Invitation to "A Portrait of Southland" - 6th Jul 2014

You are invited to the opening of "A Portrait of Southland":

A Portrait of Southland is a personal view of the Region in watercolour by Ron Esplin.
The exhibition opens with an afternoon tea at 3PM on Saturday 12 July 2014 at the Green Island Gallery, 194 Main South Road Green Island.

Why Southland?:

Southland is the most sparsely populated Southern region of New Zealand. It is famed for native bird sanctuaries and an untouched natural environment. A quarter of Southland's land area is protected as part of the Fiordland and Rakiura national parks, and conservation and sustainability projects are key activities.
The largest city of Invercargill is a laid back town with a Scottish heritage but like the rest of Southland it takes a little while to learn to love. Other centres tend to be smaller such as Gore and Mataura, and many towns are quite rural and quaint such as Mataura, Riverton, Winton, and Tuatapere. But the region is at once charming and majestic. Charming as in the little fishing village of Cosy Nook for example, and majestic as in the towering Southern Alps to the West sheltering lakes such as Manapouri and Hauroko, the deepest lake in New Zealand.

"A Portrait of Southland" is also a book:

I have put together a twenty page book featuring 34 paintings and editorial about Southland and the subjects featured. Many of the original paintings are included in the exhibition, and the book will be available for sale at the Gallery.

A Little Puzzle for you:

I compiled the book over some time, and when I came to the point of holding the exhibition with the assistance of Green Island Gallery Director Genny Hanning, I discovered that a number of paintings had been sold. What to do? Well for the first time in my life I decided to reproduce some of the paintings, a fascinating exercise and of course an impossible one. The puzzle is for you to see if you can pick out the paintings that I have reproduced. They are different, and original paintings in their own right and not too difficult to identify, but a fun exercise.


Click on the link below to view the website invitation.

Invitation to "A Portrait of Southland"