Why sketch?

Some time ago I found an old wiro notebook in a drawer. A scruffy wiro bound notebook with a photo of 2 men in a kayak with a bear on the front cover. In that notebook I found terrible sketches drawn in pencil made while travelling in 1991.  One sketch leapt out at me. It was a rough pencil sketch of Mt Ararat from a backpacking trip to eastern Turkey. The sketch really surprised me – it was a very basic pencil sketch, drawn using a .5mm technical pencil on a cheap notepad. The sketch is just black and white… To my surprise the sounds and smells of the day came flooding back. Meeting some Kurdish goat herders and their flock near the base of Mt Ararat, about 10km from the Iranian border on a bright sunny but cool, alpine day. Along with memories of driving across the mountain steppe in an old Renault 19 and the smells of chai and coffee in a Doğubayazıt pasta solunu. It all came back come flooding back! Why did it evoke such vivid memories? I’m not really sure to be honest. Maybe t...

Mum's art on cover of new Gallery book!

One of Mum's - Colleen Dewhurst's - fantastic paintings appears on the cover of the newly released Art Galleries to Visit in New Zealand (New Holland Publishers).

That's her painting of a wahine holding two koura – 'Koura Koha' above the title, the Gallery shown is the Inspirit Gallery near Hamilton.

Mum's work often incorporates Pacific and Polynesian themes inspired by her time living in the Pacific. To see more of Mum's work, visit her website or on Facebook.

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