Original Watercolours by Tim Wilmot

Yachts at Low Tide, Watermouth Bay, Devon

Watermouth Bay, England, 22" x 15".

Another exercise for me in painting boats.  I try to have a balance over painting subjects (sorry, I don't do bunches of flowers, portraits or pet pictures), landscapes, town scenes, cars, people and maritime scenes.  It was quite fun painting around all those puddles and changing the colour as I came down to the foreground with a lot of green seaweed in the middle and then bare reddish sandstone.  Man and dog were not painted around, and was the last thing I did with thickish paint for his overalls.

 

New Harbour, Chania, Crete, 3

Chania, Crete, 22" x 15".

A lone fishing boat moored up in the 'newer' harbour of Chania, Crete.  If it wasn't for the sun shelter over the boat, I might not have gone for this composition.  The shelter almost becomes a focal point and a nice bit of light contrast against the darker water.  The background apartment blocks were left very simple.  When the darker reflections were done of the far boats, while the paint was still damp I lifted out the lighter areas below the hulls.

 

Bristol Waterfront, Princes Wharf Cranes

Bristol Waterfront, England, 15" x 11".

A commission based on some previous paintings of the area.  This is the waterfront in Bristol, with the 3 old industrial cranes on the dockside and an old tug boat moored up.  The real challenge of this painting was the cranes - their structure is very complicated with lots of different shapes and angles.  So you have to make a decision, paint them in accurately after doing a precise drawing, or adopt a very lose approach and simplify the whole thing looking for shapes - almost imagine they are not 3 cranes in a row but just an abstract object that you are trying to interpret. 

 

Fuengirola Marina 2

Fuengirola, Spain, 15" x 11"

A view across the marina with one of the tall hotel blocks in the background.  Quite a simple composition which I think works okay and fairly straight forward execution with the sky wash first (cerulean blue and yellow ochre), background with some horizontal gaps for where the sunlight catches the roof tops, and paint around the yachts.  Then the water, darker towards the foreground.  Last step was the darker reflections with a small mop brush with a good point to it.

 

El Charco at low tide, Arrecife 3

Arrecife, Lanzarote, 15" x 11".

The harbour in Arrecife called 'El Charco' at low tide.  Something I think that works well in watercolour - having horizontal bands of alternating light and dark as you come down the picture.  And even in the lighter area of the water, there's still some even lighter areas with highlights on the boats and figures.  It's something I try to put into practice often whether it be boats in a harbour or cars in a car park, I'm always thinking where can I introduce contrast.

 

Boat Sales, Hotwells, Bristol, 2 - A practice sketch for a larger size painting

Bristol Harbour, Bristol, 15" x 11"

A practice sketch for one of my paintings submitted to the Harbourside Art Prize 2014.  I do sometimes do a 'sketch' prior to doing larger scale versions of the same subject.  Very often I change little from the draft to the larger painting, but it's a good practice for the composition, where the horizon will be, number and placement of figures and so on.

 

St Tropez Harbour 3

St Tropez, France, 15" x 11"

There's some lovely warm buildings surrounding the harbour.  Up this busy end, street artists are selling their paintings under the shade of the parasols.  The roof tops were allowed to bleed into the cerulean sky to give a hazy effect.  Then when the roofs were dry I did the chimneys and shadows.  Reflections and waves were done with a mop brush with a fairly good point.  The points on my mop brushes don't seem to last long with me - they're great when you first get them, but why do the middle hairs  disappear so quickly after a few paintings?

 

Fishing Boat, Cambrils Harbour, Spain

Cambrils, Spain, 15" x 11".

A largish fishing trawler moored up in the working harbour of Cambrils on the Costa Dorada.  A little bit of contrast with the side of the boat lit up against the background of the fish market.  After the initial wash, this was a bit of fun painting in the shapes fairly loosely with plenty of Ultramarine Blue plus Burnt Sienna. 

 

Quarteira Harbour, Algarve, Portugal

Quarteira, Portugal, 15" x 11".

A few small boats moored up in Quarteira Harbour in Portugal, with the boatyard in the background.  The background was done very loosely - a big fat dry brush stroke for the harbour wall and plenty of paper left unpainted to hopefully give the feeling of sunlight on the shore line.  All the small craft are connected with their reflections and I thought a bright Cadmium Red rope for one of the boats might give some contrast with the coolness of the water.

 

Boat Sales, Hotwells, Bristol

Hotwells, Bristol, 22" x 15"

Another accepted painting into the Bristol Harbourside Art Prize 2014.  Similar to me previous sailing race painting, this has the old red-bricked buildings of the tobacco factory in the background.  There's a few made up boats here and I've made some simplifications to the foreground buildings.  While the paint is still damp/moist, I will often dab out small areas to blend things together.  Reflections are done with the side of a medium sized mop brush, with a good point!