Keeping a park the size of Hotham looking good is a huge job and there has to be a nice balance between formality and wildness. Sometimes the wildness gets the upper hand so recently there has been big clean up with brambles and overgrown beds cleared, including the conservation pond which had completely reeded over….
Last time I went to the Park I took my camera for walk around on a dull January afternoon but however dull there is always something to delight the eyes if one takes the trouble to look.
Always looking for fresh ways to depict the Park I started the first painting of 2018. Last year I decided to do a series of works inspired by looking up into the trees in the Park. I took a set of resource photos to use. Some of them are deliberatly out of focus but I…
In a far corner of Hotham Park there is a delightful little secret (almost) garden which has been restored since I first visited it some years ago. This is what it looks like now.
Whilst sketching yesterday I was visited by two ducks who obviously knew good art when they saw it….well thats how I like to think. Actually they couldn’t see what I was doing as they were below me on the grass close to the bandstand where I sat. I guess its the time of year when…
Yesterday I tried to sketch a very complicated Hazel tree during the Park Sketchers meeting. I must say I didn’t make things easy for myself. The colours were wonderful with mustard and green showing up when the sun came out. I’ll post a photo I took after. The other is a quick demonstration work for my…
Today I joined the fortnightly sketchers in Hotham Park again and was surprised how much springing has gone on. I know it happens every year but somehow always comes as a delightful surprise.
Yesterday as I wandered around the Park I visited one of my favourite places, a rather wild area with a very old Elderberry tree in it. On the way I noticed the tree surgeons removing dead branches from tall trees. When I arrived to say hello to my tree I found it had been sawn…
Last week I sat on cold sunny day to do some pastel sketching but today I joined the sketching group for our fortnightly draw. We were very quickly forced to the shelter of the cafe as the wind came up bringing sideways rain with it. The small pavilion I was in had not provided protection…
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, its just that there is so much to see in Hotham Park at the moment that its difficult to choose what to share. So here is a selection of things that caught my eye yesterday.
ritasspot, a blog about Hotham Park by it's Artist in Residence 