Firstly let me confess that this has nothing to do with rugby!
Listening to Joe Bennett speak yesterday was one of the most entertaining mornings I can remember. Joe was one of the featured speakers of the Marlborough Writers Festival which took place this weekend. People also had the chance to listen to  authors such as Patricia Grace, Joy Cowley , Fiona Farrell..... and many other stars of NZ literature..
As a painter, I found listening to these talented people very inspiring, particularly hearing about their creative processes - which, I was surprised to hear, are very similar to mine.
As well as Joe , I listened to Fiona Farrell speak about writing novels, play and poetry  , and the production team of the tv series "Our Big Blue Backyard" describing making their tv footage.
In each case, they seemed to follow three main steps, the same way  I do...
1. Stop - something claims your attention - in Joe Bennett's case a pupil dared him to write about staplers! For me it might be the way light is hitting something , or a really interesting subject.
2. Pause- a chance to gather reference material together - for Fiona Farrell researching her subject is very important, for me it may be gathering sketches and photos. The TV team spent about eight months filming all around the coast of NZ.
3. Engage - putting it all together in a way which is attention grabbing- the tv crew spent more months going through days of camera footage before editing it down to a few hours of programme. They have to decide what is going to engage the viewer immediately and make them watch the series. I have to decide how to leave out anything unnecessary or distracting from my painting  , leaving room for the viewer to fill in the gaps and want to know more.
So it was a valuable day for me , I wasn't expecting it to be so inspiring for my own work - a big thankyou to the team which organised the event!
PS. This was painted some time ago on Mt Taranaki- I found those eye catching shadows irresistible.....

coast, n. border of land near the sea , sea shore (The Concise Oxford Dictionary)

Since the Buller river begins its journey at our lake we consider ourselves honorary Coasters. For anyone who doesn't live in New Zealand, I should explain that if you say " West Coast"  people naturally assume that you're talking about the South Island (and, oddly enough, if you say "East Coast", they assume you mean the North Island - but I digress).
By the nature of where it is, the West Coast is almost a separate country - accessible  from the rest of the South Island only by gorges and mountain passes , it's one of the more remote places in New Zealand. And that's how the locals like it.
The coast folk have traditionally been involved with mining (both coal and gold) and fishing , as well as other interesting industries such as sphagnum moss farming, whitebaiting and brewing fine beer. They have a reputation for being straight up , honest and tough but fair.
The country itself is challenging - the often wild Tasman sea arrives at the end  its long journey from Australia and surges up the beach to fling itself at  the cliffs , sometimes trumpeting upwards through spectacular blowholes. The road clings to the edge of the cliffs , winding its way over steep bluffs and down alongside lonely beaches. The cliffs are thickly clad with almost impenetrable rainforest , which threatens to smother everything in its way. I reckon if you had a house there you'd be checking each day to see if the bush was creeping nearer.
The climate? Well, the coast has a reputation for a huge amount of rain, but to be fair, this all falls in a short space of time and in between the weather is often quite temperate. This is the best place in the country to watch a sunset.
It can be sobering , though , to sit and watch this sea and remind yourself that we live on quite a small , narrow island and that people on other small islands are faced with the realities of sea level change - at least we have mountains that we can retreat to, not everyone is that lucky.
Each time we visit I'm drawn to the wildness of the West Coast , always a good painting subject.I hope that you enjoy this one of the view back towards Punakaiki - and that if you haven't visited the Coast yet that you'll get down there...