Hello you guys, welcome to my blog: Art, Skiing & Queenstown Trip August 2020. Today I’m sharing with you an update on what I’ve been doing for the month of August 2020.

Mainly I’ve been learning and spending time with my Art. By the end of the month, I also I had a trip to Queenstown and Skied for the first time in Wanaka.

Plus, the spring season is coming to New Zealand and it makes me so excited to see the flowers and tree leafs blooming! ♡

Art

Art, Skiing & Queenstown Trip August 2020

Acrylics

As I’ve shared before in some videos and posts, I’ve been working on a series of New Zealand Birds Acrylic Paintings. This month, along with the other materials I tried, I had some quality time with my paintings.

Special my Tui Painting, with which I started the series. I went back to it and decided to add some details to the head. It turned into to be a whole new layer of paint that I most proudly say: let me impressed and satisfied.

Even though I haven’t been able to fully complete any of my acrylic paintings yet, I’ve come to terms with it. I’ve realized art takes a lot of time…

Before I didn’t really took time to watch and learn while painting. Now I’m noticing how the paint works and reacts. I’ve learned loads about this material and I’m happy about that.

Watercolor

A few months ago I bought a small watercolor pallet and a watercolor paper block because I’ve been curious to try it for a while. Funny enough, once I had the materials ready to go, I left it in my drawer for a little while…

I must admit, as I’ve never really been a full time artist or had an consisten artist practice, I got a little bit overwhelmed and intimidated with the idea of trying new things, watercolor included.

This month though, I went out of my comfort zone and painted a few things with watercolor… It turns out its super fun and freeing as the nature of the material is to flow and the imperfections you might have in your piece add extra character and charm.

Watercolor has definitively helped me loosen up. You can feel free to just do something and fix it later or start over if you don’t love it but allowing yourself to try something without the need to achieve a standard is awesome.

Ink

Inktober is coming and I had the chance to subscribe to Jake Parker’s newsletter to get the list a week earlier than the publish time in my email so I started doing some of the prompts I felt comfortable and easy doing.

Last year’s Inktober 2019 I didn’t really put too much thought into practicing inking. As I was still travelling full time South East Asia, I gave myself the freedom to use pencils, watercolor (pencils), and anything as long as I had the prompts and completed the challenge.

This year Inktober 2020 I really want to dive into the inking world. Learn some techniques and tools that I can incorporate into my art practice. I’m still going to keep it simple and not try to go over the top with concepts or compositions but I’ll try to experiment with different ink types and techniques.

Crochet

I’ve always been obsessed with crochet creations and even though nothing I’ve done is super intricate or creative… It’s a way for me to get started.

Jono’s mom and I went to a yarn sale in a factory around Lower Hutt and found some HUGE chunky yarn for $15 nzd. I wasn’t expecting to buy anything specific and I didn’t even had a project in mind but for the price I decided I had to make something.

As the yarn is not the finest quality, I started with some projects that didn’t require any softness. Instead, I went for some pillows and baskets. I’ll be attempting some bag designs and other basic items next month.

Once I go through my three yarns I’ll start using up some Spaghetti Yarn I bought second hand on facebook. Later, I’ll start looking into some clothing patterns for summer as here in New Zealand, we’re heading into that season.

I hope to get into it more deeply and sell some quick / easy to make items in the future.

Queenstown & Wanaka Trip

Art, Skiing & Queenstown Trip August 2020

Sightseeing in Queenstown

Initially, we were meant to meet some friends at the time we arrived to Queenstown. But due to Covid-19, Jono and I had the first two days to ourselves. Our friends came from Auckland, where they were at Alert Level 3 at the time and they had to change their flight dates for a couple of days.

Therefore, we decided to go sightseeing around Queenstown Centre and surrounding towns. I’ll be sharing a good overview of the trip here but to read the full trip story + more info and recommendations on where to go read my Queenstown Trip Blog.

Day 1 Flight, Sunset & Ferg Burger

We arrived around lunch time. The first thing we did after dropping our bags in the hostel was to go for a Ferg Burger.

If you haven’t heard of it, Ferg Burger is a most have when in Queenstown. Personally, I think they’re pretty good but nothing out of this world (controversial). But giving it a go is part of the experience and nobody denies a good burger anyways, right?

Specially with a view like this…

We were also lucky enough to be around city centre for sunset and have some amazing sky views. Having a beautiful view at the snowy mountains.

Day 2 Queenstown Gardens & Ice Skating

The next day we had a walk around Queenstown Gardens and ended up at the Ice Skating Arena.

Queenstown Gardens

Right beside the Lake Front, walking Queenstown Gardens along the coast gives you amazing views of the mountains and when in Winter, you’re able to see the snowy tops pretty well.

For this trip I put together some outfits that I was really excited about. Sadly, I didn’t had the chance to photograph them all but here’s a quick photo shoot we had at the gardens with one of them.

Ice Skating

“Located in Queenstown Gardens, you will find a professional, family-friendly arena with public ice skating sessions, ice hockey games, ice bumper cars & a cozy ...” (Queenstown Ice Arena).

I’ve ice skate before maybe two times? And I was quite surprised I was able to pick a little bit of speed while skating this time. One of my childhood “frustrated dreams” was to learn and get into ice skating.

Even though we weren’t planning to go to the Ice Arena, this gave me hope and confidence to try getting into ice skating in the future or at least get some skates to practice on ground.

Day 3 Arrowtown & Glenorchy

Arrowtown

Arrowtown is a 20 min drive from Queenstown and a very nice little colorful town. We didn’t spend too much time but you can definetively do a whole day or more if you want.

To see more about Arrowtown you can check my Arrowtown Blog. Here I show you more about the Chinese Settlement, the Museum and other interesting things to see and do in Arrowtown.

Glenorchy

A little bit further, Glenorchy is a 45-minute drive northwest of Queenstown. The day was cold and windy for this open area but the views didn’t disappoint.

Art, Skiing & Queenstown Trip August 2020

Wanaka Skiing Trip

Day 4 Skiing Treble Cone

This was the first time ever I tried Skiing… The first time to see snow to be honest. I like to think I did very well overall and I’m past the basic level in the two days we skied (I can almost do parallel skiing now!).

This doesn’t change the fact that my first time wearing the skies, I went up “the Pomma” and skied backwards till the operator TACKLED me to stop.

Check out Hunter & Bligh’s blog for more photos of the ski fields around the South Island to have an idea.

The second time I tried hopping on the skies mid mountain so I didn’t had to use the Pomma but still slide down uncontrollably until I hit the metal fence by (again) the Pomma operator.

Turns out it was not about the Pomma but about the fact that Jono was too excited to get started in his skiing that he forgot I’ve never skied before. Told me to hop in the Pomma with them (while they went to the top and forgot about me) and didn’t instruct me on how to even stand in the skies to keep myself from sliding mid mountain.

To have a break and allow a little time to recover from my PTSD, I build a Snow Man with Meera & Jono. Tried skiing a little more in the tiniest slope to get the hang of speed and learn how to stop with “‘pizza”.

Day 5 Skiing Cadrona

I still had a little bit of PTSD. But more confident than before… since I knew I could control my speed better and how to stop. I tried a slightly steeper and longer slope (still beginner slope). Here I got more confident with standing around in the middle of the mountain. I also learned a little bit on how to do parallel skiing.

I still have a long way to go but I think I was pretty good being the first time and not having much guidance. It’s recommended for you to take a lesson so that you feel more confident and skip the PTSD.

I tried to book a beginners class the second day. Although, the guy at the ticket area said if I could do pizza I didn’t need the beginner class anymore since it was too basic. I needed to move into the intermediate class but it was booked for the day.

We might try to go skiing to Mt Ruapehu (North Island) before the season ends. Hopefully I’m able to get a intermediate class. Walking out of this first season like a pro…

Isaac & Maria’s Stag Do

Day 6 Gun Shooting

I have shoot a rifle before with my grandfather but limited my targets to cans a few meters from me. This time we were shooting at moving clay bowls for targets and I got to hit one!

I might’ve shot a little under 10 times. Considering I didn’t really used the gun too much I’m pretty proud. For the first time shooting moving targets (honestly almost the first time shooting at all) I consider it to be pretty good.

It was Liam’s (right photo in black) gun and we went with Chris (left top photo in blue), Dale & Varnika.

Day 7 Party Hard

Attending the Stag Do meant partying hard. It was my first Bachelor Party ever and I didn’t know what to expect (kind of did). Although everybody was drinking… I don’t drink myself nor I’m anything near a wild party person, a group of us where chatting, eating and playing board games on the side.

This while taking part on some of the party games like “Hammering the Nail” and “Limbo” (where I ended up champ) of course.

Art, Skiing & Queenstown Trip August 2020

Other News

Left my job as FOH Manager

If you have been following along, it might be weird to read as no long ago I announced I found a job in New Zealand as Front of the House Manager in a Bistro but it happens to be that two months later… I resigned! I decided it wasn’t for me and had my last week of work the first week of August.

Got a contract with a Modeling Agency

Luckily after spending most of the month zoning out into my paintings, I got a contract with a Modeling Agency and I’m so excited for future projects that might be coming.

Looking for New Opportunities

I hope next month I’m able to sign with a Hospitality Agency for other casual work opportunities. I’ll also keep working on my blog and art to hopefully start a business online in the near future.

I’m also looking into getting a Certification or Qualification in Makeup Art (Near Future) and I might decide to study a new degree next year in Art, History, Design or something related.

August Favorites

Shows

Next in Fashion

Glow Up

Art, Skiing & Queenstown Trip August 2020

If you like this don’t forget to share or pin for later!

Thanks for reading and see you next time! ♡

For more content, follow these & more projects, check out my social media:

Personal YouTube | Instagram | Pinterest | Facebook 

Travel YouTube | Instagram | Pinterest | Facebook

Art YouTube | Instagram | Pinterest | Facebook