Fish and Chips at Tahunanui Beach

This painting shows two best friends having Fish and Chips at Tahunanui Beach. How did I come up with the subject? It is rather silly isn’t it? The idea came into mind because a famous heron called “Hamish” visited our local village, Mapua, regularly. The seal was often spotted sunbathing on the Maitai riverbank. In my mind I brought both of them together on my favourite beach in Tahunanui. I once watched a family having fish and chips on the beach, but the seagulls were flying acrobats and snatched the chips out of theirs hands! Something else I enjoyed researching while painting this work was the swim suit fashion from the 1920s to the 1950s. I was wondering what the two characters would look like in one of these outfits and my drawings revealed that it was unpleasant. But the hats worked and so I included those.