oing along and seeing the fun they’d had, sparked my interest. Then co-incidentally our last day at school was a ‘spirituality day’ where one of the options was a drawing day with our head of art, @Mark Anderson. Enjoying the day I decided to collect a few pictures of things I’d like to paint or draw. Mark
had given me a nice sketching pad and some decent pencils. When the easel arrived I was set to go. I did a few drawings Mark had given me, a river scene, then one of an old courtyard.
Another quick sketch was of the Berowra Ridge Windmill. Doing some little sketches gave me confidence.
From a Port Stephen’s menu
I’d not really painted a picture for 50 years since 1970 for my O ‘level’ Art! I decided to start with something quite straight forward onto canvas. A nice shot with a deck-chair seemed suitable. I’d seen it on a Port Stephen’s menu while we were away before Xmas. It was predominantly bright blue an white and it came out well. Next up, I attempted an Uluru pencil drawing following it up with a painted version on paper. Getting the bug I started on a painting of some buildings. The original was a colourful one I’d just found and added to my list. When I finished and posted my version, my cousin Linda told me the original was painted by her daughter Lisa Goddard! All a bit embarrassing. She’d done a super colourful version of her restaurant, The Loft Tea Rooms at Tollesbury
My cousin Lisa Goddard’s original painting of the Tea Rooms Tollesbury Essex.
A side benefit of cycling has been an interest in taking photos of clouds, trees, skies and sunsets. I would have nearly ten thousand from the past five years.
Uluru impression
Two spots I visit up on Illoura, come up particularly well in photos. One looking across the valley and the other of what I have called ‘BerowraRidgeWindmill’. These two spots were the ones I tackled next. One on canvass and the second on paper, both with acrylic paints.Standing at the easel painting is super relaxing. The hours just roll by and a side benefit is that I eat less, helping another holiday goal!
Terries version of one of our home art paintings
About twenty years ago Brother ‘Mac’ McDonald a teacher at SPX, painted our family a version of his classic Harbour Bridge pastels picture. This is the picture I decided to do next and it involved my largest canvass yet. Around the same time, Terrie also painted a version of a painting of we have in the house. It was a line of trees with maroon foliage and it came out well. This week, I attempted an impression of another photo I had taken. This time one of a series of Sydney ‘City scapes’ from a two visits in 2019. Being a night shot it had a colourful reflection on the water.
Being so multi coloured I decided to draw a rough version first, forming almost a ‘road map’ to go by, listing the colours on each building section and numbering the various areas as something to refer to. Almost Quilty’s ‘Painting by Numbers’. On something that was so complicated, I am pleased with the look achieved. There is one more harbour shot I’ve mapped out, so we’ll see how that goes.
My original photo of Berowra Ridge Windmill sunset
Brother ‘Mac’McDonalds Harbour Bridge from 98’
Well that is the school holidays nearly over. Achieved both the riding and health goals and added a new pastime.
My impression of my photo of a Sydney night scape
It’s been so nice to put some time into a new relaxing activity. Helvetia ‘Holiday Art Week’ has been great, probably taking up forty hours, all well spent!. 👨🎨
