Photoprint for Sale: Jacobean Style 'Doctors'Houses' 1897, Symonds Street, Auckland, New Zealand

This is an original photoprint from my personal collection

Size of image is 30cm x 46cm (12" x 18").

Price is $NZ 50.00 inc. urban p. and p. in NZ.

Please contact me at donovan@ihug.co.nz or 09 4159 701.

© DON DONOVAN. donovan@ihug.co.nz 
www. don-donovan.blogspot.co.nz and www.printsbydondonovan.blogspot.co.nz

New Zealand Odyssey: Two Outhouses At Larnach's Castle, Otago Peninsula

'New Zealand Odyssey', published in 1989 by Heinemann, was authored by me, Don Donovan (who did the text and illustrations) and Euan Sarginson, who did the photography and design. In this series of blog posts, I will publish some of my drawings.

Larnach's Castle in itelf is a pretty eccentric building (more of that in another post) but its gardens contain some rather charming functional buildings. The brick and glass hothouse (above) is particularly elegant, its beauty, as is so often the case with practical buildings, dictated by  function.

The stone outhouse (below) leaves no doubt that it's lockable, solid and unpretentious. No doubt that would be where expensive garden machinery was stored. The drawings date to 1987, I'm sure that over a decade into the new millenium nothing's changed.

© DON DONOVAN

donovan@ihug.co.nz

.

New Zealand Odyssey: Evans Atlas Roller Flour Mill, Timaru

'New Zealand Odyssey', published in 1989 by Heinemann, was authored by me, Don Donovan (who did the text and illustrations) and Euan Sarginson, who did the photography and design. In this series of blog posts, I will publish some of my drawings.

It's hard to conjure up a vision of dark, satanic mills in New Zealand but the 1888 Evans Atlas Flour Mill in Timaru comes close. This is how it looked ninety-nine years later, I'm not sure whether it was still grinding in 1987 but you could still read the name on the building. 

All those bricks! 

The original is about 600mm wide. People often ask me how long it took to do the painting; well, surprisingly, not long - no more than an hour. Once the bricks were drawn (very quickly) the red washes were quick and easy. This is one of my favourites and takes up two pages in New Zealand Odyssey.'

© DON DONOVAN

donovan@ihug.co.nz

.

New Zealand Odyssey: Holy Name Church, Ashburton

'New Zealand Odyssey', published in 1989 by Heinemann, was authored by me, Don Donovan (who did the text and illustrations) and Euan Sarginson, who did the photography and design. In this series of blog posts, I will publish some of my drawings.

No matter how hard an author tries there is bound to be at least one mistake in any book. This was the only one in 'New Zealand Odyssey'. I captioned the church 'Holy Child, Ashburton'; it should have been 'Holy Name'. 

I know how I made the mistake: my wife went to a Holy Child convent when she was a young girl. That name stuck in my mind and superseded 'Holy Name'. Simple as that. It took a reader in Ashburton to spot the mistake and tell me about it, much to my chagrin. 

What appealed to me about the church was not so much its architecture - no matter how good it is - but that in a small town like Ashburton the local Roman Catholics could have had the cash and energy to build such a solid temple.

© DON DONOVAN

donovan@ihug.co.nz

.

New Zealand Odyssey: Christchurch Boys' High School

'New Zealand Odyssey', published in 1989 by Heinemann, was authored by me, Don Donovan (who did the text and illustrations) and Euan Sarginson, who did the photography and design. In this series of blog posts, I will publish some of my drawings.

I cannot for the life of me remember what this building at Christchurch Boys' High School was for. It might have been an old gymnasium. I was intrigued by it because despite it being a gloomy looking thing, somebody went to the trouble of designing it - even to the curlicued lightning conductor on the pyramidal roof. It must have resonated with some old boys because one of them bought the original off me for a decent sum!

It's all brick and such structures did not survive too well in the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010 and 2011. I wonder...

© DON DONOVAN

donovan@ihug.co.nz

.