Solitude (51)

My niece, Sophie, and I have a lot in common – a love for hiking being one of them. She wasn’t even deterred by a 20 mile hike I took her on with my cousin and friends in February 2007 when she was only 12 years old. It was the worst weather I have ever hiked in – light drizzle soon turned into torrential rain – and about a third of the way into the walk, poor Sophie, who didn’t have very good waterproofs, was ready to give up.

‘Aunty Libby, I can’t carry on,’ the little soul cried plaintively.

I (the wicked aunty) told her ‘You’ve got two choices, Sophie. You can either hike on, or stay here and die.’ This retort has since passed into the family annals!

However, Sophie made it to the pub (the halfway mark) and was fortified by a roast dinner and semi-dried clothes. The weather was even worse when we emerged from the pub, but we retaliated against it – splashing in the stream that the footpath had become, shrieking at the sky and daring the rain to come harder. It was one of those days that, although unpleasant at the time, remain in your memory for a long time afterwards. Like anything worth achieving it was a challenge.

On my last trip to the UK, Sophie and I did some weekend hikes and stayed at a youth hostel overnight. One of these trips was to Eyam in Derbyshire. This picturesque little village is infamously known as the Plague Village, because the bubonic plague arrived here in 1665, in a parcel of flea-infested cloth sent from London.

This scene is painted from a photo I took on our walk near Eyam. It was a glorious day and we came across these two trees standing all alone in a sea of heather and grasses.

This painting will be exhibited at Fidels, Essex Street, Fremantle from 26th January to 25th February 2010.

The road less travelled (52)

I’m a big fan of colour analysis, where you find out which colours suit you based on your skin tone. I have an autumn complexion so look best in clothes that have rich earthy tones, such as the colours of autumn leaves … which is great because I love those colours and am naturally drawn to them.

Hence, I couldn’t resist this scene when I saw it. I can’t even remember where I came across it, I think it was on a computer screensaver. The painting looks a bit different in real life because it is an A3 sized painting and my scanner only handles A4 sized paper so some of the scene has been cut off.

This painting will be exhibited at Fidels, Essex Street, Fremantle from 26th January to 25th February 2010.

Caregwastad Point, Pembrokeshire (43)

Wales will always have a special place in my heart for three reasons: one, I went to university in Cardiff and fell in love with the city; two, my maternal grandfather (who I never met) was Welsh; and three, the Welsh accent makes me go weak at the knees!

In 2006, an old uni friend, Ally, and I spent a week hiking on the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path. The walk turned into a bit of a reunion because we met up with three more uni friends en route. Before and after the walk we stayed with Tim, a friend I worked with during my industrial training year in Reading who has now ‘emigrated’ to Pembrokeshire. Tim walks along the coastal path every day with his dogs Jake and (Mad) Mick and was our support crew on the walk.

This scene is painted from a photo I took of the stone monument at Caregwastad Point, where we had lunch on the first day of the walk. It commemorates the failed last invasion of Britain, when a group of French conscripts scrambled ashore in 1797. A more difficult landing place would be hard to find.

This painting will be exhibited at Fidels, Essex Street, Fremantle from 26th January to 25th February 2010.

Rottnest poles (22)

A couple of years ago, Maree and I went to Rottnest Island for a day to take photos to inspire our art. Rottnest is a small island about 18 km off the coast of WA, fringed by turquoise bays. No cars are allowed on the island, so visitors cycle around or take the bus. Small marsupials called quokkas inhabit the island and it was these that gave the island its name - early Dutch explorers thought the quokkas were rats and called the island ‘Rat’s nest’.

This scene is from a photo I took of some old poles near the shore. I loved the patterns in the sea but, as this was my first oil painting, I found them difficult to reproduce. I managed to capture the effects eventually and learnt a lot in the process (thanks to Brian Simmonds, my art teacher).

This painting will be exhibited at Fidels, Essex Street, Fremantle from 26th January to 25th February 2010.

Mermaid’s Pool, Peak District (41)

I spent a year living in the UK recently and was there for Christmas 2008. While looking for a suitable photo to paint and use for my Christmas cards, I came across this scene of the darkly mysterious Mermaid’s Pool in Mum’s trusty book of Peak District photographs. The pool lies on the bleak moorlands around Kinder Scout in the Peak District.

My painting, although representational of the photo, looks almost abstract because of the dramatic colours and unusual textures of the subject. I love the way the light shining on the iced pool creates a mother of pearl-like effect, and how the thawing snow surrounding the pool leaves interesting patterns of light and dark.

I find this scene haunting, which is weird because I found out after I’d painted it that there is a legend attached to the pool. It is said to share a mystical link with the Atlantic Ocean and a mermaid appears in the pool once a year on Easter Eve at midnight. Anyone who sees her is either given the gift of immortality, or drawn into the depths of the pool to face their doom …

This painting will be exhibited at Fidels, Essex Street, Fremantle from 26th January to 25th February 2010.

Kaikoura, New Zealand (21)

Another New Zealand scene, this time of Kaikoura on the east coast of the south island. Kaikoura teems with wildlife and is a popular place to see whales, Dusky dolphins, sea birds and seals. Fur seals congregate at the tip of the peninsula and, finding myself with a few hours to spare between buses, l walked out to this spot. I got so engrossed in watching the seals that I forgot the time and had to hitch back to town to catch the bus.

The rugged coastline makes for spectacular scenery and I couldn’t resist this picture. The cloud was creeping up the Kaikoura mountain range so only the tops were visible, and the sky above the mountains was stormy. Despite the dull day, the colours of the sea and grass were really rich and vibrant.

This painting will be exhibited at Fidels, Essex Street, Fremantle from 26th January to 25th February 2010.

Into the wild (31)

Still on the hiking theme, this painting is from a photo I took while hiking the Kepler Track at the bottom of the south island of New Zealand. It was taken on the first day of the hike, heading up through the tree line to the ridge. I actually took the photo by mistake (so have no idea who the walker in the picture is) but it turned out to be one of my best photos!

There had been storms and torrential rain the previous night so the light was soft and had a pink hue to it, the ground was wet, and the plants were lush and glistening. When I look at this painting, I feel the calmness I experience on long distance hikes. The steady plod of putting one foot in front of the other for hours and days on end puts me in an almost meditative state.

This painting will be exhibited at Fidels, Essex Street, Fremantle from 26th January to 25th February 2010.

The Twelve Apostles, Victoria (36)

Over Christmas 2008, I hiked the Great Ocean Road Walk in Victoria to raise money for the Fred Hollows Foundation. I persuaded two friends, Marisa and Mark, to join me and we set off on Christmas Eve. The walk takes 6 to 7 days and we had to carry all our gear with us (including tents) so our packs were pretty heavy. Mind you, we still managed to fit in a couple of bottles of wine and a few Christmas treats!

The walk takes in some amazing coastal scenery and we were lucky enough to share the first camp (where we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning) with koalas - an animal we don’t see in the wild in WA.

The walk ends at the spectacular Twelve Apostles, giant rock stacks in the Southern Ocean. We reached the end of the walk hot, tired, dirty and hanging out for a cold beer and plate of chips, only to discover that there is no food or drink here, despite the thousands of tourists that visit every day.

The scene in this painting is from a photo I took at the end of the walk. This was my first attempt at using acrylic paints and I found them tricky to use at first as they dry much quicker than oils. It’s interesting to see how the scene evolved as I painted it. I started with the cliff and sand on the right hand side, which are almost abstract, while the sea and the rocks on the left are more realistic.