I love living by the Huon River down south in Tasmania. It’s a beautiful wide river with interesting birdlife , boats sailing past our house daily and the most glorious reflections. We’ve been here for five months now and every day is filled with the everchanging river view from my studio and many perfect moments as I drive the stretch of road from our house upriver to visit my mum, grab some more art supplies or go to church.
This is the view across the river one evening from our lounge room window. We never get bored…one of us is always calling out to the other ” did you see the river?”
I have an ever expanding collection of photo references because I rarely drive upriver without having to stop and capture a special shot…or three or more!
I’m always fascinated to see the changing cloud patterns and reflections…what a change a few hours can make on the river.
There’s a gang of geese that have their own little territory on a grassy meadow under a wild apple tree. I often stop to take a photo and watch them as they go about living their best life on the riverbank.
Then there are all the boats… little row boats, sleek yachts and fishing boats…all adding to the charm of the river.
The idea has been growing to create a series of paintings capturing the many moods of the river over a year. I already have a zillion ideas floating around and this week I decided to make a start after a particularly great photographic session just after the early morning mist had cleared.
This is the first in my Year by the River series. I love the contrast of the soft grey light in the clouds and river against the strong, warm autumn colours of the grasses on the river’s edge. This is a favourite spot … there are always birds flitting around and on this morning two grey herons flew in and gracefully landed on the boat.
Now I’ve told you it means I’m committed! I’ll be slowly working on this series over the next year to build up a body of worlk that encapsulates all that fascinates and delights me about this beautiful river and the life along it. There will be boats and birds, sunsets and clouds, reflections and reed beds…not forgetting the gang of geese!
If you have a current creative project you’re working on I’d love to hear what your inspiration is.
Lindy Whitton Studio 
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