Water and Earth
KAUKAU
February 2025
A series of paintings made during the first few months in a new home; living with a water sign and an earth sign.
Cake and Candles at Totara Road, 2024
Oil on canvas, custom oak frame with sapele spline joins
455 x 610
Oil on canvas, custom oak frame with sapele spline joins
455 x 610
Spring Again, 2024
Oil on canvas, white tray frame
935 x 1235mm
Oil on canvas, white tray frame
935 x 1235mm
Water and Earth, 2024
Oil on canvas, custom beech frame with walnut spline joins
820 x 1020mm
Oil on canvas, custom beech frame with walnut spline joins
820 x 1020mm
Ochre Water Lily, 2024
Oil on canvas, custom stained ash frame
430 x 430mm
Oil on canvas, custom stained ash frame
430 x 430mm
Purple Geranium I, 2024
Oil on canvas, custom shaped and stained obeche frame
380 x 460mm
Oil on canvas, custom shaped and stained obeche frame
380 x 460mm
Purple Geranium II, 2024
Oil on canvas, custom shaped and stained obeche frame
400 x 455mm
Oil on canvas, custom shaped and stained obeche frame
400 x 455mm
Purple and Green Water Lily Leaves, 2024
Oil on canvas, custom shaped and stained obeche frame
605 x 750mm
Oil on canvas, custom shaped and stained obeche frame
605 x 750mm
Circles, 2024
Oil on canvas, beech frame
785 x 785mm
Oil on canvas, beech frame
785 x 785mm
Spring Again photographed in studio
Water & Earth installation at KAUKAU
Photos by Cheska Brown
Photos by Cheska Brown
Opening evening for Water & Earth
Photos by Eliza Blamey
Photos by Eliza Blamey
Moving in during the middle of winter. Nights by the fire with cups of tea and candles. Eating cake by candlelight at the small dining room table; pear, parsnip and walnut with thick cream icing. Watching shows on the white leather sofa as rain falls outside; full from waffles, warm from the fire. Laughing as the sofa squeaks. Dancing on the deck in the rain. Hail falling through trees onto damp earth. Walks along the coast in the evening as the sky turns pink. Listening to new songs lying side by side on the lounge floor. Listening in bed with the heater on and the wind outside. Morning bus rides with views of purple flowering bushes obscured by rain and silver sun. Sea sparkling silver-blue around the bay. Watching a friend’s music video on the wall of the lounge: close-ups of plants and flowers and grainy fields of colour. Planting garden beds and filling pots with soil. Evenings spent in the garden in low sunlight, sitting amongst the plants. Harvesting potatoes: hands scooping through rich, damp earth. Purple, cream and red potatoes like pebbles and large stones. Dahlias in the garden bed next to them; pink and white and starbursts of yellow with chocolate brown stems. Picking them for the lounge coffee table. Sun streaming into the lounge and bedroom. Weeks of rain. Rain falling against dark branches out the side window. Showering looking up at the trees. Dahlias growing large and droopy. Garden beds wet. Trees dark and green. Cold storms rolling in from the ocean, bringing fresh sea air. Sunsets breaking through clouds and glowing orange over the far wall of the lounge. Falling in love with this life and the dreamy, watery, earthy qualities of this house in the trees on the side of the hill.