Describing yourself as something is always a risky business - I've always referred to myself as a plein air painter but recently I haven't been getting out there and doing it .... so when we had the chance to visit Glenfalloch Station in the headwaters of the Rakaia river for a week I decided it was time again to walk the walk.
Glenfalloch is at the end of about 50kms of winding gravel road, through a few gnarly fords and set right in the middle of the Southern Alps. It's actually only about 20kms as the bird flies to Hokitika!
We stayed in a cosy cottage and the generous farmers gave us free access to anywhere we wanted to go - our trusty hilux got us to some very cool painting spots.
I took both watercolour and acrylics with me as I was unsure of what I'd be facing. As it turned out I was facing very big mountains in every direction, my paintings got bigger and bigger over the week, ending up with a 600 x 900mm one! Painting this size outdoors with acrylic paint is challenging as the paint dries very fast - luckily I had thrown in my tube of retarder medium which slowed things down a bit, but I had to paint in quite a different way from usual, dealing with each area as I worked. The light changes rapidly in mountains that high, about an hour and a half and the shadows will be totally different, so there's no time to muck around.I did lots of watercolour sketches and filled my camera with photos.
Painting in a place like this is totally absorbing and my love for PA painting has been rekindled - I'll be back.
Glenfalloch is at the end of about 50kms of winding gravel road, through a few gnarly fords and set right in the middle of the Southern Alps. It's actually only about 20kms as the bird flies to Hokitika!
We stayed in a cosy cottage and the generous farmers gave us free access to anywhere we wanted to go - our trusty hilux got us to some very cool painting spots.
I took both watercolour and acrylics with me as I was unsure of what I'd be facing. As it turned out I was facing very big mountains in every direction, my paintings got bigger and bigger over the week, ending up with a 600 x 900mm one! Painting this size outdoors with acrylic paint is challenging as the paint dries very fast - luckily I had thrown in my tube of retarder medium which slowed things down a bit, but I had to paint in quite a different way from usual, dealing with each area as I worked. The light changes rapidly in mountains that high, about an hour and a half and the shadows will be totally different, so there's no time to muck around.I did lots of watercolour sketches and filled my camera with photos.
Painting in a place like this is totally absorbing and my love for PA painting has been rekindled - I'll be back.
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