Madrid, Spain, 15" x 11"

Exact street unknown, but in the area of Plaza Major in Madrid.  A play on joining up different elements of the scene - a bollard connected with a shadow behind it, figures likewise connected to things beyond them.  Also some diagonals for interest with all those shadows.  Done with my 3-colour travel palette.

Painted on Saunders Waterford Cold Press 300 gms.

Here's my latest watercolour demo video up on my YouTube Channel.  This time taking quite a small car park and going through the main watercolour techniques.

Venice, Italy, 15" x 22"

The Venetian Ghetto was the area of Venice in which Jews were compelled to live by the government of the Venetian Republic.  This was a plein air demo done on my recent Venice Workshop.  Here, a view up Calle Ghetto Vecchio.  I thought a nice scene with the light coming in at an angle, the footbridge in the middle ground and the backdrop of the building at the end.  Then introduce a few figures to help with the scale and some foregound interest.  Being close to the Jewish museum and a bit of a sensitive area from a security point of view, I made the mistake of setting up my easel right next to an Army office and was quite rightly asked to move 10 metres away.

Painted on Saunders Waterford Cold Press paper 300 gms.

Venice, Italy, 22" x 15".

The last plein air demo I did on my recent Venice Workshop. The Campo San Polo is the largest campo in Venice, Italy, the second largest Venetian public square after the Piazza San Marco, but very quiet by comparison. I was attracted to the light coming from the right and hitting the dome of the kiosk. Quite a quick painting, done in about 45 minutes.

Painted on Saunders Waterford ColdPress paper, 300 gms.

Dartmouth, UK, 22" x 15".

A demo painting to the Highworth Art Society.  When I do demos to art groups, I normally hand out about 8 photos of a particular type of landscape, then we do a vote / show of hands and go for the most popular one.  This time it was the Dartmouth Inner Harbour.  A good practice of doing a graded wash for the water and some careful painting around objects like the boats.

Painted on Saunders Waterford Cold Press 300gms.

The Four Seasons, Watercolour, 15" x 11"

Bristol Savages Wednesday Sketch night and the Chairman's topic for the evening was "The Four Seasons".  So we have two hours now to complete a painting without the use of any reference material or looking up something on your smartphone.  At first I thought quite a tricky subject to combine 4 seasons onto one picture - but then a let off by the Chairman - "You could of course just focus on one season".  Great!  So I'll just do a snow scene as it's December.  All paintings were sold in aid of 3 worthy charities.

Painted on Saunders Waterford, Cold Press 300 gms.

Venice, Italy, 22" x 15".

The Calle Larga and looking at the State Archive building with those horizontal lines.  This was a plein air demo to my group at the recent Painting Holiday I ran in Venice.  This was an early morning painting and not too many crowds to contend with.  Another nice spot in this square is to go on the other side of the bridge and do a contra jour scene looking up the canal.  I took a photo so I might do that sometime!

I am pleased to have a few of my works featured in the new Encyclopedia of Watercolour Techniques by Hazel Harrison (2017 Edition).  This new edition is a great directory of all the different watercolour techniques (e.g. Splattering, Wet in Wet, etc...) with guidance and how to use them.  Here's a reprint of my inclusions..

Venice, Italy, 15" x 22"

A demonstration, plein air painting from my recent Venice Painting Holiday I ran.  This is Campo San Barnaba looking up to the bell tower of the Church of St Barnabas.  I thought this scene had a little bit of everything - buildings, figures, boats, water... Also Foreground, middle ground and background interest, plus some nice light coming in at an angle.

Painted on Saunders Waterford, 300 gms, Cold Press.

Compton Dando, UK, 22" x 15"

A demo to the Compton Dando Arts Society done in the Summer 2017.  I prefer to do something of local interest for my demos, so took a photo right outside the venue of the demo, looking up the road past the local pub.  So this was a demo trying to take an ordinary scene and make a painting out of it.  Also a demo of including cars and figures in the landscape.

Painted on Saunders Waterford, Cold Press, 300 gms