Photos of Plein Air Painting at Waahi Taarakao Reserve

Unlike the weather forecast predicted the morning turned out to be beautiful and we had a gorgeous time at the Waahi Taarako Reserve. Some of us enjoyed painting the Gibbs Bridge and others focused on the swimming hole. A lovely lady travelling through New Zealand joined our group unexpectedly. She had parked up in her camper van and wanted to do some yoga in the park when she spotted us artists. Back she went to her van, grabbed her sketchbook and joined us in our painting session. Talk about being prepared and spontaneous!

This time I was painting on a weird blue background. What was I thinking?! Not much obviously. Rushing out of the house in the morning I just grabbed the next best board I could find in my studio, my palette, paints and easel and ran out of the house. I forgot my apron, paper towels and lunch… It turns out that I really like painting on a coloured background but not this strange blue/grey. It made my painting rather cool and taught me a lesson: choose a warm colour to prime your canvas if you want to create a warm painting or cool colour for a cool painting, or leave your canvas white. However, I’m happy with my painting. Trees can be a challenge and the painting is far from perfect, but I feel that it is going into a good direction and with a little touch up I can make it into a little gem.

Contact Nicole if you like to join the group for Plein Air painting. As Eric Rhoads points out: “There is a big world out there. Go paint it!”