Across the city to the Ponte Vecchio
I love the simplicity of black and white – fast and exciting even with a complicated subject like this
Join me and a dozen other excited painters to experience the breathtaking beauty of Tuscany this October
Still a few places left – Booking and Details through the link below
https://uptrek.com/retreat/medieval-architecture-landscape-painting-retreat-artist-john-lovett-italy
TUSCAN PAINTING RETREAT 1 – 8 October 2025
Join me for a fantastic painting retreat in the heart of Tuscany
Click here for information and booking details
https://uptrek.com/retreat/medieval-architecture-landscape-painting-retreat-artist-john-lovett-italy
Click here to watch a video of the painting
https://youtu.be/yccGmWwlyTQ
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.
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.
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.
Looking forward to some great workshops coming up – Australia, Canada, USA and Italy…
Currumbin Studio Workshop – May 28 – 29 2016
Kelowna, BC, Canada – 2 day workshop on 2nd and 3rd July 2016
Here are some of the demo paintings from the Tasmanian workshop.
Cray Boats moored in the bay at Bicheno – Gesso, Gouach and Phthalo Blue
Further around the bay at Bicheno are rock formations covered in brilliant orange lichen
Old boat sheds at Coles Bay made a great subject – interrupted briefly by the retrieval of a dozen yellow kayaks paddled into the bay.
Dove Lake at Cradle Mountain is a spectacular sight. We were lucky to be able to paint it – the mountains are usually blanketed in thick fog.
Hobart Waterfront – watercolor, ink, gesso and gouache
Macquarrie Harbour from the hotel balcony, Strahan.
Splashing Paint 