Original Watercolours by Tim Wilmot

Bristol Savages Sketch Night - This Happy Breed of Men

Weekly sketch night at my art society, the 'Bristol Savages', and the topic for the night was "This Happy Breed of Men".   It was English Night (we also have themed Irish, Scottish and Welsh nights too during our season).  So we have 2 hours to produce a painting based on that topic without the use of any reference material (so no cheating looking up on the web).

"This happy breed of men", is a line spoken by John of Gaunt in Shakespeare's Richard II.  Well quite an easy option I chose was to have a village scene, two pubs, one of course called John of Gaunt (maybe the other Richard II), and some happy people between the two!

Painted on Saunders Waterford, Cold Press, 300 gms.

 

Bristol Savages Annual Exhibition - Entry #8 - Street Cafe Cagliari

It's coming! The Annual Exhibition at the Bristol Savages. Loads of paintings from local artists around my local city of Bristol and who are members of the art group. The exhibition is on 26th April to 11th May, and entry is free. The exhibition is at the Red Lodge, Park Row, Bristol, BS1 5LJ and entry is free.

So my entry number eight is a view of a shady cafe in the city of Cagliari.

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

Le Fil Good Cafe - St Foy la Grande, France

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

St Foy la Grande in SW France.  I loved the diagonal shadows across the building created by the signposts and CCTV cameras on the corner of the cafe.  Must be a very secure place!  Painted with my 3-colour palette.  Nice place to sit and watch the world go by.

Painted on Saunders Waterford, Cold Press, 300 gms.

This painting is for sale. Please contact Tim Wilmot for details.

Well I decided to paint the sky twice on this one....

Libourne, France, 15" x 11"

I don't always advocate painting a sky twice in watercolour but this time I think it needed it for a bit of extra impact. Normally a sky is done in one go with me.  This is the main square in the centre of town.  Also painted with my restricted 3 colour palette.

Painted on Saunders Waterford, Cold Press, 300 gms.

This painting is for sale. Please contact Tim Wilmot for details.

Rua Brigadeiro Oudinot Funchal 2

Funchal, Madiera, 15" x 11"

One of the main, wide streets leading down to the sea.  A bit of a contra jour, painting into the light.  I like to rough up pedestrian crossings - they wouldn't look right being too perfect with nice edges and clean white stripes.  So I deliberately paint them in quite quickly - of course following the lines of my initial pencil drawing.

Painted on Saunders Waterford, Cold Press, 300 gms.

This painting is for sale. Please contact Tim Wilmot for details.

 

 

Cafe du Casino, Plein air

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

A quick plein air at the Cafe du Casino.  No, not a casino.  Just a very friendly cafe in St Foy, SW France.  Here I am framing the scene top and bottom with some dark values, andin the foreground a couple of figures blend in with that.  Then just a quick rendition of the street beyond and a few cars.

Painted on Saunders Waterford, Cold Press, 300 gms

 

Cafe du Casino, Plein air

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

A quick plein air at the Cafe du Casino.  No, not a casino.  Just a very friendly cafe in St Foy, SW France.  Here I am framing the scene top and bottom with some dark values, andin the foreground a couple of figures blend in with that.  Then just a quick rendition of the street beyond and a few cars.

Painted on Saunders Waterford, Cold Press, 300 gms

 

Watercolour, 15" x 11"

Bristol Savages (the painting society I am a member of) sketch night and the topic given by the Chairman for the evening "Three Feathers".  Inspired by Prince Charles 70th birthday on that day and the badge of the Prince of Wales so we have a plume of three feathers.  We now had 2 hours to complete a painting based on that theme without using any reference material, so now Google search!!  Luckily I had painted in a previous week a scene for Ledbury Artists and their Church Street with the Prince of Wales Pub.  Ideal and fresh in my memory!

Painted on Saunders Waterford, Cold Press, 300 gms

 

A shady corner - Piazza Yenne, Cagliari

Cagliari, Sardinia, 15" x 11"

Another fun exercise in some splattering and connecting (joining up major objects in the composition).  A scene of people under the shade of a canopy in the Piazza Yenne area of Cagliari.  Some made up figures going in different directions and the background deliberately kept simple.  Also quite a limited palette used for this and concentrating on tonal values.

Painted on Saunders Waterford. Cold Press, NOT, 300 gms

Biddestone Plein Air #2 - Outside the White Horse Pub

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.