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Landscape Watercolour of Tetbury, 22" x 15".
The old Tetbury Market House (grade I listed building), an ochre coloured building resting on stout pillars and topped by a lovely bell tower in the centre of Tetbury. Markets have been run from Tetbury Market House for more than 350 years now and you regularly see outdoor traders on the ground floor selling all sorts of goods. This was a Winter scene so dullish sky and long shadows, plus people with heavy coats.
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Landscape Watercolour of Mykonos, 15" x 11".
A group of taxis waiting in Mykonos town. There's restaurants to the left and ahead, the sea/harbour is in front. I think I broke one of my rules on this painting, by going over the sky twice: The first wash was too weak and did'nt create the contrast needed with the middle white building. So I went in with a second wash after the first had completely dried.
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Landscape Watercolour of Chipping Sodbury, 22" x 15".
A sketch off half way down the main street in the market town off Chipping Sodbury with the town church tower just popping up about the shop roof tops. A bit of a challenge this painting as my source photo was in the shade and devoid of people, so I had to invent shadows and some shoppers. The buildings also present their own problems - no straight lines and nothing symmetrical.
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My recent entry to artist Steve Hall's Autumn competition. Here is the photo from Steve for the competition:
And here is my initial planning sketch with some numbers (almost 'painting by numbers') on my sequence of painting. I do occasionally do a little pencil sketch just to aid composition and thinking more about my approach to the painting:
As you can see, the sketch is done on any old paper. And here is the final painting. I added the man and dog for a bit of extra interest.
Landscape Watercolour, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford paper, 140 lbs Rough.
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Landscape Watercolour of Bursa, 15" x 11".
The Muradiye district of eastern Bursa. A very old part of Bursa with the foothills of Mount Uludag as a backdrop. Apart from the complex of 600 year old mosques, there's like in my sketch quite a few blue and brightly painted houses with well defined frames around the windows painted in a different colour. Down in the valley is the more modern part of the city sprawling northwards.
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Landscape Watercolour of Polperro, 15" x 11".
A quickish sketch of the southern Cornish town of Polperro, at low tide looking inland towards the town. I have tried to depict a typical Cornish day with mist and low cloud, so a bit of wet in wet for the background and a limited palette of colours to help the grey theme. One thing I might improve if I did this one again is not make the roof lines too severe and let them blend a bit more into the background hills.
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Landscape Watercolour of Exmouth, 15" x 11".
A roundabout in the centre of Exmouth, Devon, looking towards a church tower. Steps in this painting: 1) Sky wash of mainly yellow ochre and foreground. 2) Church tower in a weak wash and background buildings, leaving highlights. 3) 2nd wash on the foreground. 4) Left and right buildings, getting quite dark at their base. Paint around the car. 5) Roundabout shrubs and trees - upper trees blending with the buildings. 6) Car, figures and highlights. Then some dry brush strokes on the road.
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Landscape Watercolour of Dartmouth Devon, 15" x 11".
The 'Inner' Harbour in Dartmouth, Devon. I took a bit more time over this one with a) planning and b) initial drawing (mainly getting the boats right before painting). It's low tide of course, and here you end up wth a sort of puddle in the middle. Just right for a handy reflection of the far buildings and the buttresses of the entrance.
Painted on Saunders Waterford, 300gms Rough.
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Watercolour of Boat for a Commission, 15" x 11".
A boat painted for a commission. Man and dog are creeping into many of my paintings and not sure exactly why - I don't even own a dog. It's nice now and again to paint a subject that somebody else has suggested and not have to rack your brains trying to come up with a suitable idea. Sometimes I spend more time actually trying to think what to paint than actually doing the painting in the first place. Maybe it's a good ratio anyway.
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Landscape Watercolour of London, 15" x 11".
From a reference photo taken on my mobile, I recreated this London Street scene back home. The location is half way down Edgeware Road I think, and an early Winter's morning scene looking towards the light. I was careful to paint around the foreground puddle so I could later drop in some reflections.
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