Original Watercolours by Tim Wilmot

Chipping Sodbury Clock Tower

Landscape Watercolour of Chipping Sodbury, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough Paper 140 lbs

In the middle of Chipping Sodbury High Street stands the clock tower, now a posh place for a public toilet and on the other side the local tourist office.  Chipping Sodbury presents a challenge I think for painters mainly from a point of view of choosing a good subject and composition.  You see it has a very wide street and really the best choice is painting against the light and almost head on with the buildings.

 

Staithes, Lower Town 2

Landscape Watercolour of Staithes, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough Paper 140 lbs

This was my second attempt at this scene from a referrence photo of mine and I was looking to improve on the original sketch.  I though with my first attempt the background was too strong and maybe did not push it back far enough. Well on this one I tried to make the background a little more muted and I think it's a minor improvement.

 

Chipping Sodbury High Street 2

Landscape Watercolour of Chipping Sodbury, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough Paper 140 lbs

A painting completed in my local Art Society evening and a scene local to me.  Sharing the picture with my fellow artists and locals, they would quickly point out what the buildings in the scene were thirty, forty years ago.  Sadly yesterday's high street of local shops, butchers etc. are now replaced by charity shops and coffee houses.

 

Brixham Town from the Harbour, 2

Landscape Watercolour of Brixham, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough Paper 140 lbs

The harbour, looking towards Brixham town and one of the old restored double masted sailing boats which take part in the annual festivals here in Devon.  I suppose the composition is fairly simple. An initial wash went over the top half of the picture, then the lower half, getting darker towards the bottom.  While the sea wash was moist, thicker, darker pigment was dragged over to form the waves and foreground interest.  When the top half was dry, I continued with the background town buildings, again kept simple and just indicating some roof tops and lighter patches.  Last stage was the boats, boat reflections and then the masts.

 

Brook Street Chipping Sodbury

Landscape Watercolour of Chipping Sodbury, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough Paper 140 lbs

Brook Street in Chipping Sodbury, a small market town in South Gloucestershire.  Not really a street but more of a lane in probably one of the prettiest parts of Chipping Sodbury and being situated back from the High Street, rarely visited except by the locals.

 

Bristol Waterfront 1

Landscape Watercolour of Bristol, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough Paper 140 lbs

A subject closer to my home and the Bristol waterfront area.  This was once about 30 years ago, more like an inner city dockland area - somewhere you would definitely avoid at night.  Now it's been very well developed with waterfront apartment blocks and many bars and restaurants, popular at nights and weekends.  This painting was based on a photo taken after the annual harbour festival when the whole area takes on the feel of a marina with all different sizes of boats and yachts.  I suppose the main challenge of the subject was to simplify it with the many lines and background detail that was there.

 

Ridgewood Community Centre Chipping Sodbury 2

Landscape Watercolour of Chipping Sodbury, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough Paper 140 lbs

The lovely old buildings and entrance of the Ridgewood Communty Centre in Chipping Sodbury near to where I live.  A hundred and fifty years ago this was a poor people's workhouse typical of Victorian times, but now it's a centre for the community, dancing, arts and crafts.

 

Road into Chipping Sodbury

Landscape Watercolour of Chipping Sodbury, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough Paper 140 lbs

The main road leading into the market town of Chipping Sodbury and on the right, the frontage of the Ridgewood Comunity Centre.  The source photo was care of Google Street View and I had to imagine an eye-line slightly lower than Google's camera (being high above a car of course).  I changed one or two minor details, like the cable across the road which in reality would be taken down by the next double decker bus!

 

Weston Super Mare Harbour at Low Tide 2

Landscape Watercolour of Weston Super Mare, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough Paper 140 lbs

Another painting of the harbour in this North Somerset town and a favourite UK resort well known for it's low tide which reveals miles of beach (sadly mostly tidal mud towards the sea).  Two local ferries that operate in the Bristol Channel, the Westward Ho Ferry and the smaller Bristol Queen, are moored up here.  In the distance is the town centre behind brightly lit hotels on the seafront.

 

Oxford Spires

Landscape Watercolour of Oxford, 11" x 15 " on Saunders Waterford Rough Paper 140 lbs

A sketch of a typical Oxford scene with one of it's many spires, narrow side streets and one of the thousands of cyclists that you see about the place. Oxford is sometimes known as "city of dreaming spires", a term coined by poet Matthew Arnold in reference to the harmonious architecture of Oxford's university buildings topped with pinnacles and spires.