Judi Brennan has been a successful clay artist for many years. She has won several pottery awards including a merit in the prestigious Fletcher Challenge Exhibitia and has her work all around the world.
Located at the sublime L'Art'e Cafe and Gallery in Taupo, it turns out that every detail is fairly much sublime. Judi Brennan is the artist responsible and you can read more about her over here.
There is so much to write about L'Art'e Cafe and Gallery ... so much.
The mind-blowingly beautiful location, the friendly service, the truly sublime food, the superb coffee, the exquisite artwork ... and nowhere do I exaggerate.
It's that remarkable!
This was brunch on that first day back in New Zealand.
"In primeval New Zealand cabbage trees occupied a range of habitats, anywhere open, moist, fertile and warm enough for them to establish and mature: with forest; around the rocky coast; in lowland swamps, around the lakes and along the lower rivers; and perched on isolated rocks. Approaching the land from the sea would have reminded a Polynesian traveller of home, and for a European traveller, conjured up images of the tropical Pacific." - Philip Simpson
I knew this was a shot I really wanted to hunt down while I was home in New Zealand.
The Cabbage Tree is probably my favourite tree in the whole entire world ...and it has berries that attract exquisite native birds like the Bellbirds and Tuis.
I found these trees in front of Lake Taupo, up in the North Island, and wandered around it awhile, trying to work out just how to capture this New Zealand scene I so wanted to capture.
