Landscape Watercolour of Chipping Sodbury, 15" x 11".
A view actually from a supermarket car park across to the tower of St John Baptist Church in Chipping Sodbury. There's a little footbridge here over the River Frome and leading on to the High Street. Quite a simple scene and done fairly quickly. A 'sword' brush was used for the foreground branches and leaves top right - plenty of paint on the brush and dab in a random fashion.
Landscape Watercolour of Chipping Sodbury, 15" x 11".
A winter scene of a small footbridge over the River Frome in the town of Chipping Sodbury. After the initial washes went down (the darker ones) there was a fair bit of scraping out with a small penknife to give the lighter branches. You have to judge the time to do this just right - scrape too soon while the paint is too moist and you just might damage the paper surface (which I've done many times, bing too impatient). Best time is when the paper is just damp. Also another challenge with the picture was the wooden fence with part of it painted negatively with the sunlight catching it, the the rest being easier and darker than the background.
Landscape Watercolour of Chipping Sodbury, 22" x 15".
A view looking down Chipping Sodbury High Street towards the hills at the southern tip of the cotswolds. The washes of the hills and buildings were given a bit of a hazy feel with a bit of scrubbing out while still damp. Mr Delivery person was put in as an afterthought after I'd put in the white van. Painting a row of cars sideways on is a bit difficult I think (that's the way they park each side of the wide street), so I've simplified it a bit.
Landscape Watercolour of Chipping Sodbury, 15" x 11".
Higher up the High Street in Chipping Sodbury and a scene of mainly private houses. Steps in this painting - 1) Sky, painting around roof tops and chimneys. 2) A main wash over the buildings and road, painting around the highlights on the cars. 3) Darken up the roof tops a bit more with a warm colour. 4) Second wash over the road coming darker in the foreground. 5) Windows, painted in loosely. 6) Car details and their shadows, then figures.
Landscape Watercolour of the Cotswolds, 15" x 11"
A commission and a typical country lane scene. Winter snow is a great subject for watercolour with it's tonal contrasts and dropping in bits of colour to make the snow a bit more interesting.
This painting is sold.
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 Bristol, 15" x 22".
Another shot of the outdoor market along Corn Street in Bristol, with the Exchange Building on the right and the Registry Office of the left. I actually went over the sky twice. The first wash was a bit weak and I thought the warmer tone of the bell tower (sorry don't know it's name) looked a bit nicer with a rich blue by the side of it. I had a good play with the dark shadows going across the street.
Landscape Watercolour of London, 15" x 11".
Upper St Martins Lane in London's West End. It's a busy crossing point and so I had to feature plenty of figures. Steps were 1) Sky and warm wash on buildings and road. 2) Shadows on background buildings and trees (with a rough old brush). 3) Details on the architecture of the right hand building. 4) Lamppost and figures, then some highlights with white.
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.
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