Occasionally Auckland Sketchbook escapes the city to somewhere interesting — and close. This time the sketchbook got a workout in The Bay of Islands . Only 3.5 hours by car and a world away from work. The sketch above was made in down-town Paihia, it doesn't look it, but it is literally behind the main street. The view is the back of an old homestead called Williams House . I was attracted by the orchard of very old fig trees on the left that had me imagining eating juicy ripe figs. Sadly they weren't in season but it must be a fun place at harvest time. Right over the other side of the bay you will find his falling down old house on Matauwhi Bay. For a while there the water had a turquoise glow until the sun went into hiding. This is Pompallier House and Clendon Cottage in Russell sketched with my back to the sea. I may have used a little too much artistic licence in moving them close enough together to fit on my page so don't look too closely. Anyway, I have sketched Po...
No really, how do you treat the treaty grounds? As a sketcher you kind of want to capture the essence and atmosphere of one our most important places, the place where our founding document was first signed by Maori chiefs and the English crown on the 6th of February 1840. It's also a place of drama every Waitangi Day as media whip up some nationwide alarm when sparks fly between protesters and politicians.
But I'm here today with the sketchbook, there's no drama at all, only sunshine, people playing cricket on manicured lawns, restored treaty houses and stunning views to a parasailer being towed slowly past a cruise ship moored in the glistening bay.
I decided I would have to cheat with this one - I wanted to fit it ALL in. So this is my attempt to try and squeeze Busby's house in on the left, the Meeting House square in the middle, the grounds with cricketers, the cruise liner and parasailer and even Russell township across the water, sadly the scene has lost some bush in the middle!
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