figures made by artist Josie Martin over the course of 22 years. I drew her in pencil and coloured in at home with Josie Martin had started out dry decorating a step at her colonial homestead on the hill above Akaroa using broken ceramics that she found in the garden. She kept going! An unforgettable place where you could draw for hours.

05/01/2024

These pages took a while! This is one small part of the incredible - a place where you could draw for days. I had an hour there before closing so I sketched this figure with a stack of glazed blue bananas on her head in pencil then coloured at home with The plantings and flower beds are as stunning as the mosaics. The artist Josie Martin started by decorating the step of her colonial homestead on the hill above using broken ceramics she found in the garden Twenty two years later her garden is full of her unique sculptures. Unforgettable.

04/01/2024

There was a seething mass of humanity on the Cook Strait ferry when we travelled to the South Island a few days ago but this card playing family made a peaceful circle - most of the time. Some tense moments as the dad explained finer rule points. We always enjoy the spectacular sheer cliffs, rock stacks and islands at the entrance to Kura Te Au which we both had a crack at drawing as the ferry ploughed along. Our whippet Portia survived 4 hours in the on board kennel.

09/12/2023

03/11/2023

Drawn on location and coloured at home these are on sale at this Sunday’s Heritage Festival at Seatoun community hall in Forres St Seatoun. I will be giving a slide show about at 11am and after that selling books art and cards in the community hall until 3pm. There will be homemade refreshments and vintage crafts to see.

25/10/2023

Carmel Sepuloni’s flower crown was the standout for me on election night. No other comment.