Aututaki in the South Pacific

Oil inspired by Aututaki, Cook Islands.

Years back pre covid I took a sketch book to the South Pacific. The book itself I will digress a bit on because it was sourced in Italy and was extremely well appointed. It was leather-bound and had fine cartridge paper interleaved with sugar paper. Anyhow I used my oil pastels as best I could to create 50 illustrations of the South Pacific. When I look at the work I nostalgically cast my mind back to the wonderful people and balmy evenings.

The handmade pictures somehow resonate more than photographs. I noticed in the sketch book there was a picture of the island procession which takes all day on Boxing Day. The sweatshirts are all one colour depending on which of the seven villages is the main sponsor that year. This year of 2019/2020 was predominantly green. Here is the bigger oil painting I just created from the small A4 sketch!! It’s a completely different colour way to recent work. Anyhow I do hope you might be convinced not everything is AI.

David Jackson

10.02.2026