Paintings Inspired by New Zealand

I was fortunate to make a trip to New Zealand in the late fall (spring time there). It's often said there are no words to describe the beauty in New Zealand, and I have to agree. Lucky for me, I paint.

My wife and I traveled there with my daughter Krystal, her husband Chad and our two grandkids River and Ellia. We rented camper vans and spent the majority of our trip in the south island. Every day was filled with new wonder, unbelievable beauty, vibrant colors, and a lot of fun and adventure.

(Photo credit to my daughter Krystal - here is her website: https://www.krystalkirkland.com/)

Upon returning home and settling in, I've created 2 paintings so far, with many more to come this year.

This one is titled "Distant Memories" and was inspired by our first day there and being blown away by the majestic views of mountains everywhere as we started the first leg of our journey in the camper van.

This one is titled "Fjord Mist" and was inspired on by our last leg of the journey as we traveled to Milford Sound. This is a pretty large painting - 6 feet tall by 5 feet wide. It seemed like the only way to paint what was swirling around in my head because there is such amazing grandeur of the views as you drive up to Milford Sound.

(Photo cred goes to Krystal again)

We traveled to the north island for a day to visit Hobbiton. I'm a huge Hobbit and Lord of the Rings fan, so I really loved this. Here we all are, ready to move into a hobbit home.

If you've always wanted to take a trip to New Zealand, make sure you put it on your bucket list. I hope to return some day soon, but in the meantime, I'll just keep painting my memories. If you're interested, you can view (or buy) these paintings at Gallery 903 in Portland.