Artist goes coastal with Line in the Sand exhibition for Whanganui Heritage Month

Whanganui artist Pauline Allomes is ready to welcome visitors to her Barrack St studio for her Line in the Sand exhibition. Photo / Bevan Conley

Whanganui artist Pauline Allomes has made a departure from her familiar bush settings and ventured to the coastline for her new exhibition Line in the Sand.

Allomes has been supporting Bushy Park by donating percentages from the sales of her paintings, and a portion of the proceeds from this exhibition will benefit the work of Castlecliff Coast Care.

"I have learned a lot about coastal plants while working on these paintings," Allomes said.

"The native ones that belong there as well as the invaders."

Coast Care's work in planting and caring for the native species, while aiming to control the encroaching varieties, is mostly voluntary so the artist wants to support their efforts.

"I am on medication that compromises my immune system so I was confined to my home during the higher Covid levels.

"I worked from photographs on the earlier paintings and it was a treat to be able to get to the beach when we got to level 1 stage."

The dunes at Castlecliff were the subject for CES students who did a recent course with Allomes, providing further opportunities for her to explore the coastline while working with them.

While Allomes has used landscape canvasses for some of her coastal scenes, some of her seascapes are in portrait formats with the sky and cloud formations sharing equal billing with the ocean and shore.

"I wanted to get a lot of sky in the paintings because it looked so good on the days I was there," she said.

In one painting she has used modelling clay to add texture to the swirling cloud formations in the sky over Castlecliff.

Allomes said she has recovered from the disappointment she felt at having to cancel her open studio event in March. She had spent 100 hours recreating a scene from Bushy Park on the wash house wall in her back garden before the scheduled visits.

"A number of people still came to view it and I talked to them through the window. People who missed seeing it then can view it when they come to this exhibition."

Line in the Sand is part of Whanganui Heritage Month celebrations and Coast Care's Lynne Douglas is adding a display of historic Castlecliff photographs which will be displayed in the hallway of Allomes' turn-of-the-century cottage which is her home and studio/gallery.

The exhibition opens on Saturday, October 3, and runs until Sunday, October 11. Open hours are 10am to 4pm daily at 4 Barrack St, Aramoho. See Pauline Allomes Facebook page or call 021 103 0737.