A visit to Australia
On the 15th December 2024 my wife, Mel, and I flew to Sydney, Australia to spend four weeks with our son, Jack, our daughter-in-law, Teresa and their sons Luca aged 2 years and Enzo aged 5 months. We stayed in a suburb of Sydney called Bellevue Hill (near to Rose Bay and Bondi) but we also spent 5 days in Mittagong about 1 1/2 hours drive south of Bellevue Hill.
Here are 3 pages from my sketchbook…drawings produced in double fast time as the boys didn’t stay still for very long! It has been simply wonderful to spend time with our grandsons. Luca has changed so much since we last saw him and it was lovely to meet Enzo for the first time.
The following sketches were done en plein air. The first is a study of a surfer struggling to paddle through the on-coming waves at Bondi Beach.
Bathers at Bondi…
This pencil sketch on Bockingford is inspired by a visit to Balmoral Beach. I hope to produce a couple of studio paintings from this visit.
On numerous mornings I crossed Birriga Road from our AirBnB apartment to climb the steps of Bellevue Park. From this park I enjoyed distant views of the comings and goings of sea planes, ferries, speed boats and yachts at Rose Bay and the sea crashing against the rocks at North Bondi. I spent time relaxing by enjoying the views, reading novels and once or twice actually sketching.
Pencil sketch of Bondi from Bellevue Park..
Watercolour on Bockingford paper of Rose Bay from Bellevue Park..
I also discovered Coopers Park a few minutes walk from our apartment. I managed to find shaded locations to sketch the following two paintings..watercolour on Fabriano paper.
Coopers Park #1..
Coopers Park #2..
I last visited Australia 6 years ago whereupon I fell in love with the work of Australian artist, Arthur Streeton. A trip into Sydney to Art Gallery of New South Wales was an absolute must! It was great to experience Streeton’s work again. I enjoyed works by others too but that may be kept for another blog. Here I am in front of a couple of outstanding oil paintings by Arthur Streeton..
Art Gallery of New South Wales inspired this watercolour/ink sketch…produced using “aqua-brushes” or “aqua-pens” which were a Christmas present from Mel. I filled them with diluted black Liquitex ink and painted washes on what I think may be Saunders watercolour paper. “Reflection”..
Below is a study “Mel At Birriga Road” produced using the aqua pens/brushes. It is inspired by the morning light entering the apartment through horizontal wooden slats or blinds and a reflection on a glass topped coffee table. Watercolour on Bockingford…
A client of my son very generously lent us their country house in Mittagong for 5 days. Whilst there I visited the Archibald Prize portrait exhibition at Ngununnggula, Southern Highlands Regional Gallery. The effect of light entering the gallery inspired the following two monochrome sketches, each a watercolour on Saunders(?) watercolour paper.
“Open Stairs”..
“Robin’s Chair”..
Sadly we found a dead parakeet on the veranda one morning whilst at Mittagong. I couldn’t miss the opportunity to paint this beautiful bird and although it was very sad to see such a beautiful creature in this state, we all have to face the fact that death is the only certainty in life…well, other than taxes.
Whilst at Mittagong I decided that I wanted to make a sketch of the house in which we were staying. In studying the way the light fell I determined that the best time of day would be early morning. The following day I arose early and was painting by 7.30am. The great thing about Australia is that one can actually plan. In the UK we rarely have two consecutive days that enjoy the same weather…unless it is rain.
En plein air at Mittagong..
The farmhouse at Mittagong, watercolour on Fabriano..
The final artwork produced on Australian soil is, “Final Swim Of The Day”. We had enjoyed a lovely afternoon at Bondi Beach before retreating to the North Bondi RSL Club for dinner. On leaving the Club, the sun was low in the sky and dark clouds were forming. That night we experienced the loudest cracks of thunder we’ve ever heard!
This was definitely the calm before the storm…watercolour on Fabriano….
On return to my studio in Bolton, England I have started to plan a series of studio paintings and monotypes based on sketches, photographs and memories of this visit to Australia. Mel and I had a fabulous time and we will be forever grateful to Jack and T for giving us such a heart-warming time and of course the opportunity to spend time with Luca and Enzo, their beautiful boys. However, when we are in the UK we miss Jack, T, Luca and Enzo but when we were in Oz we missed Charlotte, Lucy and Scott! Our journey, door to door, back home was about 29 hours so arriving home to find such a welcome from our daughters, Lucy and Charlotte, was very special..
Studio paintings and monotypes to follow…..