Watercolour, 15" x 11"

A painting done with the 'Bristol Savages' a local painting society where I live.  Each session the artists have two hours to paint a given subject.  The rules are you're not allowed any reference material and you attempt a painting based on that subject.  So this session's topic was 'Winter's Light'.  I decided to go for a snowy scene, a lane which I have done a few times, and have some long shadows coming across the composition - fun to do with a fully loaded mop brush with a good point.

Istanbul, Turkey, 15" x 11".

What started off as an exercise drawing a group of people, turned into a more complete picture with the addition of one of the grand entrances to the covered bazaar in Istanbul.  I sometimes approach a painting in this way when it's a street scene - quickly draw in a group of people, of course at different sizes/heights, then draw the background afterwards.  It also helps me concentrate on not doing too much detail for the background.

Painting Holiday with Tim Wilmot in beautiful Venice

September 26th to October 3rd 2017

Paint with me around different locations in Venice for 6 days! There will be lots of demonstrations by me and one-to-one tuition. It is entirely up to you if you want to jump in and out of painting, or you can take advantage of ‘sightseeing’ at your leisure. We paint away from the busy tourist locations, but everywhere is a painting location in Venice. You are of course welcome to site see as much as you want.

This week is perfect if you want to come with a non-painting partner as there is so much for them to see and do in Venice whilst you are out and about painting and they can join you with a big discount. You are spoilt for choice in this romantic, historic city. All the pleasure, quality tutoring and congenial company you’ve come to expect from Arte Umbria who are organising this holiday, but this time it will be in this beauteous location. Places are limited so early booking is advised.

Cornwall, UK, 15" x 11".

Another variation on my previous low tide paintings.  Quite a simple composition with the dark background, a hint of a road along teh harbour wall at a slight angle, then the row of lighter boats and a fairly large foreground.  The foreground is very simple with a few blended colours and areas which were left unpainted, became easy rocks with the addition of a shadow.

Mijas, Spain, 15" x 11".

Someone kindly gave me a few sheets of Canson's Moulin du Roy watercolour paper recently and a chance for me to try something different from my normal Saunders Waterford.  I decided to paint a scene similar to what I have done before, for a proper comparison.  The paper has a different surface and takes on washes in a different way, probably a little more absorbent than Saunders.  Overall, very nice paper, a good substitute for Saunders, but as I think I have said before in previous posts, in my opinion it takes about 20 paintings to get used to different paper.

Mussidan, France, 15" x 11".

The view up the main street in Mussidan, a small town in South West France.  Many of the buildings in this part of France are characterised by the grey/blue roof tops and ochre coloured walls, often with a bit of ageing and discolouration.  This painting was done with my limited palette of 3 colours and a neutral tint.

Dordogne, France, 15" x 11".

A 'typical' Dordogne country road - undulating hills and round bales of straw waiting to be collected off the fields.  With so much green in the picture, I had to introduce different tones of green by altering the amount of water I added or changing the ratio of blue to yellow.  I rarely use any green now in my palette and just add ultramarine blue to cadmium yellow, but any yellow or blue will do.

Chipping Sodbury, England, 15" x 11".

A view up the High Street in my local town of Chipping Sodbury - which has the 2nd widest High Street of UK Market Towns.  So plenty of scope to drag out those shadows across the road and have them interrupted by people, cars etc.  Still trying to get used to Saunders Waterford Rough paper as it seems different to what it used to be like as regards accepting paint and washes.

Chania, Crete, 15" x 11".

On a trip to Crete a while back, I had taken loads of photos of the two main harbours in Chania - the Venetian Harbour and the New Town Harbour (which actually looks older than the Venetian one).  I have lots of different views of the New Town Harbour which has been a constant source of inspiration for future paintings.  Perfect for my style with some background (here the apartment blocks), some highlighted boats moored up and then reflections.

Cornwall, UK, 15" x 11".

An imaginary sketch, taking my inspiration from a typical UK harbour scene at low tide.  The harbour bed has a great range of colours and fun to reproduce in watercolour by laying down your wash, then adding in different colours as you come down the page.  I leave out random spots here and there which become stones or pebbles at the end with an introduction of a little shadow behind them.