About splashingpaint

Watercolor and mixed media artist conducting workshops in Australia, Europe and the USA

MOROCCO

Posted on October 10, 2024 by splashingpaint

A short five day stay in Marrakesh between workshops was a lot of hectic fun. The city is a labyrinth of busy, narrow alley ways lined with merchants trying hard to sell stuff. The bicycles, donkey carts and pedestrians all seem lost and in a hurry.

Everything stationary eventually acquires the red/brown color of the desert which makes the colorful products of the merchants appear brighter and more saturated. It is a fantastic looking city with spectacular sunsets and sunrises.

We hired a driver to take us up into the Atlas Mountains to see some of the small villages. The driver was recommended by the people running the riad we stayed in. He was great – he knew what we wanted to see and avoided the tourist places where everyone wants to sell you something or sit you on a camel.

Morocco is still suffering after the earthquake that struck the country a year ago. Many buildings were destroyed or damaged and rebuilding is still going on in Marrakesh and in some of the small villages up in the Atlas Mountains. Concrete block is replacing the traditional mud and terracotta brick, but they are rendered and painted the earth color of the original materials so the repairs are not too obvious.

I would love to visit some of the small villages on the flat country around Marrakech but five days is just not long enough!

PORTUGAL

Posted on September 29, 2024 by splashingpaint

After a three year postponement due to covid, our Portugal workshop finally went ahead. We were joined by our guides Amanda and Gordon and around twenty keen painters. The workshop started in Lisbon where we all got to know each other and some great friendships were formed. A mixture of painting, sightseeing, shopping, wining and dining kept us all very busy.

The view from the rooftop bar at our hotel in Lisbon was stunning. It’s a densely packed city and most of the population seem to be out walking.

Most towns we visited in Portugal had beautifully tiled streets and pavements – time consuming work to lay all these tiny stone blocks by hand but it looks fantastic.

Lisbon’s vintage trams move people around the city centre pretty efficiently but walking seems to be the preferred mode of transport.

Fancy neon

The streets and alleyways are a great place to take photographs. There is always somewhere catching just the right light and the bends, twists and undulations make interesting compositions.

Stacked wine glasses in a restaurant window

Interesting machine parked outside a high end store

Porto was clouded in smoke from nearby bushfires. It was hard to breathe, it stung your eyes, but looked fantastic

Strange red sun as it set through a curtain of smoke

Traditional river boats in Porto are still built and maintained on the riverside slipway

Fantastic old buildings perched along the riverside in Porto

Washing day

…Cant resist a pink wall

We toured the palace in Sintra then painted in the town square.

This beautiful building was tucked into the hillside above the town of Sintra

Azenhas do Mar was a beautiful seaside town where we spent a day painting and enjoying the warm coastal weather.

Lunch on the beach with Amanda and Gordon – Azenhas do Mar

Most abandoned buildings eventually attract a coating of graffiti

Dried, salted Cod waiting to be turned into a tasty delicacy.

Bridge over the Douro River in Porto.

PAINT AFRICA

Posted on June 27, 2024 by splashingpaint

Join me in May 2025 for a fabulous painting, sketching and sight seeing journey through Africa.

Be inspired by the animals in Chobe National Park, the architecture of South Africa and the splendour of Victoria Falls

Click Here For Details

TASMANIA

Posted on March 27, 2024 by splashingpaint

What a lot of fun, six weeks of workshops and travel in Tasmania. We had two workshops in Hobart and one traveling from Launceston to Smithton then on to Strahan and finally back to Hobart. We were spoilt with fabulous food, great accommodation, wonderful company and a coach to take us to the numerous painting locations.

We had some great painting locations and also did a lot of sketches.

While in Hobart we traveled down to the village of Franklin – Famous for it’s wooden boats

Beautifully built from Huon Pine

Life on the river

Late afternoon light was amazing.

The old boathouse where wooden boats are built and repaired.

Parked carefully in a shed, this old Suzuki still has a lot of life in it yet.

I cant resist photographing houses painted this crazy green

Strahan Evening

Strahan early in the morning

Hells Gate lighthouse

There are some fantastic old wooden boat sheds, apple sheds and huts south of Hobart – some in better condition than others.

After the workshop Dianne and I drove down to Cockle Creek, the southern tip of Tasmania. Great camping spots, beautiful beaches and inlets.

We were lucky to see this Spotted Quoll out foraging

Great birdlife too.

Tasmania is a great place to travel. It is small and easy to get around, it has a huge variety of attractions. We travelled from the cold dramatic Western Tiers and Highland Lakes down to the sunny comfort of the coast in a couple of hours. The forests of the extreme south are unspoilt and beautiful. Tasmania’s history is dramatic and well preserved, and the state has some of the best food, wine and beer in Australia.

Well worth a visit.

NZ South Island

Posted on April 18, 2023 by splashingpaint

Two workshops, back to back, in the beautiful South Island of New Zealand. What a treat, the weather was surprisingly kind to us and the scenery spectacular.

Queenstown was our starting point. This old steam powered launch, The Earnslaw, cruises up and down the lake

Painting on the shore of Lake Wakatipu.

Glenorchy Mountains

Lake Wakatipu along the road to Glenorchy

Petrol bowser recycled – Cardrona

Old timber shed and wagon out the back of Cardrona Pub

Winter wood supply – Cardrona Pub

NZ Woodhen

Tui Tui

Historic remains of old Cromwell

Arrowtown was a great place to paint – Interesting Cafes and bars, and coffee never too far away

Larnach Castle – Dunedin – A fascinating history explained with enthusiasm by our knowledgable guide

Iron gate behind the castle – keeps the ghosts in and the bad guys out.

Boat sheds on Dunedin Harbour were fun to paint – sitting by the water on a sunny afternoon.

WEST TO WINTON

Posted on June 29, 2022 by splashingpaint

A workshop in Blackall and another spread between Longreach and Winton saw us load up the truck and head off to central Queensland for six weeks. The country was incredibly green after all the rain and flooding. Many roads were still closed and venturing off the bitumen was a slippery, muddy exercise.

Silos on the road to Roma

This old pub at Wallumbilla looks less than inviting soaked in rain and surrounded by mud, but the local graziers couldn’t be happier.

Retirement green confusion – Morvan.

Early morning – Morven waterhole

Disused railway crane – Morven

Camping out of Tambo was a little tricky – where there wasn’t grass there was thick, sticky mud.

Sunrise through a layer of fog, Tambo

Union Hotel Blackall – still sells cold beer, but not much else

The weekly cattle sale in Blackall saw some fat’ healthy cattle, happy sellers and not so happy re-stockers.

Lisa and Bruce, from one of the big sheep stations out of Blackall, invited us out to see the end of the shearing.

These guys work flat out, fired up by loud, fast music, high demand and and a competitive attitude.

Shearing their way through several thousand sheep is hard, back breaking work.

Ancient Technology from the Isisford Picture Theatre.

Drowned caravans camped in the Barcoo River, Isisford. Ignore the locals at your peril.

An empty paddock next to the old Langenbaker House in Ilfracombe made a great place to paint

DC3 at the Qantas Museum Longreach

Retired Catalina at the Qantas Museum

Before the workshop in Winton, Dianne and I went out to the clay pans at Bladensburg to find a painting location

Willy Mar’s old market garden store, Winton

We painted Willy Mar’s old truck (now up on blocks next to his old market garden and store.

We spent a morning in the old Bladensburg woolshed painting the ancient wool press.

This was the demonstration painting I did. (Couldn’t help using Phthalo Green!)

Looking west towards Winton – an unusual sea of lush, green grass

At the Winton Dinosaur Centre, volunteers work tirelessly separating rock from fossil to reconstruct the skeletons of dinosaurs.

After the Winton workshop Dianne and I headed back out to Bladensburg to camp and watch the sun go down.

Heading east, we found this lake with amazing sunsets and fantastic birdlife.

Our camp, just visible from the top of a nearby hill

Sunset one side, full moon the other.

UP TO THE HIGH COUNTRY

Posted on June 5, 2021 by splashingpaint

After the Flinders Ranges Workshop we returned to Adelaide, picked up our truck from storage and headed south to Robe, a small fishing village. After two weeks of perfect weather for the workshop, we drove south into howling wind and rain.

The coastline around Robe is rugged and isolated. We had a couple of days in Robe then turned east to follow the Great Ocean Road along the Victorian coast. By now the rain had eased but the wind was still howling in from Antarctica – Chilly, but spectacular.

We caught up with our kids in Melbourne for a few days then headed up to the Snowy Mountains

Always a great place to camp along the Swampy Plains River at Geehi. We were surprised at the number of rabbits (and foxes) – the calicivirus seems to have no effect here.

From Geehi we drove up over the mountains, Past Thredbo and on to the Murrumbidgee River on the Long Plain Road. We often camp here when we are in the High Country, but were amazed to find the area coated thickly in white next morning. Spectacular, but freezing cold!

A fisherman dropped in around 9am on his way to Tantangra Dam. He said the temperature readout in his Landcruiser was saying -5, so I dont know what it got down to overnight. Our water pipes were frozen, the hot water heater had frozen and burst and, in spite of filling with what we thought was winter diesel, couldn’t start the truck till after 10am.

Leaving the snowy, we drove up to the Warrumbungle Mountains to spend a couple of days. This time of year encountering snakes is unusual but this big Red Bellied Black snake decided to cross the path right in front of us. We left him to crawl off into the bush.

Splashing Paint

Paintings, photograph's and thoughts of a wandering artist

Author Archives: splashingpaint

About splashingpaint

MOROCCO

PORTUGAL

PAINT AFRICA

TASMANIA

NZ South Island

WEST TO WINTON

UP TO THE HIGH COUNTRY

About splashingpaint

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