Earthsea Gallery

The journey from the West Coast to Canterbury over Arthur’s Pass illustrates the diversity and ruggedness of NZ’s South Island. We left the lush West Coast forest to travel through sweeping beech forest and then the wild alpine scenery of Arthur’s Pass, the second highest alpine road crossing in NZ. High country grasslands are suddenly transformed into the flat, agricultural patchwork of the Canterbury Plains. Here, the Waimakariri River basin unfolds; a glacial landscape of terraces, shingle fans, screes and lakes. I have painted this scene, looking west across the junction of the Bealey and Waimakariri Rivers, towards Arthurs’ Pass.