New Zealand Landscape Series

We all like to share a special place with another person. We want other people to have the same amazing experience that we did. We want them to feel as happy as we did at that moment.

This new tea towel collection of landscapes is how I share my thoughts about peace, reflection, and the joy this land gives me. These images are watercolour paintings of photographs I took myself and one from a friend while travelling around New Zealand during two different summer holidays. On one occasion, we went north, the other south.

They are digitally rendered and custom woven on 100% linen, which enables the texture of the cloth to enhance all the tones, blends, and marks of the watercolours. I hope you will weave your own stories into these lovely tea towels.

Watercolour artwork by my dear friend and fellow fabric lover, Moira Sun and Haiku Poems by my husband John G Davies.

Cook Strait/Te Moana-o-Ruakawa

I photographed this image at approximately 5.30a.m, crossing the Cook Strait between our two islands on a clear morning. I was by myself outside on the ferry, and I just wanted to remember how I felt at that moment. It was a moment of possibility. A new day always has infinite potential. Life is also full of potential; at any given moment, we can decide how we are going to move forward. It is simultaneously exciting and scary. That’s why I decided on this picture—dark and moody with the dawn light filtering through. My life is constantly like that, pushing through challenge after challenge and eventually feeling the light on my face and taking a breath.

DAWN BETWEEN ISLANDS

from ferry ship rail

glowing horizon ahead

dark silky water

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South Island Mountain Daisy

During the summer, my brother's friend took this picture while they were on a hiking holiday. I was staying with him in Christchurch when the adventure party arrived back home exhilarated and satisfied with their journey. Their excitement reminded me of a similar experience. The valleys of the Southern Alps of New Zealand are magnificent, and you cannot help but feel uplifted. They kindly said yes when I asked them if I could ask my friend to paint this image for a tea towel.

What I feel when I see this scenery is wonder at so many elements of nature working so perfectly together—the delicate almost insignificance of wild flowers in a backdrop of a deep valley with towering hills. Being there is magical, but you can’t stay; you have to keep moving.

MOUNTAINS

density and time

shouldering mist animals

walk your rock and moss

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Cape Reinga/Te Rerenga Wairua

If you haven’t been to the farthest northern point of New Zealand, I highly recommend you do, as experiencing existential moments is one of the joys of being human.

This is one of many photos I captured this day in January, and it was a tricky decision on which image would become a tea towel. I wanted to choose a different location, one that was marked by an ancient Pohutukawa tree just around the corner from the lighthouse. Out of respect for all Māori and their ancestors, I did not, for this area is sacred and marks a passage for the spirits of the deceased as they bid their last farewell. The lighthouse is iconic, and upon seeing it, you will know where you are. It is also a place where you can say farewell to your own loved ones and perhaps to beliefs and attachments that no longer serve you.

LIGHTHOUSE TE RERENGA WAIRUA

upon a salt rock

the heron waits listening

silent spirits pass