Going Hut Hopping Again!

   Yay, I'm going back to the bush! I haven't been certain that we would be able to get to any more huts for me to draw this month because of my knee and my horse's knee and Caleb's shoulder which he pulled. But we are all getting better now!  On Wednesday I went for a long tramp with a heavy pack on just to see how my knee would feel. And it didn't trouble me at all. I didn't even feel it where it had been so sore last time I walked so much. And if it dose get sore I have some special sports tape which I tried out on my knee and relieved the pain last time it was sore. So that is all good news and means that it's all go ahead and our tentative plans are being put into action.

   Tomorrow Thomas and I begin two days of hitch hiking to get down to Caleb's place in Hawkes Bay. From there we will drive out to the Kawekas and tramp around there for the next two weeks.

   I'm looking forward to more walking with no sore knee this time. And I am excited to begin work again. I've bought some pastels and am planning to do a few pastel drawings as well as charcoal and graphite and some more watercolours. I don't know if I'll ever settle down into one medium. I love working in them all, though sometimes I'm more inspired with one in particular. At the moment I am quite inspired to do pastel paintings and also some more charcoal drawings.

   The other week I spent the afternoon outside my studio drawing the old boat shed and the red wheel barrow.

When I went for a walk on Wednesday I climbed up the Dukes Nose and enjoyed the view of the harbour heads from up there. I painted a small sketch.

And we sold Lady! She is recovering from her 17 stitch cut in her leg and doing very well. I hope she will enjoy her new home. They are very eager to have her and will be well loved. I will miss her a bit though. 

But I will have more time for riding my own Tigger! The other day I rode him up on the hills. I have such a beautiful place to ride!

Good bye! I will be back in a few weeks. :)

More 'Hut Hopping'

   While I was out tramping and drawing huts I managed to strain my knee and doing lots of walking on it made it no better. So we came home early as it was getting too sore to walk on anymore. I've been hoping that it will get better soon so that we can start 'hut hopping' again this month, but it is not going away in a hurry. It dose not hurt if I am not working it and just doing every day walking but once I'm walking for an hour or so up and down hills that's when it begins to agonize me. But I'm hoping for the best and planning to hitch down with Thomas around the 12th to join Caleb in Hawkes Bay and start drawing huts in the Kawekas. I rode an hour on the bike today to go and feed my horse Lady, (she is doing well and the stitches should come out in a few days), and it didn't hurt then which is a good sign

   But if my knee is still too sore by then to walk on, well, I just wont be able to do it... Sad thought indeed. I'm missing hut life. I'd like to live like that some more. I didn't have to think about anything but doing what I love doing most, drawing. It was nice to be away from the busy world and too be doing what I'd thought about and planned for so long. There is something addictive about long tramps in the bush and getting to huts and staying there a day before having another adventure getting to the next hut. I always thought that people who always go on long bush walks were crazy to keep wanting to go back for more punishment. I couldn't understand why people seem to love it so much, especially as I was walking up and down some pretty steep walks drop dead tired. But now I can't wait to get back out there. I never thought that the actual walking could be so enjoyable. But it is; through beautiful places, one foot after the other, lots of time to think about lots of things or nothing at all. Enjoying good company and having interesting conversations on the way, or concentrating hard on the footwork when the path got steep and tricky.

   I've just had a taste of it, but I've got myself hooked! I like tramping. I've become a hut bagger now, you can see all the huts I've been to here. Not many yet, but the list will grow considerably in the next few years.

   This was one of the hardest walks we did; to Motutapere Hut. Mostly because we were tired and it was a sweltering day. From where the photo is taken from we walked all the way in and up to the bush through the forestry which was incredibly warm! The bush was a cool relief and we walked along a nice path until we got to the top of the ridge and then to our dismay the path went steeply up and steeply down over and over again in quick succession. The path went over all those little peaks at the right of the photo. There were ten in all until we got to the hut. I never felt more glad to see a hut!

Motutapere Hut, 25 November, 2013. Charcoal on Strathmore toned paper.

Art of a Hut Tramp the First

   Hello! I'm back from my first Art of a Hut adventure. Caleb, Thomas and I spent three weeks tramping through the Kaimai and Urewera ranges. I did a lot of drawing and spent just as much time walking. I'm heaps fitter now, after the first week or so I was quite tired, but I quickly go used to it all.

Here is a link to my newsletter in which I've written a summery of how it all went along with some photos.

The Art of a Hut Newletter

  Here is a sample of sketches from my sketchbook which I took on the trip:

  Daly's Clearing Hut was the first hut we stayed at. It is at the top of the Kaimais. I really enjoyed the time we spent there the weather was beautiful. We visited the huge kauri trees nearby and swam in the river. And this is where I ate possum for the first time! Was really nice too, tasted like butter chicken!

   It was the weekend so on the second night we were there the hut was full of people. Several groups came and people were sleeping on the deck because there was no more room in the hut. Here we met a guy called Matthew who was training for a long endurance running race in the Sahara Desert. He showed us some useful map and compass skills which proved to be very helpful later on.

This is  a hut which we passed on the way to another hut. I began the drawing on the walk in, but it began to rain so I packed up and we walked on the next hut where we stayed. On the walk out again I stopped to finish the sketch. Thomas ran from there all the way back to the car to begin cooking the rice for lunch. On walking days time was precious because we had to walk all the way out from one hut, drive to the next carpark and walk all the way into the next hut and we never knew exactly how long that would take. On this day we didn't get to the next hut until 11:30 that night. Little did I know that as I sat on the damp grass sketching Skip's Hut.

   Several of the tracks to hut followed rivers or streams. Te Totara Hut was built right beside a river and I took the opportunity of practicing drawing water, rather tricky using a pen, but I learnt a thing or two.

Caleb did a lot of fishing for trout. But they were all pretty cleaver creatures and eluded his hook. Except for this one which we ate for dinner. 

  We would often read, write or draw by candle light in the evenings. I drew this on the last night we spent in a hut. We had ginger biscuits most evenings with our black tea. We looked forward to this and always made the most of our rations. I thought I would record the last ginger biscuit I had. We finished of our rations seeing as it was the last night.

It is really good to be home again and I've enjoyed Christmas with my family. 

It hasn't all been a jolly holiday though. Lady, the horse I've been training and hoping to sell cut open her leg on Christmas Eve and had to have seventeen stitches in to sew her up. So I'm busy looking after her and trying to keep her from moving too much. She should heal in a month or more and wont be lame at all, thankfully. 

Getting stitched up by the vet.

Pledge Me!! The Art of a Hut

   I have now got my pledge me account all set up and published! My goal is to raise $3,000 for 'The Art of a Hut' project in just 40 days!

   So I need your help. I'm asking for your support to make it possible for me to go and draw as many North Island huts as I can in a few months. Even if you don't have any money to give, you can share this with your family and friends, everything will help us reach the goal. I have some good rewards of original art to give away to those who pledge me!

    I made a short video about the project. I wish I had a proper camera then I could have made a much better one. But that;s one of the things I'm raising money for... When I do get a camera I'm looking forwards to making some good drawing videos of huts, and sharing the journey with you.

   So Please! Pledge Me!

Drawings Around Home

Here are some recent sketches of places around Totara North where I live.

One of the old boat sheds down at the harbour. I sat in the warm sun on the wharf drawing this while Dad was working on a boat below.

I started a few drawings at the old Mill which is closed down now and all derelict and sad. It started raining so I had to come into one of the big sheds and draw a little office building from inside.

A pump shed at the Mill.

This old dark green building at the Mill attracted me with its boarded up windows and sway backed roof. I also liked the way the trees in the bank behind it seemed to be hugging protectively.

I drew all these drawings on 11 x 14 Strathmore toned drawing paper using charcoal pencils.

A New Start and New Ideas (In other words, I'm back!)

  Well, here I am again. I have taken a long unannounced break from the blogging world, but am back in full force, full of ideas and inspiration. It was good to have a break, sometimes the internet becomes so overwhelming I don't want to see a computer screen ever again. But I've run that out of my system and I'm excited about blogging again; sharing my ideas and learning from all my fellow artists out there.

   I'm finally discovering what the picture of my future career as an artist looks like and I am making new goals and exciting plans for the coming year. In fact it's quite a big project that a friend and I have hatched up. I wont say anything about it yet for it is barely a week old, but I will say it involves something like in the pictures below!