This painting features Gouland Downs Hut on the Heaphy Track on the South Island of New Zealand. We stayed here for a night hoping to spot the very endangered takahē birds last winter. We dragged one of our mattresses outside and sat under the porch as it drizzled through the afternoon, then cleared up for a spectacular sunset and even more jaw dropping star gazing. We whispered stories and jokes, sat in silence, jerked our heads around at every rustle of leaves, but never saw any takahēs. ⁣⁣

It was a pretty cool experience to just sit in one place and experience the natural rhythms of this place though- I do this a lot while painting, but I’ve never sat still for so many hours simply looking at the landscape and watching things slowly change without concentrating on my sketchbook. ⁣

This 5x7” original watercolour and pen and ink painting comes float mounted on a white mat and framed in an 8x10” white frame.