Rhubarb Cake With Custard, 2023
Oil on canvas, 425 x 425mm
Framed in eucalyptus by Elliot Creative
Oil on canvas, 425 x 425mm
Framed in eucalyptus by Elliot Creative
Alice’s Chocolate Zucchini Cake, 2023
Oil on canvas, 430 x 530mm
Framed in black walnut by Elliot Creative
Oil on canvas, 430 x 530mm
Framed in black walnut by Elliot Creative
Maisie’s House (View Road), 2023
Oil on canvas, 430 x 430mm
Framed in black walnut by Elliot Creative
Photograph by Cheska Brown
Oil on canvas, 430 x 430mm
Framed in black walnut by Elliot Creative
Photograph by Cheska Brown
All the Trees and Sunsets We’ve Seen Together, 2023
Oil on canvas, 430 x 430mm
Framed in beech by Elliot Creative
Photograph by Cheska Brown
Oil on canvas, 430 x 430mm
Framed in beech by Elliot Creative
Photograph by Cheska Brown
View From the Sand Dunes, 2023
Oil on linen, 430 x 430mm
Framed by Elliot Creative
Photograph by Cheska Brown
Oil on linen, 430 x 430mm
Framed by Elliot Creative
Photograph by Cheska Brown
Maisie and Frances in the Fire Bath (Coast Road), 2023
Oil on canvas, 825 x 1225mm
Framed in white washed oak by Elliot Creative
Photograph by Cheska Brown
Oil on canvas, 825 x 1225mm
Framed in white washed oak by Elliot Creative
Photograph by Cheska Brown
Red Peaches, 2023
Oil on canvas, 430 x 530mm
Framed in black walnut by Elliot Creative
Photograph by Cheska Brown
Oil on canvas, 430 x 530mm
Framed in black walnut by Elliot Creative
Photograph by Cheska Brown
Morgan’s Birthday Dinner (Mushroom Pizza, Olive Oil, Aleppo Chilli Flakes, Gin), 2023
Oil on canvas, 770 x 1025mm
Framed in black walnut by Elliot Creative
Oil on canvas, 770 x 1025mm
Framed in black walnut by Elliot Creative
Rainbow Mist, 2023
Oil on canvas, 825 x 1225mm
Framed in beech by Elliot Creative
Photograph by Cheska Brown
Oil on canvas, 825 x 1225mm
Framed in beech by Elliot Creative
Photograph by Cheska Brown
Peach Sunset, 2023
Oil on canvas, 430 x 430mm
Framed by Elliot Creative
Oil on canvas, 430 x 430mm
Framed by Elliot Creative
Pale Blue Sky, 2023
Oil on canvas, 430 x 430mm
Framed by Elliot Creative
Photograph by Cheska Brown
Oil on canvas, 430 x 430mm
Framed by Elliot Creative
Photograph by Cheska Brown
All the Trees and Sunsets We’ve Seen Together at the studio
Peach Tree installed at Rita
Maisie’s House (View Road) in Alex’s home
One spring we planted a peach tree on Maisie’s land in the hills of Aro Valley. Maisie and Jane lovingly pressed it down into the earth with their hands.
On her walk to work, Maisie would pass a peach tree and collect its fallen peaches. She grew seedlings from their stones; pots of them lining her kitchen and lounge windowsills until they were big enough to plant.
So many evenings were spent with Jane and Maisie in that lounge, with the large window looking out to where Lyall Bay meets the ocean. All sky and water. Nights with wine and candles; setting intentions for the future. Dancing looking out at the sea.
In the last week of summer, Morgan made peach crumble. Slices of fresh peaches caramelised in brown sugar. We ate it warm out of the oven with spoons of vanilla ice cream melting in stoneware bowls.
I stayed with Maisie at her new home with Frances and Richard. Again high in the hills. This time far out on the road leading from Wainuiomata to the coast. Above their home was a clearing in the scrub of blackberries, pines and clay. The clearing held two bodies of water; a pool and a bath. We swam in the blue of the pool in setting sunlight; an open horizon of sky and pines surrounding us. Then warmed up in the fire bath, tucked into the clay bank.
On Frances’ first birthday we sat in the small lounge, sun heating up the room through a mosaic of windows that looked out to the ferns and manuka. Confetti filled balloons floated around in the breeze. Dates and biscuits on the table. Moving our glasses of rosé to different corners as Frances moved around the room. When it was dark Frances sat on my knee cuddling and watching her new bear that lit up and played lullabies when you squeezed its hand.