Blue Mountains

Something a little different from all the beautiful precise and detailed posts recently....

Here are my ultra quick sketches from my Easter break up at the Blue Mountains. As I have a tendency to over do my landscapes sketches, I am currently working very fast with a large brush.

Growing up we were told that they are blue because of the haze caused by evaporating eucalyptus oil from the gum trees. I didn’t realise as a kid, that all mountains look blue from a distance! I have been trying to track down a scientific confirmation of this local ‘myth’ online but haven’t found anything so far. There is certainly no doubt that the mountains often have an intensity of blue that you don’t normally see and that the effect occurs on hills that are quite close.

The Blue Mountains are not mountains at all but a series of plateaus with magnificent sandstone cliffs – often in dramatic rock formations. This is the most famous – The Three Sisters.

Lesser known is my favourite spot - Pulpit Rock overlooking a valley on the other side of the main plateau. Here you can sit right out on a cliff edge in the middle of the valley and feel like you have the place all to yourself (even on the Easter weekend!)

The sandstone cliffs are spectacular!