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...
Another sketch from an early morning wandering around Palmerston North Square with a sketchbook. This time it's Te Peeti Te Awe Awe's turn, his memorial is just meters from the clock tower I sketched last year.
I was intrigued by the inscription on the memorial that he had served with the crown during the New Zealand Wars. A Rangitane chief and kūpapa maori – in other words maori who fought on the British side in the New Zealand Wars. He certainly had his reasons, one being to get land taken back by northern tribal invasions in the early 1800's. He used his new alliance to improve the lives of his own hapu, but wasn't afraid to oppose the crown either in holding on to tribal land.
Comments