Landscape Watercolour of Venice, 11" x 15" on Bockingford NOT Paper 140 lbs
A sketch of a smaller feeder canal to the Grand Canal in Venice. The sketch is based on a reference photo taken by myself - not sure the exact location. I might have over-worked the water in this one and found it difficult to know when to stop with the reflections.
Landscape Watercolour of Venice, 15" x 11" on Bockingford NOT Paper 140 lbs
Another Venice Canal sketch and I'm sure I'll get sick of painting them soon. I think these canals make for easy composition with the towering sides of the building leading your eyes in to a focal point which has of course got to be a gondola or one of their trademark arched pedestrian bridges.
Landscape Watercolour of Bursa, Turkey, 15" x 11" on Bockingford NOT Paper 140 lbs
An anonymous back street in Bursa Turkey, showing a typical scene of shops, a street trader's three-wheeled transportation containing various seed covered breads or Simit - Turkish version of a pretzel and very delicious too.
Landscape Watercolour of Girona, Spain, 15" x 11" on Bockingford NOT Paper 140 lbs
The first grand arch of the Pont de Pedra built of local stone in 1850. My visit in the late summer months saw the river bed dry, but the sturdy buttresses of the arch supports I am sure could stand up to any Winter floods.
Landscape Watercolour, Girona, Spain, 15" x 11" on Bockingford NOT Paper 140 lbs
Some grand steps in the old part of central Girona leading up to an ice cream parlour and a sunny little corner. The old part of town has many narrow streets, many too narrow for vehicles, but there's no danger of getting lost as it's not too large an area.
Landscape Watercolour of South Glos, 15" x 11" on Bockingford NOT Paper 140 lbs
An anonymous country road to Old Sodbury, a little village near me. I don't often do winter scenes and often prefer to do paintings of a summer location with bright light and lots of shadow. But it's interesting how with a snowy scene it's not just all white, but on closer observation many other colours appear - yellows, blues, violets and so on and provide contrasts of their own with the trees and branches.
Landscape Watercolour of Mousehole, Cornwall, on Bockingford NOT Paper 140 lbs
Mousehole (pronounced "Mowzel") is one of Cornwall's most picturesque hamlets; a stunning collection of yellow-lichened houses, built from the local granite, huddled together around the inner edge of the harbour - protected from the force of the sea coming across Mounts Bay by two sturdy breakwaters.
Landscape Watercolour of Camelford, Cornwall, on Bockingford NOT Paper 140 lbs
Camelford a pretty little market town on the edge of Bodmin Moor, North Cornwall. Being close to the moors, you're sure of a shower or two during the summer. Another experimentation into painting a dull rainy day and tried to get some highlights in here and there to add a bit of interest. The buntings were still up from when I was there - either as a left over from the Jubilee or Olympic celebrations - not sure which.
Landscape Watercolour of Alexandria, Egypt, on Bockingford NOT Paper 140 lbs
An anonymous back street in Alexandria near the bay area, with street vendors selling various fruit and veg. For the smoke I used the JZ technique of first ensuring where you want the smoke the paper is very dry. Then wet in the area the smoke will cover, and drop in some watered down white gouache or watercolour in the top portion and make the mix as you go down stronger to the source ending up with almost pure pigment.
Landscape Watercolour of Jerusalem, 15" x 11" on Bockingford NOT Paper 140 lbs
A quiet side street off the meandering Via Dolorosa in the historic old part of the city. I must have had a wild day with the brighter colours than normal and I can see I plastered on the Yellow Ochre and Burnt Sienna in big quantities. Anyway it was fun.