Original Watercolours by Tim Wilmot

Busy street corner on the Place Gambetta, Montpon Menesterol, France

Montpon Menesterol, France, 22" x 15".

The centre of this large town in South West France.  Sky was done by wetting the whole area, then while still damp, dropping in some dark clouds going darker towards the left away from the light.  Then I added a mainly yellow ochre wash for the buildings (allowing to bleed into the sky in places), turning cooler for the road surface.  When that was completely dry I painted in the shadows, car and figures.  Last step was some dry brush strokes with some neat neutral tint (for tyre marks and building details) and some white gouache for the highlights and street lights.

 

Ancona Harbour, Italy

Ancona, Italy, 15" x 11".

Ancona, a busy coastal city on the Adriatic coast of Italy with a large ferry port and fishing harbour.  Various craft are moored all around the crescent shaped harbour surrounding the old citadel.   This was a good practice of washes - first with the sky running from a cobalt blue to yellow ochre and going lighter towards the sun on the left, and then the harbour.  The wash gets slightly darker towards the foreground and carefully painting around the tops of the boats.  The background was treated in a loose style - too much detail there to be distracted with!

 

 

Parked cars leading up to the Horseshoe Pub, Chipping Sodbury.

Chipping Sodbury, England, 22" x 15".

Back to a familiar subject for me and my local town of Chipping Sodbury in the South West of England.  Here we have a row of parked cars leading up to the Horseshoe Pub at the top of the high street.  Painting parked cars is always a bit of a challenge from this angle compared to painting them head on.  You have lots of funny angles, perspectives and reflections in the windscreens.  So the choice is you paint loose or go for a realistic style.  Well I paint loose.  As the paint was damp in the shadows, I dropped in a few bits of clear water to add a bit more interest - as in the far left wheel.

 

Two large stones, Avebury Stone Circle

Avebury, England, 22" x 15".

Another plein air painting from a trip to Avebury and two large stones inside the main circle of this neolithic site.  I overheard a tour guide saying the right hand stone is the largest of all the stones and something like 40 tons in weight.  The stones make a great subject for watercolour I think - plenty of contrasts in tones and light against dark, especially on a sunny day.  A hardy breed of sheep roam freely around the area and don't seem to mind all the tourists walking around.

 

Traffic on the Quai Salvette, Bergerac, France

Bergerac, France, 15" x 11".

The busy road that runs along the side of the Dordogne River in central Bergerac, and a bit of evening sunlight down the centre of the composition.  I think 3 vehicles was enough for the picture and I connected the right hand two together and their shadows.  The figure on the right was almost an afterthought - It needed something there to create a sort of frame on that side.  It could equally have been a road sign or lamp post maybe.