Kia Ora followers. Thanks for all the feedback. Im loving that. It’s quite a surreal experience writing about my art journey to people I don’t know. So thank you for taking the time to read my blog.

The Tauranga Urban Sketchers met at the Bridge marina to draw, paint and have coffee. It was almost too busy visually to do the scene justice. I did a quick sketch and finished it off with some scratchy colour in my studio.

This is the actual view. My next quick little sketch was the rocks and the beautiful clear water in front of me.

I’m pretty sure I’ve previously told you about my love of contour drawing, especially blind contour. If I haven’t, or you have forgotten, it’s when you put the pen on the paper and take it off when your drawing is finished. Your drawing is therefore done in a continuous line. To do it blind means you don’t look at your page. Just the object in front of you. Consequently if you are doing a portrait, the eyes or nose can end up anywhere. All in a continuous line!!! This style of drawing reminds me so much of children’s art. It has an energy and a certain truth to it that I find exhilarating.

What do you think? You can tell my drawing is of a boat, can’t you?

Last week I went to the opening of the Garden and Art festival.

It will be on for 4 full days . A massive festival with over 70 gardens this year, and lots of the gardens will have artists in them. I have been selected to be at the Hub of Bloom in the Bay. At the Tauranga Racecourse where there will be garden displays, live music, workshops and lots of art. It will be exciting to be part of the action. If you are going to the festival Hub please come and see me.

Thanks to Watercolour NZ for inviting me to take a workshop in Wellington. I’m really looking forward to catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. These participants will be confident in using the medium and I’m looking forward to seeing what they produce.

I think of workshops I’ve been to and it’s the people I remember, more than anything. I remember reading once ( not a scientific survey) that 80% of what you learn at a workshop is learnt at morning tea and lunchtime. That’s when you talk to like minded people who are following the same journey you are.

So what makes a good workshop??? Lots of morning tea and lunch???

What’s the best workshop you ever went to? What made it special? On that note, do you have a worst workshop you ever went to?

Give me feedback so I can make up a do’s and don’ts list for presenting my workshop. If I get a list I’ll publish it in next months blog.

Well, that’s it for another month. I’ll be blogging again in September. We are off to sunny Queensland for a few weeks to get out of a NZ winter.

Ka kite. Pamela