http://paulcato.com/blog » Landscape Paintings

The Sunflower Pickers

Paul Cato — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 20:56:02 +0000

And now, for something completely different..

I didn’t plan it to be this way but this week, while it was snowing incessantly and the entire view outside was tints of white, I was completing a warm, sunny scene I had begun earlier. Sharon had come into my studio a few weeks back and said “Florals – you need to do some florals!” And so I thought, “OK, what sort of flowers have I never done? Ah, what about some sunflowers?” So after some research as to how they grow, various different types, etc. Here’s the result.

The Sunflower Pickers 26"x40"

Floral Garden

Paul Cato — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 00:11:03 +0000

Here’s a painting to lead you up the garden path.

Skippers Canyon Evening

Paul Cato — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 01:56:51 +0000

Earlier this year I saw a couple of consecutive sunsets which I guessed would probably look quite spectacular from Mount Dewar (the next mountain west of Coronet Peak). I rushed up there the next evening and began the steep ascent – about 80 minutes up from the Skippers Saddle from memory. The skies looked perfect but there was a strong wind building from the West-Sou’west. Halfway up and heavy clouds were swirling in behind me, and by the time I got to the ‘perfect’ spot I had about a minute to get camera gear out and get the shots. It wasn’t long enough! I sheltered under an outcrop of rock on the edge of a cliff for a while and waited for the clouds to pass. It was freezing cold, despite being officially summer, with a total blanket of cloud reducing visibility to around just 20 feet! Eventually I got enough clear distance to get a composite of photos which I then put together later, along with a huge amount of imagination and previous reference material. And people ask why I don’t paint these scenes on location.

And here’s the painting: 36″ x 54″

Lake Tekapo & Historic Church

Paul Cato — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 23:52:52 +0000

Here’s a commissioned painting I recently completed. Lake Tekapo is in the central plateau of New Zealand’s South Island high country. The water contains a high percentage of glacial melt which colours the lake with a distinct turquoise hue.

Milford Sound Sunset Painting

Paul Cato — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 18:05:47 +0000

I’ve just emerged from working on some big canvases; here’s one of them. It’s very much a favourite place of mine–Milford Sound. This view is from a beautiful mid-spring evening. Being in the southern hemisphere that’s late October.

Painting by Paul Cato, Queenstown, New Zealand

Manapouri – Eye of the Storm

Paul Cato — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 03:43:59 +0000

This is a painting just finished – the size fairly large, at 48″ x 60″ or about 1.2m x 1.5m. The scene is looking out over Lake Manapouri, New Zealand, to the Cathedral Peaks. The stormy sky casts an eerie and colorless light over the mountains and lake, whilst the foreground picks up some extra warmth through the cloudburst onto the rocks and scrubby foreground fungi (or whatever it is!).

Huge Paul Cato Landscape Painting now complete

Paul Cato — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 04:57:01 +0000

Paul Cato Landscape Gallery

This large painting is now completed. All 46 square feet of it! It will be delivered to some new clients in the U.S. next week. I have absolutely enjoyed the process of working at this large scale and I’ll definitely be keen to do it again. I have some subjects in mind already.

Coming up

Paul Cato — Wed, 02 May 2007 12:35:11 +0000

I’ve been working on a painting which is bigger than I have painted in a while. No pictures just yet, sorry, but I will definitely take time soon to post some images which will show the progress on this canvas. Oh yes, the size – I nearly forgot. This painting is eight feet wide by five feet nine inches high, about 2.44 metres by 1.75 metres, so just the sheer size alone is very impressive. The canvas matches the grandness of the subject very well. The scene is from Milford Sound in the Fiordland National Park of south-west New Zealand.

Painting a fine art piece on a canvas this size has it’s challenges in both planning and execution but I’m loving it! Check back in a while to see what I have been doing.

Skippers Canyon – Summer

Paul Cato — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 22:00:19 +0000