Painting in Townsville.

Townsville has so much visual interest, I could paint full time here. I've been here since Saturday, and so far have done two sketches, one small canvas in acrylics and one small triptych on canvas paper. Chris and I have been cruising round looking for good things to paint, and we drew one of the big banyan figs on the Strand, then moved down to Anzac Park, where I painted a scene involving trees and the band rotunda, while he did another beautiful pen drawing of part of a banyan.

This morning I was out by 7am, knowing the early light would be good. I didn't take best advantage of the light, as I think it takes a few days to line up subjects that want the light, and I haven't. But I have been fascinated by the panoramic view of Mt Stuart from Bowen Bridge Road for some time, and drove down there. I set up three sheets of canvas paper on the bike path, put some water in my bucket and paint on my palette, and painted for about an hour or a little more, getting a good colour sketch of the anatomy of the mountain with mangroves in the foreground.

Tomorrow we are going to Magnetic Island, and I hope for sunshine, as I want to sketch and photograph the banyans on the beach at Horseshoe Bay, for a new commission. My client particularly wants the amazingly light reflections from the sand, which give the tree a luminous quality.

I forgot to bring togs, so if its warm enough, which it probably will be unless the wind picks up, I will have to swim in my sarong. Looking forward to relaxing and drawing.