This is how I started painting landscapes way back when I was a kid. My uncle would set up all the cousins in front of a beach or river and before we dashed off to do bombs off the rocks or catch waves we’d flick a bit of paint around with Uncle Michael getting all excited about the ‘marks’ we were making. I’d also sit on the rocks back at camp and draw the beach in pen or pencil.
My next foray into painting in the outdoors started when I was in my early twenties. I had just started sea kayak guiding and lived in a small flat with a lot of people. The job was fun but physically exhausting. We worked every day the weather was good which would sometimes last weeks at a time. The sea kayaking wasn’t the problem, more the loading and unloading double sea kayaks on and off the trailer and pulling them around the beach. On my time off I was keen to relax and paint. On a rainy day I didn’t have much choice of where to go so I was squished in between the piano and the pool table and in everyone’s way. It was way back when smartphones and multiple social platforms were a distant future and the flat mates would be baking, playing music or cards and making things. It was hectic and loud but I liked it.
When I had a day off and the weather allowed it I’d pack my bag full of paints and a few snacks and walk along the coast until I felt inspired. I’d park up for hours at a time, sometimes even returning a few times to paint ‘en plein air’. I liked being outside, I enjoyed the interactions with the public. Kids were the best. Adults would be curious and want to come over and look but were almost always too shy. Kids would stride over and ask ten questions before I had time to answer the first. I remember one boy of about five who sat down next to me and told me all the bits I got wrong!
Now 15 years later I’m back outside! This summer Tyrell is working most days, and the kids are home from school and kindy with me. That means very little to no painting for two months, not something I can handle very well. I need to paint for my sanity as a mother, to have a creative outlet, it’s relaxing and satisfying. It’s also been a long time since I painted anything purely to learn. (In 2016 I went to life drawing classes).
So, this summer when we head out to the river or the beach I bring along my bag of paints and a piece of canvas. In between swimming, boggie boarding and snorkeling I’ve been speed painting my favourite places. I say speed painting because I never know how long I’m going to get. It could be minutes or hours. One day I was just getting to the best bit in the foreground when I got, ‘Mum, I have to go poos. Now. It’s coming now!’. That was quick pack up. Another day it was, ‘Mum, bees are chasing me, Mum!!! They got Felix. Mum he’s got two stings’. And another day they climbed a pohutukawa tree above my head and got stuck.
I’ve found the process trickier than I remember. With studio painting your reference material stays still and you can zoom in plus you get lots of days to put in so much detail. I put down many layers letting each one dry before the next goes on. When outside it’s all a lot messier and faster. Less layers and more slapping it on. I also find myself looking at my painting a lot and assuming what colours to use rather than observing and keeping my focus on my subject matter. One of the downsides of having created a lot of work over the years is I have a successful formula that I follow. The great thing about this plein air summer is having to break that and really look at what I’m seeing and copy that instead. I’d say it will have a positive effect on my usual work once I do get back in the studio.
