Last Update before Christmas!

So, I'm all ready to go. All I have to do now is write this post and then I can sleep so I can wake up early tomorrow to leave. I'm all packed, but the food situation still looks like this:

This is before grocery shopping for the trip, most of it is the remains of Caleb's possum trapping trip. We did lot's of baking today so the tins are full of hearty musili bar like biscuits which will keep us going on our long walks. Our staple diet will be rice, that's alright, I like rice! Caleb assures me possum is really good to eat, I'm not so sure. Possum is one of the worst smells! But I'm willing to try it! Hopefully he will be able to catch us more appetizing meat like venison, rabbit and trout. He has all his fishing and hunting permits already sorted out for that. We shall see how plentiful the game is, and I'll let you know when I come back for Christmas...

All my drawing supplies have been packed. My paper is stored in a plastic folder for the car, and when we go tramping to the huts I will roll up as much sheets as I will need into the black tube to carry it in. I have a drawing board which Caleb drilled some holes into today so that we can strap it onto a pack. I will mask paper to that for drawing, then roll it up again into the tube once I have finished drawing a hut. 

 

I also have some sketchbooks to fill up. And I was given a very cute watercolour set and tiny moleskin sketchbook which I shall enjoy using. I have restarted my drawing every day challenge. I never did complete my challenge to draw every day the year I was 20. I got up to day 199 and then from then on it dwindled away, mostly because of the hut drawing project which majorly distracted me. But I began the challenge again the day after my 21st birthday last Friday the 15th. This time I think I have more of a chance to complete it and draw every day I'm 21. I know what I'm in for now, and I'm more focused on drawing now. Also, I have begun it in an A4 sketchbook and shall complete a series of them this year. It will be easier than just drawing on loose sheets of paper like I was doing originally. 

Here are the first two pages of my sketchbook for drawing every day:

So the first huts we head to are in the Kaimai range near Tauranga. I will be drawing in there for a week before we head down to the mass of huts in the Te Ureweras. It was a bit of a challenge trying to make a route through there, and pick out which huts I want to draw. The only information I have of them is from the DOC website and a hut book I have which has only a limited number of huts. But I managed to write down a list of huts I particularly want to see. My goal is to draw 15 huts in this first month. The areas circled are where we will be until Christmas.

So, goodbye you all. I will write up a long update when I come back for Christmas, around the 20th of December. Take care..

How The Art of a Hut will become a reality.

 

Sketch of Cone Hut from photo by Shaun Barnett

   Now that you know what I'm doing you might be asking how I'm going to do it. Yes, I'm asking that too. Being a penyless artist I have no means at all to be able to carry out this ambitious drawing project. But nevertheless, I'm determined and we will be going away in November however we do it!

  We have been doing some budgeting and the main expenses are art supplies; essential gear such as proper sleeping bags so we don't freeze, a camera so that we can share the adventure with you through photos and videos; and food and fuel for Caleb's little dinky Toyota starlit which is going to be carrying us around the North Island. We have calculated the total cost of the project to be around $7,500 New Zealand Dollars.

  To raise such a sum our main idea is to find a few big sponsors for our project and to find them we are working on advertising The Art of a Hut project via newspapers and perhaps the radio and of course through blogger and facebook etc. (so please comment, like, share etc. it dose help!). We have also been emailing a few potential sponsors, haven't heard much back yet, but will keep you updated on that. We have been assured that DOC will help us with hut tickets at least, but we haven't heard from them yet. Waiting, waiting, waiting.... It's great fun!!

   If you would like to help us out in any way you can we would be so grateful as anything will help us achieve our goal and make this project happen. To make it fun, I'm going to have a draw which everyone who donates will automatically enter. The prize will be a gift certificate for a commissioned graphite or charcoal drawing of any size. The winner will be announced in October.