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Chania, Crete, 15" x 11".
The challenge again of painting with strong sunshine behind you, especially with bright buildings. My solution here is making the sky darker in tone and introduce some foreground shadows. I normally paint the sky in first, but this time I did the buildings first - patches of yellow and yellow ochre into damp paper - and came down to the foreground with a warmer wash. The sky was stage 2 after everything was dry.
Fuengirola, Spain, 15" x 11"
A view across the marina with one of the tall hotel blocks in the background. Quite a simple composition which I think works okay and fairly straight forward execution with the sky wash first (cerulean blue and yellow ochre), background with some horizontal gaps for where the sunlight catches the roof tops, and paint around the yachts. Then the water, darker towards the foreground. Last step was the darker reflections with a small mop brush with a good point to it.
Chania, Crete, 15" x 11".
A small quayside in the corner of the new harbour in Chania, Crete. Spherical shaped conifer trees with old gnarled tree trunks line the street behind. The conifers had very 'soft' edges against the background buildings, so it was a bit tricky to decide how to handle them - in the end, I did the trees first, then while the tops were still damp, I went in with the darker tones of the buildings, and they merged to get that softer feel. As in most things in watercolour - timing is important to get different effects.
Weston-Super-Mare, England, 22" x 15"
A small pedestrianised square in the seaside town of Weston-Super-Mare. Centrally placed is a busy cafe with outside seating. In this painting I went for some high contrast where the tree tops are lit up against the background house and then with the base of the building and the pavement. I introduced some figures coming and going and a foreground shadow, joined with a walker. Right across the middle of the painting, nearly everything is connected.
Here's the recording of my latest Watercolour demo, recorded live from 7th May. Subject is a Mediterranean beach scene.
At the end (if you watch it that long!), there's some questions/comments and answers from those who attended live on the day.
Here's the finished picture...
St Tropez, France, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford, 300 gms Rough.
Cambrils, Spain, 15" x 11"
A pedestrianised square in Cambrils on the North (ish) Spanish Coast. I think what worked well for me here were the contrasting figures across the middle - some light figure against dark background and vice versa. The architecture could be anything - it's just a backdrop. I perhaps could have had some larger figures on the left, coming out of the shadows, to balance things up.
Faro, Portugal, 22" x 15".
The approach to Faro Railway Station. I've painted this area a few times now, last time was 3 years ago, and this one is twice the size of the others. Before starting, I made the decision on what would be the darkest area, lightest area and any other area where I would have maximum contrast. So darkest was the central area and background building. Overall I was happy with the result, except the composition perhaps could have been moved more to the right, and that parking sign would then not be too central.
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