BLOG about PAINTING

I worked outside today. Not in some exotic place (that's for tomorrow), but right here in the garden. The climate here is quite a bit warmer than Vancouver Island, and therefore the veggies that one can grow without a greenhouse is rather different. And rather than parsnips dug out of the snow in winter, there are far more exotic things. For example, here's one of Jude's garden plants:

NZ Winter Veg

It's great having these spicy peppers. I've been throwing them into my curries for some extra pizzaz. Yum. Though it's rather hard on my hands. The skin where I sometimes get a bit of eczema stings like mad. Ha.

And I finally put some cattle into one of the sketches. I usually don't include animals. Partly it's because I'm not great at capturing their 'gesture', especially with a largish brush at such a small scale. And, in this one, I got the perspective/placement wrong. Oh, well, the point of doing these fast sketches is to loosen up and not be precious.

TODAY'S TIDBIT

Apparently, a lot of New Zealand's sheep herds are being traded in for beef cattle. China is NZ's major trading partner, and the Chinese want beef, not lamb. I wonder what the change will do to the landscape. It's pretty well already denuded of native trees, thanks to the depredations of sheep. Will cattle make any difference? Better? Worse?