Original Watercolours by Tim Wilmot

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

 

Plaza Las Palmas - Arrecife - Lanzarote, and the light from behind being a little tricky

Arrecife, Lanzarote, 15" x 11"

It's always a bit tricky tackling a scene when there is bright light behind you.  Often you can have in front of you a scene where many things are the same values or tones, making it a challenge with watercolour.  So I needed in this scene to add in some lights against the darks as in the figure against the dark trees or the white car with partial shadow.

Painted on Saunders Waterford, Cold Press, 140lbs

 

Plein air watercolour demonstration - Malmesbury #2 - Rain stopped play

Just to show what it's like painting outdoors in the UK in summer, here's my second effort in a town local to me, Malmesbury.  So a quieter spot this one and meant to be a study of the end of the church, some tomb stones and a tree casting shadow.  But as the painting progressed, a fine misty rain came down and spoiled the show...

Painted on Saunders Waterford, cold press 300 gms paper - not waterproof paper but damned good!

 

 

 

Vicarage Lane, Norton St Philip - Plein air from 2017

Norton St Philip, UK, 15" x 11"

A plein air I did last year on a trip out with the 'Exiles' painting group.  This was also filmed with my cheap little bodycam, but the traffic noise was even worse than my previous YouTube posting so I decided to ditch it.  Anyway, perhaps a hint of a quiet view here despite the busy road between me perched on the side of the road and the church opposite.

Painted on Saunders Waterford, Cold Press 300 gms

 

Il Convento dei Carmine, Tuscany

Monastry, Tuscany, 22" x 15"

Il Convento dei Carmine', a privately owned monastery with ancient cloisters and frescoes was the 5th day venue on the recent workshop I ran with the Watermill at Posara,  A peaceful location and some very tricky subjects with all these columns and arches, made even more challenging with the light.  For this scene I picked the exterior entrance where I had to only deal with 4 arches!

Painted on Saunders Waterford Cold Press 300 gms.

 

Burano looking up to Parish S Martino Vescovo bell tower

Burano, Italy, 15" x 22"

A plein air on the island of Burano and a view up the main street towards the bell tower of Parish S Martino Vescovo.  A couple of challenges with this one - It was a warm day with quite a bit of wind.  The larger the size of your picture, the quicker you need to work or use very big brushes!  Second challenge was half the way into the painting I had to stop and make way for a funeral procession plus coffin.  I was blocking the way because of the view, so my fault 100%.

Painted on Saunders Waterford, 300 gms NOT.

 

St Bartholomew's Church, Corsham

Corsham, England, 15" x 22".

I don't often do churches as a main focal point, but it was a lovely peaceful spot for a bit of plein air painting until some maintenance workers started up their garden brushcutters.  I think one of the biggest challenges of painting plein air is loud noise.  I just can't concentrate too well.  Anyway, I managed to complete things before they got too close!  I tried to emphasise all the different angles of the grave stones.

 

Pont Street South West London looking up to Saint Colomba Church

London, England, 15" x 11"

Pont Street in South West London, looking up to the church of Saint Colomba.  A greatly simplified scene from a point of view of the buildings left and right.  Their facades have many horizontal and vertical lines which if you included them would make the scene incredibly tight. Pedestrian crossings are a good thing to have to either frame the picture or help lead the eye into the composition.  And you don't need to be too precise over painting them either.

 

Bath, England, 15" x 11".

Looking down Pack Horse Lane in the village of South Stoke near Bath.  A view towards the village church and beyond.  Getting the car roof tops in perspective, and having a good space between the bottom of the chassis and the shadow help the feel of looking downwards (hopefully).  I used my ragged old mop brush for the vegetation and trees in the background - great for having a random foliage effect.

 

Bayonne Church - Autumn

Bayonne, France, 15" x 11".

A thank you to Jean-Luc who sent me a reference photo for this painting of Bayonne Church in Autumn.  I suppose there are a few different approaches to painting a light coloured tree against a dark background - 1) Negative painting (dark background first then the tree), 2) Paint tree first, let dry/ish then do the background, or possibly 3) a load of thick body paint for the tree on a dry background.  I went for a variant of 1) and 3) !