FredaSurgenor

This has been the best day.........my painting
"Six dinghies"
has won Best In Show at the Combined Art Societies of Sydney "Art of Sydney" Awards.

I am so thrilled, I will be getting my prize at the opening night on Friday 21st of January.

Yup, while not getting the major prize, I still won the Watercolour Section, First Prize at the North Sydney Art Prize, for Luna Park, fav.me/d2qmzpr I am so thrilled, as you can imagine!

Hi Folks. I'm afraid I haven't been very active lately, I'm doing jury duty at the moment and haven't had the time to reply to your kind comments, faves and watches.
It should be finished on Monday and I hope to talk to you again on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, I'm doing a demo today at my art society so I have to get ready for that.
Speak soon.

Well, what a holiday that was.

When we left Sydney, it was 27C and pretty humid. Dave had looked at the average temps for New Zealand and they ran at about 23C in summer with variations as you get lower or more South in the South Island.

When we arrived in Christchurch, it was about 25C and sunny. We slept there overnight and set off the next morning, heading for Dunedin which is quite a lot more south. As we drove, a Southerly wind came up. Now these winds blow straight off the Antarctic ice cap and can bring much needed relief to us in Australia when we have had temps up in the late 30s. In NZ, it is much closer to the Southern ice and the winds are a lot colder. Also as it's a small island, surrounded by sea, the southerly winds are wet.

Very.

Our drive got colder and colder and it rained all day. At Dunedin, it was a mere 7C with the wind making it feel colder.
I had packed warm clothes as an after thought and did I need them!

It was bloody freezing................ and summer too!

After a quick look round Dunedin, which is a beautiful old city built on a lot of hills. (windy hills) we went on to Queenstown where we were going to have a trip on the famous Milford Sound which is a magnificent fjord about a two hour trip away.

That is if you can see it.

Our personal rain cloud followed us to Milford and back. It was now down to 5C and when we got on the boat, all you could see was rain and fog. The clouds had come right down to water level.
Apparently the Sound gets 7 meters of rain per year. And we got most of it!

Amazingly, the next day was actually sunny with beautiful cloud formations on the mountains. The weather changes so quickly.

Up to now, I hadn't taken any photos for painting reference. It was all very dull, but I now had the most dramatic cloud formations and new ideas for paintings. If the weather had been perfect, the clouds wouldn't have been so magnificent.

So it was all worth it, without the bad weather, I wouldn't have got the new ideas and I am really excited to start painting some big canvases.

Mostly the trip was very cold and windy, but once the new ideas had established themselves I started to enjoy it. I found myself looking for new and different ways to set up the photographs to aid with good design.

First, I have to do a new marble painting for the Royal Easter show, but as soon as I have finished that, it will be full steam ahead with the clouds.

Joy oh joy.........we're having a ten day break! Tomorrow.......the 6th, we're flying off to see Lord of the Rings country. Yes, the South Island of New Zealand.

So I will be off the air for a while, but never fear, as soon as I get back, I'll be reporting on the trip.

We're going to be seeing mountains and fjords, lakes and hot springs. We're hiring a car and my dear hubby has planned and booked the whole trip, which is something he really loves doing........I'm glad to say!

All I have to do is enjoy and take pictures and hope some will make great paintings.

Speak when we get back.