The Art of a Hut

 I am Felicity Deverell, a young Northland artist with a passion for traditional art and for adventure in the beautiful outdoors. Two years ago, with the help of my friend, Caleb Bergstrom, I had an idea for creating a collection of artworks portraying backcountry huts. There are over one thousand huts throughout the bush, mountain ranges, and national parks of New Zealand along a large network of tramping tracks. Before I meet Caleb I didn’t know much about these huts, except for the one near us at Lane Cove, Whangaroa Harbour. But over the last two years I have been amazed at how many there are and how unique these huts are to our country. Not many countries have such a well established system of huts which you can tramp to through amazing scenery and stay at for a small amount. The cost of huts vary, some are free to stay in and are very basic, having only a water supply and perhaps a smoky fire. Others are more expensive and newly built with double glassing and gas, in popular tourist areas these even require booking. There is something for everyone and every hut is a new experience. Many of these huts are full of New Zealand history, of settlers, shepherds, hunters, trappers and deer cullers, and tramping and climbing enthusiasts; the stories that go with them all would full many books.

    For the last two years I have been on several tramping/drawing trips lasting weeks at a time to the various ranges in the North Island. I have tramped to and drawn forty-five huts in the Kaimais, Te Ureweras, Kaweka, Ruahine, and Tararua Ranges, the Orongorongo Valley, and the Whanganui National Park. I have mostly done graphite, pastel, or charcoal drawings of the huts, but for a few huts I have taken in my oil paints and painted ‘en plein air’, as it is called in painters terms, meaning painting in the open air. At each hut in sun, rain, fog, or snow I would set up with an easel, or just a drawing board on my lap to draw the hut. I had to figure out a few things about how to carry art supplies and paper without getting it damaged in pretty rough conditions. I also took along my sketchbooks one of which I filled entirely with watercolour sketches of various dunnies, which is what the toilets, or long drops, are know as.

   We had all sorts of adventures along the way and meet interesting people. We met people walking the length of New Zealand, we met hunters, trappers, families tramping with babies, and young people like us out for an adventure. I ate possum for the first time (and then a few times after that) and we also had on the menu: venison, goat, pig, eel, and trout, to go with our rice and porridge.  I discovered the whole culture of tramping and how addictive it is to get back out there into the middle of nowhere. There is nothing like looking back over a huge expanse of sky and a panoramic view after climbing for hours on end, it’s a view that is earned and is all the more beautiful for the sweat on your back. Then there is that first sight of a hut after hours of tramping through a never ending bush. That hut, in the middle of nowhere, means rest, food, shelter, warmth, and a good sleep. A very beautiful sight, all tampers and hunters will agree, and one which I have tried to capture in my artwork. Glorifying these humble huts made of tin or slabs of roughly hewn timber, not simply for the sake of a good art, but to show them through the eyes of those who see them after long hours of tramping or hunting in rough terrain, when even the most rugged hut seems magnificent, has been my goal.

   In between trips out into the bush I have been at home in my studio working on some larger paintings using the materials gathered from the field. There will be about ten of these painting at my exhibition, but most of the work on display will be my original drawings completed on site at the huts. These have been beautifully framed by my very skilled father in native kauri wood. All the works will be for sale at The Art of a Hut exhibition which is being held at Reyburn House, Whangarei for three weeks from the 10th until the 29th of November. I have an opening evening to which the public is invited to attend on the evening of the 18th from 5 – 7pm. There, you will get a chance to meet me and everybody who has been involved and hear our stories over a drink and a few nibbles. I would love to see you there and I am excited to share my adventures and my art.

  I would like to thank Caleb Bergstrom without whom this would never have got beyond an idea, and who has taught me that I am capable of more than I think, and shown me how to love - we are getting married in January . When Caleb went away to University and I thought I’d be left on my own to do it I came to realize that I have some truly amazing friends. Guillaume Bourdin has been my right hand man and has helped me organize for many trips and kept me on track. Thank you to him and to Thomas Bourdin, Pauline Bourdin, Jojo Land, Lewis McCullum, Nathaniel Deverell, Jerusalem Gilbert, Marion Bourdin, Luc Bourdin, Dominic Land, and Esther Sommerson, all of whom have come with me on various tramping ‘hut hops’ and without whom I could never have completed The Art of a Hut project. I would also like to thank Swazi who helped us a little with the project and DOC who gifted me a hut pass.

   And it’s not all over yet because next year I will be working a book about the experiences of an artist in the bush, about the adventures we had and the lessons learnt. I don’t know when or how it will be published yet, but it will come. You can follow my progress and further adventures as an artist on this blog

Me, Caleb, and Thomas Mt. Ruapehu

Caleb and I in the Kaimai Range

Drawing Makino Hut, Kawekas

Jojo, Thomas, and Pauline, critiquing my work!

Middle Hill hut, Kawekas

Caleb's first deer, Te Ureweras

Trout and eel in the Kawekas, Rock's Ahead hut

Kiwi Mouth Hut, Kawekas

Old Manson Hut, Kawekas

Back Ridge Hut, Kawekas

At the end of a tramp

Whanganui Forest Park. 

Blue Range Hut, Tararuas

Arete Forks Hut., Tararuas

Rainbow in the Tararuas

Dominic,.  Marion, Pauline, Guillaume, me, and Jojo

Caleb and I in Ellis Hut, Ruahines

Me and Caleb at Sunrise Hut, Ruahines

Nikau Hut in the Orongorongo Valley, with Jerusalem

Guillaume, me and Jerusalem

Ballard Hut, Kaweka Ranges

Makino Hut, Kaweka Ranges

Poutaki Hut, Wakarara Range

Field hut in the Tararuas

Portrait of the artist

Poutaki Hut and our Video

   This is my painting of Poutaki Hut. It was the second of six huts we stayed at on my recent Ruahine Hut Hop. The hut was built in 1983 as a recreational hut and to replace the Puketoi Musterers hut which was later burned down by 'armature poachers'. This hut is is a doomed one. Not many people go there these days and DOC has decided to only provide 'minimal maintenance' and if it falls into disrepair it will be removed. However, it was in good condition when we visited, and looks well loved by a few regulars. I can imagine it will be around for a long while yet. It was one of our favorite huts, and had a great little stove which got red hot and kept us warm. Hawkes Bay Hiking and Tramping has a blog post about this hut and the walk there which has good views of the Ruahine Range and Hawkes Bay.

   I decided to do a painting of this hut. It's the first painting I have done of a hut on location. I painted on primed A4 watercolour paper. It was a good size to take as the few sheets I brought could fit in my sketchbook to stay flat, my drawing paper was much bigger and I kept it rolled in a tube. The only trouble was getting it dry to pack away after I had finished. I used water mixable oils and did not use any medium, so they were similar to acrylic and dried quickly, and I finished drying it behind the stove so it was no trouble at all. 

   I started painting when the sun was low behind the clouds directly in front of me, but as several hours went by the lighting changed dramatically. Sometimes I began to feel like I was trying to change my painting along with the lighting, then I realized I could go on all day like that and never catch up with those changing shadows. I learnt a lot doing this sketch, but the hut is the only part of it I'm happy with, the rest is a bit of a mess, all my messing around trying to chase the light! I should like to do more paintings of huts in the future. The original plan for The Art of a Hut project was to concentrate on drawings, and I still wish to do that, but as I have said before, I would like to add a bit of colour into it.

Last week I finished a little movie of our Ruahine hut drawing trip from the videos that Nathaniel took.

Ruahine Hut Drawing

   At the beginning of July I went off on another hut drawing trip in the Ruahine Range. There were three of us, Caleb, my brother Nathaniel, and me. Nathaniel and I hitched and bussed down to Hawke's Bay where we met up with Caleb,  was on holiday from University, and headed out to the hills for a week. We stayed at six huts in all in as many nights and I managed to draw four and a half of them. The half being a quick sketch of the last hut where the weather was none too good and time running out to get out before the river rose too high. 

  This is the first hut we tramped to. Ellis Hut, also known as Murderers Hut. It has an interesting history one story was of a convicted murderer being tracked down and captured in this hut. It wasn't the most comfortable hut to stay in during winter. The fire smoked as bad as the worst of them and one could see the light of day where the light of day should not be seen. So we had a smokey chilly night and woke up with headaches. But alive. And I never got cold! When I was working in the South Island a few months ago I invested in a good down sleeping bag. The brand is One Planet and sleeps in comfort down to -7. I have yet to feel the cold in it.

  A typical lunch, though it's not always burnt and the sausages were a bonus. In the background you can see the rotten logs which the boys were pulling huhu grubs out of. They fried them up, about half a cup full and ate them with relish. I managed to down a few, and would have liked them only the thought and the sight was a bit much! They tasted like bits of fat, slightly nutty.

   This is inside Poutaki Hut a less popular hut near Ellis hut. This hut is doomed not to be repaired again by DOC. Once it becomes too run down it will be pulled down. It's quite unfortunate as it was one of the nicest huts, quite cozy with a roaring stove called Little Dorrit. I did a painting of this hut, you can see it sitting in the window, drying. I used fake oil paint (water mixable) with no medium so it dried fast. The light changes so fast that it was quite a challenge, but it remained my favorite piece from that trip.

            My painting of Poutaki Hut. I have another post here with more about this painting.

   The third hut was the popular Sunrise hut. It is so popular that we met five people here (three separate parties) during a mid-winter Wednesday in a snowstorm. It began to snow while we were walking up early in the morning. We were excited with the first small flakes of snow, not knowing how much snow we would be seeing before the end of the week. At the hut it was very windy and snowed almost continually until the next morning when the sun came out again. 

   I managed to draw the hut from the shelter of the low trees which protected me from most of the wind. But the snow still fell all over me until I became as white as a snowman. Fortunately the snow didn't affect my drawing too much. I used charcoal and the snow falling on it I just brushed away, it was quite dry while still frozen. It did get a bit damp once I brought it inside the warm hut.

   Caleb and I look hilarious in this photo. I had just about all my clothes on and some borrowed from Caleb. I stayed warm enough. Caleb did a bit of hunting but we moved around a bit much for that to be very successful and he only got a possum for our dinner.

  Lots and lots of snow! Heaps of fun and excitement!

   The last hut we stayed at was Howlets Hut. (Via Daphne hut which I also drew) My favorite hut of the trip. It is one of the highest huts in the North Island and is not a DOC hut but owned by the Heretaunga Tramping Club. We got there on a wild evening, almost got blown off the ridge at the top but managed to stumble into the little sheltered hollow where sits the hut looking beautiful. One can only really appreciate the beauty of a hut when one has tramped for hours for the sight of it! During the night it began to rain and the snow to melt. We were conscious of having to walk down the Tukituki river on our way out and were not sure how quickly it was rising, so we walked out early and I only had an hour to sketch the hut. The river was higher and stronger going out, and the snow had melted very quickly and was running down the path making it slippery very.

   This is just a quick word about our trip. I have been very busy lately trying to get in eight hours of drawing and painting each day as well everything else...

   Next hut trip is planned for sometime in September and will be down south somewhere. Probably the Terrible Tararuas which I am excited to become acquainted with.