Five days of our time in Newy were coloured by our new friend, Jake, both literally and figuratively. When we weren’t creating a gorgeous painting that now hangs proudly in our van, we were experiencing everything that Jake knew to show us in the beachside city.
Days filled with painting in the van were full of excitement and possibility, shadowed by an immense weight that our time in this place was coming to a close. Shoulders kissed by sun, outdoor acrylics and Persian love cake on Saturday. The van inevitably parked by the beach. A pale yellow piece of cardboard became a pencil sketch of two cross-legged fairies in a garden of seaweed and insects.
Thunder over the ocean, essential oil scent pod and darkness at 1pm on Sunday. The wind rattled the van from side to side but we kept on painting. We warmed up with hot chippies and gravy and sweet potato scallops - it’s nice to be taken to someone else’s ‘usuals’ that are slightly different from our own. A swim in the Merewether baths in the pelting rain afterwards in our undies. It was a scene from a film. Three bodies, golden from the past days, overflowing with contentment and freedom.
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The painting was finished in the afternoon light of King Edward Park after a plunge into the Bogey Hole. Greens, purples and pinks populated our portrait that now lay on the picnic rug before our painter friend. Slight smile on lips. He gave us a crystal each to keep in the van before the tightest group hug.
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