Watercolour of Barcelona, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300 gms.

The crossing over to Placa Antonio Lopez walking towards the old part of the city.  I had a little bit of an experiment with the trees and trying to get the feeling of the strong light glistening over their canopies.  So this time I painted the foliage in first, with an old brush in a fairly random fashion.  Then I dropped in the darker background buildings down to meet the trees, but not quite touching in a few places leaving the bare paper showing.  Pedestrian crossings also need a bit of rough treatment to make them a bit more realistic.

Watercolour of Greece, 22" x 15" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300 gms

A painting of a sunny day in Porto Heli, a small seaside town and port on the eastern side of the Pelopnnese.  A couple of challenging things with this painting were 1) getting the down of the church right - painting around it with the sky and its' shadows on the right side and 2) the complication of the row of moored up boats - probably 5 or so boats here all different sizes.  So of course try and simplify and think of shapes and shadows to define them.

Watercolour of St Tropez, 22" x 15" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300 gms

A quiet square at the back of St Tropez, away from the crowds and an imposing evergreen tree in the centre.  I thought this made a good composition with the diagonal shadows running across the picture, and a combination of the distant coast line left then the middle ground buildings with their ochre tones and the foreground railings and figures.

Watercolour of Chipping Sodbury, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300 gms.

A well known veg shop in Chipping Sodbury, always marked by van and dutch trollies laden with fruit and veg outside.  With apologies to any local residents, but I've emphasised the little dip in the middle of the roof tops - give them a bit of character.  Midday and the sun is pretty much behind the buildings and throwing one side of the street into deep shadows.  In the summer with the sun being higher, the parked cars offer a bit of contrast against the dark background.

Watercolour of Marseilles, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300 gms.

This is central Marseilles and the old port area, and here a 90 degree turn in the road left, around the waterfront.  Ahead is the Hotel Alize.  I always like to introduce a few figures in my landscapes, and a decision has to be made, do you put some larger figures in the central area, or maybe push them out to one side and have some smaller figures centre stage.  I need to experiment a bit more.

Watercolour of St Tropez, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300 gms

It's the end of the Saturday Market in central St Tropez and traders are breaking down their stalls an last minute shoppers are leaving.  There's a bit of litter lying around of course (bits of white gouache with a bit of shadow in front.  Quite a simple composition really - from the top, sky, then trees and background buildings, paint around market stall parasols and vans, then the foreground.  Lastly, paint in the deep shadows under the parasols and vehicles.

Watercolour of Yate, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300 gms.

Another painting of a Church close to where I live, and a Winter scene and windy day.  Just playing with moving the figures around and vehicle to see if the composition works better than previous studies.  Bare tree was done with a sword or dagger brush, great for a sharp point and doing branches.

Watercolour of Yate, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300 gms.

Probably on the face of it, a boring subject, the entrance off a main road to a town centre car park, but it's got the main elements of a watercolour painting with a bit of light and shade, some action with shoppers and a couple of cars coming and going.  I maybe introduced a bit more shade than existed in reality, but it needed it in the background against those buildings and across the foreground.

Landscape Watercolour of Marseilles, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300 gms.

A view down to the end of the Old Port in Marseilles and the facade of Hotel Alize.  A 150 year old building, it's typical of the very imposing buildings surrounding the harbour.  I think that middle guy could have either been left out or moved over to the left hand side a bit more.  He's dominating the painting too much for my liking.  There's quite a bit of careful painting around figures and cars along the centre, exposing what was the first wash.

Watercolour of Bath, 22" x 15" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300 gms.

Terrace Walk in central Bath, and being quite a wide street, a popular dropping off place for tourist buses and tours.  View here is towards the Abbey Hotel with it's battlement like parapet roof.  The painting is based on a photo I took on my phone camera (always best taking pictures on a phone at the lowest resolution as it forces you to be a bit more imaginative with the composition and details) in early spring and quite a sunny afternoon.