Watercolour of South Stoke, 22" x 15" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300 gms
A Plein Air demo done for a local art group. Subject is a wonderful old house in the centre of South Stoke Village with commanding views over the valley below. I am not sure if I did the colours of the stonework justice - they were really glowing in the morning sunshine. And coming up the lane is my normal 'man and dog' to give a bit of scale.
Watercolour of Bath, 22" x 15" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300 gms.
Terrace Walk in central Bath, and being quite a wide street, a popular dropping off place for tourist buses and tours. View here is towards the Abbey Hotel with it's battlement like parapet roof. The painting is based on a photo I took on my phone camera (always best taking pictures on a phone at the lowest resolution as it forces you to be a bit more imaginative with the composition and details) in early spring and quite a sunny afternoon.
Landscape Watercolour of Bath, 15" x 11".
The rear of Jollys Department Store form Queens Square in Bath. The trees in Queen Square are casting shadows over the light honey coloured buildings of Bath in this well-known square. Tricky bit in this painting was the timing of the dappled shadows on the buildings and road. The base wash was whetted and then allowed to go damp, then in with a darker pigment of the shadows, so a sort of wet in wet.
Landscape Watercolour of Bath, 15" x 11"
A pretty little valley just to the south of the village of South Stoke, looking towards some majestic buildings on the crest of a hill. Hopefully a lot of watercolour techniques are used here from washes, wet in wet, dry brush strokes and negative painting around the car.
Landscape Watercolour of South Stoke Bath, 15" x 11".
I mostly have used Bockingford and Saunders watercolour papers over the last few years but decided to try Fabriano's top of the range paper (well cotton I think) in the rough. It had a stiffer feel compared to Saunders, and had a bit if a shiny surface too. I think you get accustomed to certain papers, and for me this took a bit of getting used to. It's a brighter surface and less absorbent I felt than Saunders. Probably a little rougher than the equivalent Saunders as well. It would probably be good if you like giving your paper a lot of abuse and rubbing out. Nice paper, but would need quite a few sheets for me to get used to.
Landscape Watercolour of South Stoke, 22" x 15".
A second demo painting for the South Stoke Art Group. The village pub, called the Packhorse, has sadly closed and is now slowly deteriorating. I resurrected it for this sketch and tried to imagine as it was, open for business, with the village church tower just off to the right. Steps for the painting, 1) Sky plus initial wash over building and foreground. I dropped in a bit more pigment on the building while still damp. 2) Then the darker roof, in quite a warm tone. 3) Church Tower. 4) Shrubs/trees left and right. 5) Then a second wash on the road, painting around the car. 6) Shadows along the wall and foreground and then the figures and window details.
Landscape Watercolour of Bath, 15" x 22".
The largest portrait orientation painting I have done to date, and the subject was the sunlit building at the end of the Pulteney Bridge in Bath. I tried to break up the colour of the stonework, while wet, with bits of different pigment. The base wash was mainly Yellow Ochre. The focal point was I suppose the light parasol on the platform above the river. Then I went quite dark on the shadows and reflections. Darks were a high proportion of Paynes Grey with a touch of Ultramarine or Alizarin Crimson.
Landscape Watercolour of Bath, 15" x 11".
Pultney Bridge in Bath and one of only a few bridges in the world with shops on it (another famous one is in venice of course). The view shows the weir over the river here and a favourite place for tourists to take snaps from the other side. My sketch was done quite quickly and looking at it now, I seemed to go quite dark on the buildings.
Painted on Saunders Waterford Rough paper 140 lbs.
Landscape Watercolour of Bath, 15" x 11".
A view looking down Milsom Street in Bath to the pedestrianised Old Bond Street. After putting in the sky wash of cerulean blue, while still damp I bled in the roof tops of a warmer tone, I think a bit of a mixture of light red and yellow ochre. Most difficult thing was painting around the female figure with the white outfit.
Painted on Saunders Waterford paper, 140 lbs.
Original Watercolour 15" x 11"
Westgate Street Bath looking up towards the Theatre Royal. The architecture in Bath which many visitors come to see, is if of course constructed from Bath Stone, characterised by it's beautiful creamy, beige colour, mellowing with age. Whilst its perception may be of softness, it is highly durable, as the Roman and Georgian city can testify to. I have chunks of it round my fish pond in the garden and it never seems to succumb to the frosts or the elements.
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