Marseille, France, 15" x 11"

The Avenue Vaudoyer in Marseille, looking towards the Grand basilica, the city's highest point.  As regards composition, I frame the view left and right by the high walls of the fortress and a large retaining wall on the left.  In the middle ground is the harbour and just a hint of a few masts.  In front of that are a couple of cars, painted in quite a loose style and also two figures on either side for balance.

Painted on Saunders Waterford, Cold Press Paper, 300 gms.

Biarritz, France, 15" x 11"

A study of some boats in the Port des Pêcheurs, Biarritz, France.  Quite a loose approach to this one and a big use of Neutral Tint.  Yet, the neutral tint was always added to some other colour - a yellow in the upper part of the picture to give some dark greens (combine Neutral tint with a bright yelloe gives some interesting green for foliage effects).  The boats had their upper structure painted, and then while still moist I went in with darker shadows for the bottom of the hull and shadows below.

Painted on Saunders Waterford, Cold Press 300 gms

I am running another one day workshop at my Bristol location on Saturday November 17th 2018 (I may run another one on the Sunday if I get too many for Saturday!)

The aim is to develop your skills with watercolour, pick up hints and tips for certain effects and produce 2 paintings. Class size is small, typically 6 or less attendees.

This workshop is ideal for any active watercolour painter but not aimed at beginners.

Here is the planned agenda...

9.30 – 10.00am Arrive
10.00 am - 1pm Painting number 1 organised as a “paint along” type session with Tim Wilmot taking you step by step through the painting process with a typical scene he paints. You follow along the way with plenty of tuition and help from Tim.
1.00pm – 1.30pm Buffet style lunch
1.30pm – 4.30pm Painting Number 2, as per the morning painting, attempting another scene step by step
4.30pm – 5.00pm Critiques and depart

Cost is £100 GBP per attendee and covers lunch and refreshments.

Please reply by email timothywilmot@gmail.com for more information and make a booking.

Tim Wilmot

"Everything was very well organised...and presentation was very clear. Nice relaxed atmosphere...very enjoyable"
Mary M - Bath

"An excellent day with good practical learning - and also helped along with your relaxed and personable style"
Charles S - Bristol

"Thoroughly enjoyed the workshop. Venue & Facilities excellent. Refreshments and food excellent. Organisation excellent. Tuition excellent"
Dave B - Bristol

Watermouth, North Devon, 15" x 11"

A composition based on this sheltered bay in North Devon.  The slipway here at low tide is a long way from the water's edge.  Just to the right of it is a small building - not sure if it is the harbour master or something to do with the lifeboat station.   My reference photo was taken on a very overcast, but bright day, and I imagined it here being sunny with the late afternoon sun coming from the South West.  I introduced a figure to balance the boat on the left.

Painted on Saunders Waterford, Cold Press, 300 gms

Torrevieja, Spain, 15" x 11"

I think this one could be categorized as loose and connected.  Those were the two things I was focusing on in this painting.  Mainly connections and something I tend to think about more and more now.  To link different elements and shapes together just seems the natural thing to do and it just works.  So here I use shadows to create those connections - to figures, the bollards, etc...

Painted on Saunders Waterford, Cold Press, 300 gms

La Cala Mijas, Spain, 15" x 11"

A study of a beach bar in the seaside town of La Cala on the Costa del Sol.  A large area like the sandy beach has to have something added to it as regards subtle changes in colour, tone and texture (maybe dry brush strokes or some splattering).  Here also I have dragged some shadows across the beach.  Those shadows along the side of the bar, connect with the silhouetted shapes of seated figures inside.  The last touch was to go in with some real dark darks to add a bit more detail to shadows and the building.

Painted on Saunders Waterford, Cold Press, 300 gms

Venice, Italy, 15" x 11"

A study of a couple of builders filling a barge with building rubble, and a little bit of dust as a consequence.  So a an exercise in creating a figure with the wheelbarrow, just at the point of tipping his load over the edge and maybe his colleague offering some instructions.  A tricky scene to get the composition right and keeping everything else in the picture really simple.  The dust was the last thing to go in - a mixture of white paint and a little cobalt blue, painted in with little water - almost dry brush strokes.

Painted on Saunders Waterford, Cold Press, 300 gms

Venice, Italy, 15" x 11"

A second crack at this scene in Venice, on a smaller format - the last one I did was a plein air and half imperial size.  Here, we have light hitting all areas of the scene, directly and indirectly.  I tried to have some dark shadow going across the foreground, to give an opportunity to have some shapes being silhouetted against the light in the middle ground.  Also some figures on the bridge, darker against the light in the background.  The right hand side was tricky to convey in a loose style - many little details to get bogged down on.

Painted on Saunders Waterford, Cold Press Paper 300 gms

Venice, Italy, 15" x 11"

For some reason I went wild on the cobalt blue on the steps, trying to make it cool in relation to the warmer background.  But I think it works having the warm against the cool and very different tonal contrast as well.  So there were almost 3 stages to the painting - 1) First wash  2)  Shadows in background and foreground figures with bridge  3) Darker steps and darks around the bridge and lighter details of the background buildings.

Painted on Saunders Waterford, Cold Press 300 gms