New Zealand Odyssey: Korner Shoppe, Reefton, Westland

'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 imagine that the Coca-Cola people said to the store owner in 1989, 'We'll paint your shop for you for nothing if you'll let it be one enormous ad for our fizz.'. 

I happened to be there on the very day they were painting it. 

The Coca-Cola corporate moguls have never minded being a blot on the landscape but what Reefton's modest citizens thought of it intrigued me; fancy having to look at that outrage every day. 

One thing in its favour: all artists, I suspect, love a genuine opportunity to use red straight out of the watercolour box; I'm no different.

© DON DONOVAN

donovan@ihug.co.nz

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New Zealand Odyssey: The Vulcan Hotel, St. Bathans, Central Otago

'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've drawn this pub a number of times but this rendering, from 1988, was the first. The pub looked very fresh and new then, despite its age, and has since been through a varied history until the present time when it is cherished and much sought out by tourists and goldfields historians. 

When you go through that front door you are so close to the back wall of the bar that it feels like being in a railway carriage so I can imagine that there were many times in the nineteenth century when beer-thirsty miners spilled out across the footpath and on to the narrow main street.

The 'stone' walls are made of mud and the fine lettering has been refreshed countless times with greater or lesser facility.

© DON DONOVAN

donovan@ihug.co.nz

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New Zealand Odyssey: Fruit Stall, Roxburgh, Central Otago

'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.

 On a certain day in 1988, I was taken by the simple boldness of this wayside fruit shop at Roxburgh. A typographer and lettering artist from way back, I was greatly impressed by the amateur signwriting which looked to me as if it had been done by a professional who'd deliberately tried to make it look naive.

There's a special climate in Roxburgh that particularly favours cherries and apricots.

© DON DONOVAN

donovan@ihug.co.nz

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Open 7 Days 9. Parawera Store

I wrote and illustrated ‘Open 7 Days’. It was published in 1991. It’s a series of freeze-frames of some historic New Zealand general and convenience stores as they were preserved in the last decade of the 20th century. Bit by bit, on this blog, I re-publish some of the entries from that book.

PARAWERA STORE

Arapuni Road, Parawera, Waikato.
Proprietor: Margaret Glass

The Waikato, well watered and lush-pastured, has some of New Zealand’s most productive dairying land, and Parawera sits in the middle of it. Margaret Glass was born of a farming family, and she and her husband, Ken, had a dairy farm before taking over the Parawera Store in 1977. At the back of the store Ken and their son, Steven, opened up a workshop, which she says, ‘keeps them busy’.

It came as a pleasant surprise to find that, although a little chipped and faded, the name of the store has been particularly well sign-written. (Talking of sign-writing, I liked the AA finger posts across the road - a lexicon of Maori place-names!)

Madiv Chunilal, the first owner, had established a previous store in 1937, built on land leased from Umu McLean snr., by Joe Moses. Madiv, nicknamed ‘Chuni’, then returned to India for a spell, but when he came back he bought land from the Kenemata family and in 1954 built today’s Parawera Store.

‘Chuni’ also ran the school bus and taxi service. He had a frustrating habit of leaving a note on the shop door when he had a taxi fare - ‘Back in 1/2 hour’. The trouble was, nobody knew when the half-hour had started, so residents would either sit and wait or go home and telephone until ‘Chuni’ answered. Sadly, he was killed in his taxi south of Otorohanga in 1962.

The Glasses serve the Parawera community with general groceries, newspapers, dairy products, petrol and - busy round the back - workshop facilities.

© DON DONOVAN

donovan@ihug.co.nz

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