The first time I visited New Plymouth with my husband was during the 2013/2014 Christmas Holidays.  We had no idea what a gem Taranaki was, especially New Plymouth.  We had been told by a local that we should check out the ‘Festival of Lights’, so we headed to Pukekura Park one evening to see what it was all about.  Having had no idea what to expect, we were ‘blown away’ by the lights and the free music concert that was taking place, and also the overall buzz from all the people attending.  The experience of the Festival of Lights added to the increasing list of what we liked about the area.

It’s been a number of years that we now call Taranaki home.  Each year we aim at checking out the new lights and to catch at least one of the free concerts on offer.  The Festival of Lights runs from around the middle of December through to nearly the end of January each year.

This picture was inspired by a book that I have been reading about the Impressionists.  I loved how some of the impressionist artists painted where they lived (Paris in the late 1800’s), recording the fashion of the day, the effects of different light, and the grouping of people often during social events.  This is one of my own impressions of New Plymouth, with aims of more paintings to follow.