Original Watercolours by Tim Wilmot

Beach Cafe Cala Mijas on the Costa del Sol

Cala Mijas, 22" x 15"

A beach cafe scene at Cala Mijas on the Costa del Sol.  I decided a different approach on the sky.  The whole area was whetted first - uniformly.  While still damp, I laid down the sky wash.  I think it allows for more even colour, but you need to watch out for the wash accumulating in dips in the paper if it's not stretched.  Getting a hair dryer on the job can prevent this.  Also while the sky was still damp, I laid down the sea wash and allowed a bit of bleeding between the two.  Resist the temptation to touch up the sky or go in again with more colour.  Many a time I've painted the sky with two washes and you do loose a bit of freshness.

 

Rue Henri Seillon, St Tropez, France

Rue Henri Seillon, St Tropez, 15" x 11"

This is a location right next to the marina and looking up to the Hermes Shop in the centre.  This little square here is a popular outdoor cafe which I have 'removed' from the composition for simplification.  I took a bit more time than I usually do with the sky to get in some soft clouds, plus getting some definition on those shop blinds on the left.  Hopefully a feeling of a nice sunny afternoon.

 

Lock Keepers Inn, Keynsham 2

Lock Keepers Inn, Keynsham, Bristol.  15" x 11".

A view across the bridge approaching the Inn.  A mixture of warm and cool.  The warm with the ochre colour of the pub itself with some dabs of bright red here and there representing the flower hanging baskets along the walls.  Left a bit of sunlight on top of the bridge walls, and some dark shadow left made up of viridian green, neutral tint and cobalt blue on the road.

 

The Plough Inn at Charfield

The Plough Inn, Charfield, 15" x 11".

Probably some of the cheapest beers you'll get in this part of the UK and good pub grub as well.  While I was waiting for my food I took a quick reference photo on my phone as a basis for the composition.  I changed a few things - e.g. the side extension roof tiles were blue-grey.  I changed to a sort of warm terracotta to hopefully look a bit more appropriate against the cooler tone of the pub wall.  Added a car and couple of figures as a focal point.  Also I missed out a bright red parasol in the front pub garden as I don't think it added anything.  Dangerous place to take a photo - nearly got run over by a speeding lorry when I was'nt looking.

 

Street Side Cafe, Tavira, Portugal

Watercolour of Tavira, Portugal, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300 gms

A street-side cafe in central Tavira.  With what seems like hundreds of chairs underneath the parasols, painting them is made a little easier when they're in rows and you've just got to paint the tops and not the legs!  Maybe I went a little too extreme on the contrasts between the bright parasol top and the darler background, but I think it helps the sense of the strong light.

 

 

Tavira Algarve 6 - Row of shops and parked cars with deep shadows

Watercolour of Tavira, Algarve, 22" x 15" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300 gms

A view of central Tavira, a town near the coast in eastern Algarve.  Looking across the street and a row of shops/cafes.  This sort of composition I think is great for watercolour - areas of light and dark shade coming down the painting.  Wish we had those strong lights in the UK.  Car windscreens are sometimes a bit of a challenge - they're not flat and they take in reflections from everywhere, so I just give them a very loose treatment and leave in some lighter areas.

 

Central Inn Newquay 2

Watercolour of Newquay Cornwall, 22" x 15" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300 gms.

Central Inn, as the name suggests is a pub located in the centre of Newquay.  By night it's a very lively place and by day a nice place to have a coffee or sit outside if the weather's nice.  Round the area, there's plenty of fast food outlets and of course Cornish pasty shops.  Put in plenty of bright red in this one starting with the parasols outside the pub, then the no entry sign and another splash on the left for good measure.

 

Queens Head Pub, Sedgeberrow Worcestershire

Watercolour or Worcestershire, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300 gms

The Queens Head pub, in the village of Sedgeberrow, central Worcestershire in England.  Quite a loose style painting.  The sky was done fairly quickly - wetted all over, then dab in some 'cloud' colour paint - leaving areas where I dropped in some cerulean blue / cobalt mix for the sky, and let them bleed into each other.  Trees were done with an old mop brush.  Background trees first in a light tone, then coming darker coming towards the foreground.  While still wet, the tree wash was connected to the shadows.

 

La Samaritaine Cafe, Marseilles in the Old Port area

Watercolour of Marseilles, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300 gms.

A busy corner of the Old Port area of Marseilles and a 'typical' Parisienne style cafe, La Samaritaine (I changed the cafe sign to say 'Maritaine' as it sounded more sea related), with its view of the promenade around the waterfront and beyond.  Quite a few figures in this one, at different distances and directions, and then trying to get those tricky shadows look right with the perspective.

 

Sidmouth Seafront and Promenade, Devon 2

Watercolour of Sidmouth, 22" x 15" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300gms.

Maybe not the most interesting composition from an artistic viewpoint but I've tried to include all the iconic elements of this pretty seaside town - so we have the promenade and sea beyond, the row of period hotels with their classical pillars at the entrance, an ice-cream vendor, a few tourists with anoraks (it could rain at any time in a UK summer), of and a few gulls maybe.