Watercolor again

As the weather warms up I find more opportunities to sketch outdoors. And watercolor is a great medium for my quick sketches. I find my gestural work much better than the paintings: they are fresher and take less time to execute plus they give me the perfect reason to go outside and enjoy the lovely scenery. Am resolved to do a watercolor class next year.


This is a sketch and watercolor of a wharf at Leicchardt.

Bowral retreat

Attending a work related conference last weekend, I had the rare pleasure of combining my artistic interests with work. We stayed at the former estate of the Hordern family on acres of grounds called Milton Park. Lovely place with delightful gardens.


The vistas were so well conceived, offering peeps into different garden rooms. I just had to sketch what I could, whenever I could.


Food was also terrific and we all over ate although this was somewhat mitigated by a game of tennis on the well kept courts, watched by a small healthy herd of highland cattle.

King's canyon resort

The sketch I made of the cliffs surrounding the resort has been turned into this painting.


If the colours look unreal then my excuse is that in real life they look even more vivid!

Location:Prospect Rd,Summer Hill,Australia

King's Canyon

Some 300km away from Uluru by road is King's Canyon. We hopped in the car and belted down the highway. An astounding sight greeted us on the way, a Mesa called Mount Conner rising majestically from the plains. Photos do not do such geographical features justice. The subtle shades of purple and red just get mashed into a bland nothingness. Mount Conner is 3 times the size of Uluru! It's a wonder it is not as famous.

Further along, evidence was everywhere of last weekend's bush fires. The road to King's was totally cut off. The fire was stopped by the road; great contrast between the side ravaged and blackened and the other. Willy-willys crossed the road carrying soot with it and dumping these miles away.

King's Canyon is full of birdlife. We even spotted a dingo and numerous geckos. This was the view from our front door.

Well, as best as I could make it anyway. I then sat at their sunset vantage point and ignoring fellow guests drew this panaroma of the canyon.


It's of course many times more gorgeous than this sketch. But what I learnt is that the act of sketching and observing means it makes the painting much easier and less reliant on photos; it jolts the memory and is a worthwhile exercise... even if the sketch ends up less than satisfactory.

Uluru and desertscapes

I've always wanted to visit Central Australia and see for myself what our desert looks like. In my mind, I have a picture of an arid place, red dust everywhere. But when I got here, I found a surprisingly lush landscape, mulga trees, bushes, spinifax and grasslands dotting the ochre red earth. The hotel staff said that it rained heavily last weekend and the evidence is there with odd puddles, water leaking from the rocks and water holes that are full. The hotel pool area has these amazing ghost gums with dead white straight trunks.


The gallery had an artists in residence program and this month is Brian Dobson, a watercolorist from Maclaren Vale in South Australia. Brian has some gorgeous waterscape but I have a feeling that watercolors don't suit desertscapes. Also he paints Uluru as a whole rock which is what those postcard photographs do. A big cliche in my book. Maybe the tourists like them because they can recognize it. I set myself up at sunset near the resort's lookout point to sketch the landscape. It was gorgeous with the red earth, purple shadows and greenery.


Unfortunately I think that either watercolor cannot depict the extremely vivid colours and spiky shapes accurately or more likely, my skills in this media are sadly lacking. This morning we went to do a tour of the rock itself and up close it's deserving of the reputation. There were caves used by the aboriginals with rock art and lots of dreamtime stories. Plus this massive red rock wall as a backdrop.

Paintings of Brooklyn

Whilst at Brooklyn, I completed a painting of the path leading up the house from the car port. Perched high over the sandstone escarpment, the grounds included a cave, brilliantly orange and ochre when the sun hit it.


The study I made of the escarpment near the house was also turned into a painting. Muted colours, purple shadows and the barest hint of the glorious sandstone colour is in this painting: it depicts the escarpment just as the sun hits it early in the morning.


Indeed I got my pants all wet from perching on a dewy fence.

Brooklyn sojourn

After a huge day of preparations, I managed to get away to Brooklyn on the Hawkesbury River. My employer Robert had kindly offered me the use of their house in their absence and happily I was able to schedule it in. I left by myself on Thursday afternoon as I well knew the numerous plants I had to water, beds to make and paths to sweep. If I had gone on Fri I would have wasted half the day on the journey and chores.

After a goodnight's rest, bright and early on Fri morning I packed my watercolor set and went for a stroll. This painting is of the sandstone escarpment near Robert's house.

Lovely isn't it? Too many photos I've taken of the same subject have failed to highlight it's colours and beauty. I love this so much I plan to paint a larger version.


This next one was at the mangrove swamp. I like the watercolor effect for the leaves.


Finally after a walk of 2 km I settled at a cafe near the marina. The reflections of the pier caught my eye. I then walked back and began an acrylic painting of the view from the kitchen. All up, a very productive day!