Welcome to my monthly blog, where I have a monologue about my art journey.

Last month went by and I thought I would have nothing to write about as my art production is way down. But it wasn’t all bad.

Not a huge crowd that visited me for my Open Studio at Easter but those that did enjoyed my art and gave me great feedback.

The weather has not been conducive to sitting and sketching outside so when the Waihi Plein Air sketches met in Waihi to sketch Morton’s Garage there was just 2 of us. After coffee I went and sat in my car and did a sketch and added some paint, just to prove I had been there. Unfortunately I think the building is about to fall over.

I can’t seem to get my perspective right. I know all the theory’s about horizon lines, vanishing points etc etc but my buildings still fall over!!! Do you have the same problem? Any tricks I can use?

With that in mind I jumped at the chance to do a one day workshop in Tauranga with Oliver Hoeller. Oliver had been tutoring in Auckland at the International Urban Sketches Symposium and came to Tauranga to do this workshop while still in New Zealand.

Then it was our turn to use the stunning setting for our own sketches.

Although I was happy with my sketch I was doing it wrong!!! I hadn’t taken in the process that Oliver used.

Draw the object as a silhouette without any shading. (That’s where I went wrong!!) Then using the line weight it to bring objects to the foreground. That means darker, heavier line on foreground shapes. Do a thumbnail sketch to show your darkest darks and your lightest light. Put more detail into your focal point. Apply your shading with paint with reference to the thumbnail sketch. Whew!! Then this happened.

So even though I haven’t done any amazing landscapes to show you I did learn lots last month. That must count on my journey. Now I’m ready for the next month!!

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I hope I kept your interest. Hang in there cos August is going to be full of my adventures in Scotland ❤️

Ka kite ano. See you again. Pamela