Magical Corinna

I have been living in Tasmania for 25 years and have not properly explored the north west coast of the island and there are so many hidden gems! One being Corinna. All the accommodation in Corinna (it’s a popular destination!) was booked out weeks in advance, so I was only able to spend a day there. https://corinna.com.au/ It is a small, historical and isolated settlement (no wi-fi, petrol station, shops and the like) nestled along the Pieman River.

Corinna, once a thriving gold mining town, is rich with history and stories. Its ancient forests, originally housing Aboriginal hunter-gatherer society, now provides the backdrop to a largely undisturbed village as when the Europeans explored and prospected here.

After a long and bumpy drive from Arthur River, the first stop was the cafe, which is also the shop, accommodation reception, where you purchase barge ride tickets and more.

The one and only shop/cafe/reception and the like

From the window seat, I started to sketch the first cottage in view, which I later discovered was the Old Pub. I doesn’t look like what I imagine a pub would look like!

my sketch of the pub from the Corinna cafe

The Old Pub, Corinna Tasmania

Apparently it was quite a rowdy place!

After a meal, I started exploring Corinna on foot.

old petrol bowser

One of the many accommodation cottages

The Butcher Shop that is next door to the Old Pub

Another shot of the Butcher Shop. It has the coolest chimney!

The Butcher Shop. I’ve never seen a chimney like this one!

some of the characters and stories of Corinna

The Great Western. The whole time I was drawing this building, there was a pademelon chomping away. It’s difficult to see in the photo, but it is on our right side of the building, in the grass.

I drew in the pademelon at The Great Western, Corinna

We did an hour and a half walk in the beautiful Tarkine Rainforest and visited a patch where the crayfish burrow. There are boat cruises, canoeing and more adventures to be had in Corinna. https://www.discovertasmania.com.au/about/regions-of-tasmania/west-coast/corinna

crayfish burrows

Then it was sadly time to depart, using the Fatman Barge transport novelty ($28 per car). It only fits two vehicles at a time on it, less if they are pulling a boat or trailer.

The only Stop sign in Corinna

Corinna humour

The barge coming to collect us

being transported across Pieman River. Bye-bye Corinna 😦

Thanks for visiting and I hope that you enjoyed the short tour of Corinna, Tasmania.

Cheers from Patricia Hopwood-Wade http://www.pjpaintings.com

Corinna, TAS

More information about Corinna, Tasmania

The Famous Wineglass Bay

Wineglass Bay, Tasmania, rates highly as one of the top beaches in the world. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/wineglass-bay

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My girlfriend, who is soon moving to New Zealand, and I are doing a road trip in Tasmania, one last look for her before she leaves. Wineglass Bay was our first stop. On the way, we saw a sweet little echidna on the side of the road. They are quite common in Tasmania, but I certainly don’t see them very often. https://www.bushheritage.org.au/species/echidna

It’s quite a steep trek to the Wineglass viewing platform. I love the boulders, their shape, strength and colour.

passing by boulders on way to the viewing platform

A quick sketch of the boulders

Scenes from the viewing platform.

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Wineglass Bay with Hazards Beach on the other side

My quick sketch of the view

On our walk back to the car park, going the Hazards Beach way, my friend suddenly stopped and screamed. It’s strange how childhood experiences embed in brains so deeply. I immediately thought there must be a bear ahead on the track, but at the same time my brain told me that there are no bears in Australia (I have encountered bears several times in Canada while bush walking) and then I saw a snake slither into the bush. I had to push my friend past as she is petrified of snakes.

We saw many fairy wrens in the bush, which inspired this inktober drawing (it’ll look nicer when I add paint :-). What does Wineglass Bay and Superb fairy-wrens have in common….?

a fairy wren being a good dad

…… they have both been voted #1 and they are both a brilliant turquoise. https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2017/08/six-things-you-didnt-know-about-superb-fairy-wrens/

After walking for four hours, we were grateful to be sitting down! We had a counter meal in Coles Bay where I met a fellow Belgian, Annabelle.

Two Belgians in Coles Bay, Tasmania

Thanks for visiting.

Cheers from PJ Paintings

An #Inktober Flurry

The prompt word for day 13 is “dune”. I drew some emus having a gleeful time driving a dune buggy. There’s not a sign of apprehension on their faces, despite steering with their feet due having wingless bodies. They know how to ignore potential limitations and experience adventures.

Adventuring emus

Day 14’s prompt word is “armor”. I drew a male fairy wren sitting on an abandoned helmet. The Superb fairy-wren was voted Australia’s favourite bird, which is no surprise being such a lovely shaped, little bird with a bright turquoise crown. https://birdlife.org.au/bird-profile/superb-fairy-wren

a watchful dad

I combined day 15 and 16’s prompt words: “outpost” and “rocket”.

An outpost house sad to see its only resident go

Day 17 and the prompt word is “storm”. This emu is hurrying to get inside before she gets caught in a storm.

Avoiding the oncoming storm

I’m all caught up. Hooray!

Thanks for stopping by. Take care, from Pj Paintings http://www.pjpaintings.com

Sketch-meet

On the second Sunday of each month, a small group of Hobartians, set up on footpaths of streets, parks, or the like, to do some urban sketching. This Sunday we sketched on New Town Rd with easy view of the old post office stores, Jackman & McRoss Bakery and Dispatch Cafe.

The old post office stores with Dispatch Cafe next to it

Post Office Stores – I drew firstly with a grey texta to try to help me not get too caught up in the detail.

There was about 10 minutes before we were to meet at Dispatch Cafe, so I used my grey texta and applied watercolour to do a very quick drawing of Jackman & McRoss Bakery.

An almost direct watercolour drawing

My view of the Cafe

We met at the Dispatch Cafe for a lively cuppa and throw down.

Mosaic in Dispatch Cafe

I took photos of the awesome mosaic in the washroom at Dispatch.

Three dimensional mosaic

Three dimensional mosaic made by Tanya La Paglia displayed at the Dispatch Cafe, which used to be the old post office which was officially opened on January 1, 1842.

I hope that you have a good week and keep the pen/s drawing.

Thanks for visiting, Pj Paintings http://www.pjpaintings.com

A Mixture

The #inktober is marching on and it’s getting a little difficult to keep up with it… but I’m persevering. I think I will temporarily fall behind a little because my drawing for tomorrow’s word is quite complicated. But for yesterday’s and today’s prompt word, simplicity prevails and I’m relying on the application of watercolour paints to bring life and depth to the drawings. So, without further delay, Day 11 of the #Inktober2020 Challenge is “disgusting”.

Disgusting!

I think that everybody would agree that stepping into fresh dog poo is rather disgusting. But what is more disgusting is missing the key to true, world-wide peace and human rights. Unfortunately treating every human life with value and respect, remains a theory with everything from genocide to bullying, and in between, still occurring. It is heart breaking and disgusting. Our challenge every day, actions upholding, or not upholding, the values espoused by the Human Rights Declaration? https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/

Key to human rights – valuing each individual

The prompt word for Day 12 is “slippery”.

Slippery

It is a slippery and tricky exercise riding a whale!

I hope the start of your week is going well!

Cheers, from PJ Paintings http://www.pjpaintings.com

Preliminary Finals

It’s finals time in Australia – Australian Football League (AFL) finals that is. Australians love AFL. On Grand Final Day the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) hosts over 100,000 people to watch the spectacle live. The atmosphere is electric. The highest attendance at an AFL grand final was in 1970 when a record crowd of 121,696 spectators watched the game. 

Never before, in its 123 year history, has the grand final been played outside of Victoria, but this year, due to COVID-19, it is going to be played at the GABBA in the central suburb of Brisbane, Woolloongabba, Queensland on October 24, 2020 at 6:30pm local time.

I have been working on this painting for a while now and it just so happens that the Richmond Tigers are playing in the preliminary finals.

Tiger army

A print of this Tiger army will make a great gift for Richmond supporters.  Available at: https://pjpaintings.com/collections/sporty-emus/products/sports-tiger-army-football-watercolour

Enjoy the rest of the weekend, and if your team is still in the running, I hope that they go well.

HOPE

Day 10’s prompt word of the #inktober challenge is HOPE. I drew an emu practicing some challenging roller blading moves. While practicing she was “hoping” like mad that she didn’t stack it again. She doesn’t want another crumpled-beak injury. Having a crumpled beak made it really difficult for her to forage for seeds, berries, fresh grasses and insects, not to mention swallowing small stones to help her digestive system grind up the plant material in her tummy. Drinking was easier than eating but with the ten minutes of drinking water at a time, her beak got very sore.

For more emu facts, visit https://www.theanimalfacts.com/birds/emu/

Thanks for visiting!

Cheers, Patricia (PJ) Hopwood-Wade

http://www.pjpaintings.com

Another Combination…

The #inktober challenge continues marching on…

I’ve combined the prompt words for Day 6 RODENT and Day 8 TEETH:

Beavers are rodents and they do have rather substantial teeth!

The prompt word for Day 5 is BLADE:

I drew an emu rollerblading…. I unintentionally drew roller skates (lol)

I hope that you are enjoying the drawings. Some I will add paint to and they will become available on my website (www.pjpaintings.com).

Thanks for visiting. Cheers, from Patricia (PJ)

What a combination

Today’s prompt word for the #InktoberChallenge2020 is RADIO. I have decided to combine Day 4 and Day 27 with this drawing: radio (Day 4’s prompt word) and music (Day 27’s prompt word), by drawing fairy penguins having a bit of a bop to some music they are hearing on the radio.

fairy penguins having a little jig

Fairy penguins are the smallest species of penguin. They nest on Bruny Island, Tasmania and in Victoria, Australia. I have seen them in the wild in all three places and it is such a special, magical sight to see them scurrying up the beach to their young ones who are eagerly awaiting their arrival.

Thank you for visiting and I hope that you are enjoying #Inktober!

The Inktober Challenge

It’s Day three of the Inktober Challenge and so far I’ve managed to keep up with the pace of producing a drawing a day. For me, it’s about quantity, and quality is secondary with this challenge. What’s important for me is exploring new ideas and being creative. The idea/concept can be refined and reproduced as a quality piece of work later on.

Day #1 – for the prompt word FISH, I drew the critically endangered Tasmanian spotted-handfish

Water coloured inks and watercolour paints were used to paint this picture of the Tasmanian spotted-handfish

Day #2 – for the prompt word WISP, I drew a waft of steam.

A steamy wisp of steam

Day #3 – for the prompt word BULKY, I drew a “bulky” load in a small hammock

ink drawing for the prompt word “bulky”

Bulky painted

Tomorrow’s prompt word is RADIO. Do any ideas come to mind for that word??? I’ll post my drawing for Day #4 – RADIO tomorrow.

Until then, take care and thanks for stopping by.