The southernmost state in Australia is the island of Tasmania. It has a fascinating history, spectacular landscape and well-preserved colonial architecture—the ideal place to conduct a painting workshop. Our group consisted of painters from all over Australia, some from New Zealand and some from the United States. The two-week workshop was based in three locations: Smithton in the North of the state, Strahan on the West Coast and Hobart on the lower East Coast. From these three locations we had a coach to take us to various painting, sightseeing and historical locations.
Close to Smithton is the small town of Stanley. The village is tucked under an ancient volcanic plug called “The Nut.” It is surrounded by beautiful beaches and has many interesting old cottages dating back to the 1800s. We also encountered a curious chicken that inspected our work and kept a close eye on the interesting display of painting materials.
Strahan is located on Macquarie Harbour and has a colorful fleet of cray fishing boats. We were lucky to have fine sunny weather and a convenient park with tables and chairs to paint the boats from. To create the luminous orange of the hull, I used a glaze of permanent rose overlaid (once dry) with a glaze of Aerolin. The lower half of the hull was then darkened with a wash of ultramarine. The rusty patina was applied with a pen and burnt sienna pigment ink.
From Strahan we moved on to Hobart and spent a day in Franklin painting some of the wooden boats the town is famous for. The forests of Tasmania grow a tree called the Huon Pine. It grows very slowly and possesses an oil that makes it impervious to water and the various organisms that attack normal timber. Its status as a boat building timber is legendary, and the craftsmen in Franklin are famous for their vessels built from this timber.
The old jetties and boat moorings in Franklin make a great subject. It looks terribly confusing, but by breaking the subject down into three interesting, varied shapes (foreground, area of interest and background) the process is made much simpler. The area of interest is then broken up into a varied collection of roughly boat and building-like shapes. Once the masts and some fine rigging are added the impression of intricate nautical detail is created.
This old ferry called “Cartela” is moored in Franklin awaiting restoration. The peeling paint, rust stains and frayed ropes make a great painting subject. I couldn’t help exaggerating the green of the hull with a mixture of phthalo blue and phthalo green. While this mixture was still wet ultramarine was splashed in to add variation.
On our travels around Tasmania we also did a lot of sketching. Often as a preliminary to a finished painting and also as a quick record of interesting things we encountered. A number of the group were keen sketchers and had beautiful sketchbooks, filled in daily with all sorts of interesting drawings and paintings. My traveling painting equipment is fairly compact, but sometimes it is handy to have just a tiny pouch with a few colors, a couple of small brushes and one or two fiber tip pens. This and a small sketchbook fits easily in my camera bag. It means I can spend the day walking and exploring and still be able to do some small, quick paintings.
While in Hobart we traveled out to Richmond to paint the old stone convict built bridge. I don’t imagine the convict workers in the mid 1800s would have thought the fruits of their labor would have been the subject of so many paintings, sketches and photographs forever into the future.
This was a fabulous workshop—great food, wonderful Tasmanian wine and beer, painting subjects everywhere and lots of new friendships with interesting, like-minded people.
Join me for an art retreat in Southern France in September/October 2024. Learn more at johnlovett.com/workshops or email contact@uptrek.com.
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