Chipping Sodbury, UK, Watercolour, 15" x 11"

Sheep, Small Holding, Chipping Sodbury

Cotswold Way, UK, Watercolour, 15" x 11"

Cows in the shade...

Cotswolds, UK, Watercolour 15" x 11"

An imaginary scene from the Cotswolds in the UK.

Queensland, Sheep, 15" x 11".

Based on a photo sent by a subscriber, a hot dusty scene from the outback.  The middle ground needed a bit of thinking and planning.  The dust is there plus it affects the lower background as well.  So timing here was important in blending washes while still moist and then when everything was dry, I used some week white gouache and mixed it it (easy when the paper has a tough surface to it).

Venice, Italy, 15" x 11"

Based on an old black and white photo taken by a friend, this was a very quick sketch of Saint Mark's Basilica in Venice.  Probably a challenge to paint with all those architectural details, domes and spires.  And then those pigeons - too many to paint them all, so I summarise by just doing a few - almost dabs of paint with a little twist and then a shadow below.  Hopefully gives the impression.  Also, for all those people, I drew them in first then the background.

Here's my latest video up on my YouTube Channel, and this one is featuring painting animals (well some goats wandering around the famous Avebury Stones) in a rural landscape..

Avebury, England, 15" x 11".

Avebury Village near Bath in the UK and a popular area for ramblers and tourists visiting this ancient site.  This is the largest stone of many here.  Not sure what it is called, but I think it is 40 tonnes in weight.  I was pleased with the composition on this one - with the large stone right, balanced by the two figures on the left.  The figures connected with the stone shadow and to the background.  As you can see, the foreground grass has some 'splattering' going on to give it a bit of texture of the meadowland here.

Avebury, England, 22" x 15"

Avebury, and the prehistoric stone circle which runs around the edge of the village.  Unlike Stonehenge you can go up and touch the stones/boulders.  Sheep freely graze among the visitors.  This is a plein air done with a local painting group last autumn and I had the battle of fighting against the wind and the sun - both making drying times really fast.  I think the far hill, being a ploughed up field perhaps could have been less 'red'.  The earth really was that colour in my mind but it would do being a bit paler to push it back in the compostion.

Landscape Watercolour of Yate, 22" x 15".

Last year I was kindly invited to the South Stoke Art Group in Bath.  This was my first demonstration painting and the theme was 'figures in landscape'.  Of course figures help a landscape painting with greater interest, help the composition and giving it scale. 

The scene is quite a simple one - a single cottage, dark trees in the background, a bit of grass to the right, and almost centre my figure with dog.

Landscape Watercolour of Yate, 15" x 11".

A recent visit by some traditional gypsies to my home town, offered a new subject with a couple of heavy duty ponies munching away at the grass verge (kept from wondering by some temporary fencing) and a bright yellow caravan with a curved roof.  It was a quick sketch and a bit of a practice at painting some horses at distance.