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...
Sketching around Napier at Christmaswas a lot of fun, there is always so
much to draw in 'The Bay'.
A visit to the MTG (Hawkes Bay
Museum) to see the Speedlines and
Ziggurates: Deco House Style
photography exhibition inspired
us to look a bit closer at the
deco suburb of Marewa, the
source of the top two sketches
here. There are streets and
streets of these houses in Marewa.
Next is Louis Hays office in
Herschell Street. This where
he designed many of Napier's
prominent Art Deco and Mission
Revival buildings after the devastating
1931 earthquake. If you've been
to Napier you'll recognise some
of the buldings he designed listed here.
And lastly, at the bottom, and not fitting
in at all with all these deco buildings –
a Victorian villa – not everything was
destroyed in the earthquake and you'll
still find plenty of these dotted around
the Napier hills.
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