Original Watercolours by Tim Wilmot

Sunlit street, Tavira, Portugal

Tavira, Portugal, 15" x 11".

I started this one off with a large area of yellow ochre, going darker to the left.  Then a small area of sky and the first wash for the right-hand buildings and road, carefully painting around the car which is left almost white.  Then in with the darks - the cool left side and then the right had shadows and window details.  Figures went in last.

 

Dartmouth Inner Harbour - This time portrait orientation!

Dartmouth, Devon, 15" x 22"

I don't often paint in portrait orientation, but I thought this composition looking along the back wall of the 'Inner Harbour' worked well for the aspect.  I do sometimes mix colours on the paper while still moist as you can see for example in the first wash in the foreground.  Timing is important when doing this - if you leave it too late, you end up with a bit of a mess.  I also went for high contrasts like foreground boat and dark harbour wall.  I seem to 'see' darker darks than other people and that reflects in the deep shadows here!

 

Entrance to Ilfracombe Harbour Car Park

Ilfracombe, Devon, 15" x 11".

Quite a quick sketch and an 'H' composition with the simple left wall and right hand building.  It was done in about 45-50 minutes or so.  It needed a little bit of careful painting around the signs on the lamp post and the 'P' of the car park sign (I rarely would use white body paint on top of the blue).  I think the bleeding of paint on the road surface worked well and using rough surface paper it was easy to leave some spots in the foreground to hint at some sunlight.

 

Market Day, Chania, Crete

Chania, Crete, 15" x 11".

Market day along the coastal road in Chania, between the two harbours.  I think with a scene where there's many people, you just concentrate on a few figures and then understate more 'minor' figures.  Here I have a couple of main figures connecting the foreground and middle ground and a lone figure in the middle catching the light.  Hopefully the white van on the right, balances with the blue sign on the left.