Biddestone, Wiltshire, 15" x 11"

Just a slightly different angle from #1 plein air, and a view right down the front of the White Horse pub and the row of pretty cottages on this side of the village centre.  I raised the pub sign just a little to suit the composition.  Can't remember if there really was a 'Real Ale' sign there, but they served real ales in the pub anyway!  Last painting before lunch on the day with the 'Exiles' Plein Air painting group.

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

Biddestone, UK, 15" x 11"

A plein air at Biddestone Village, a very pretty village in Wiltshire - country pub, duck pond, green etc.  This was the first plein air of the day, and I had a nice bit of shelter from the sun on the right hand side.  When it's a hot day, doing plein air you sometimes need to choose a comfortable place to paint from first, then decide exactly what to paint from there.

Painted on Saunders Waterford, Cold Press, 300 gms

LLangollen, Wales, 15" x 11"

I thought this was a nice subject to paint.  I love the angles in the bridge, and going contra jour, the silhouettes of the pointed turrets on the roof of the hotel.  Also the warm against the cool - the cool blue/white of the hotel against the warm coloured stone of the old bridge.  Nice location for many plein air there - sadly I don't live close.

Painted on Saunders Waterford, Cold Press, 300 gms  

Watercolour 15" x 11"

Bristol Savages Sketch Night and the topic for the evening - "The promise of things to come".  So you then have two hours to do a painting based on that topic, without the use of any reference material!  I decided to go with a French Cafe scene and a waiter emerging from the shadows with a bottle of Bordeaux for a couple of customers.  Quite a simple composition and the shadows repeating the edge of the roof.

Painted on Saunders Waterford, Cold Press 300gms

Canada, 15" x 11"

A painting from a recent one to one workshop I did online.  Something new for me as I don't normally do lakes, fir trees, but this was a nice challenge and I might end up doing more of these when I tire of boats/street scenes - you never know where art takes you in a virtual way.  What attracted me to the source photo was the fact it had a bit of everything - foreground, middle and background interest and lovely stillish reflections in the lake.  I popped in the small boat as an afterthought - I think it needed something out there on the left as a focal point and the floating log almost pointing to it.

Painted on Saunders Waterford, Cold Press, 300 gms

My latest video up on my YouTube Channel and this time a revisit to shadows and injecting some colour into them and having a bit of fun.  Hope you like it.

Painted as always on Saunders Waterford, Cold Press 300 gms

St Foy la Grande, France, 15" x 11"

The focus for this one were the lovely colourful umbrellas and bunting strung across the street here on market day.  So less focus on the foreground and market stalls and trying to capture the bright sunlight reaching the narrow streets below.  A few tricky bits to paint around, but kept it fairly loose.

I have recorded a video of this one.  Worth publishing?

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

Watercolour, 15" x 11"

New season started at my Art Society - The Bristol Savages.  On a Wednesday night we are given a topic to paint in two hours.  No reference material is allowed so it has to be done from memory!  Subject for our last session was 'High and Mighty'.  Well I came up with a tall church tower.  Other artists came up with majestic tall trees, mountain ranges, tall sailing ships and even a vicar!

Painted on Saunders Waterford, Cold Press 300 gms.

Funchal, Madeira, 15" x 11"

A bustling area featuring historic homes, some with painted doors, plus lots of restaurants & bars where you can sit outside and do people watching or painting of course.  Here I have gone fro strong sunlight and lots of angular shadows - almost quite abstract for me.  Had to include a couple of figures for scale, emerging from the foreground, and added the one way sign helping with the composition pointing into the middle.

Painted on Saunders Waterford, cold press paper, 300 gms.