The Pump House

The Pump House, at 544 Tuam St, Christchurch owned by Paddy & Jackie Snowdon.
Paddy asked me to paint his precious building (which he has owned for the past 30 years) for his wife's birthday. It is now a salvage yard & hosts the largest collection of stained glass windows in the southern hemisphere as well as many doors, columns & other historical building parts both pre & post earthquakes. The Pump House was built in the early 1880's & is one of Christchurch's lasting historical buildings. Recently Paddy has had it restored & earthquake proofed & had been looking for an artist to paint it. The last time The Pump House was painted was 65 years ago (by artist Doris Lusk) I was honoured to be asked to paint it after such a long time. Doris Lusks painting is kept in Aucklands art gallery in the historical collection & was painted in 1958 (side note, is on a New Zealand stamp now)
My process began with a few small studies from life & painting the majority of the final piece on site until I needed to work into further detail & transition into working in my studio from a photo. At which point the photo looked so different compared to the painting I had done on site, that I mainly had to rely on my memory. It was such an interesting process, I have learnt so much from this experience!