Watercolour of St Tropez, 22" x 15" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300 gms.
The small but perfectly formed La Ponche beach in the old part of St Tropez and a little off the beaten track. Anyway, I thought it made a great subject, mainly for the old buildings running down to the water's edge and their lovely warm tones. The beach was painted fairly roughly - a splattering of clear water while still damp and some dry brush strokes dragged across.
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.
Watercolour of Marseilles, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300 gms.
Another 'mesh' side up painting on Saunders Rough. The scene is of the Old Port in Marseilles, looking from one side to the other, and the many masts silhouetted against the city buildings behind. I suppose quite a simple painting as regards stages - sky first, then the sea (dropping in darker colour as it was damp), then the background buildings painting around some of the yachts and lastly the various boats themselves, their hulls on one side in the shade and mast in white gouache.
Watercolour of Marseilles, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300gms.
I've been experimenting recently painting on the 'wire mesh' side of Saunders Waterford paper rather than the normal (I think most people would paint on this side) 'Felt' side. I'm going to try a few paintings with this approach and see how I get on. I suppose it's more noticeable in the sky area - you can see the more regular pattern where the wire mesh has moulded itself into the surface. Apart from that, the absorbency seems the same as the other side as well as the 'roughness'. My scene is right outside the main railway station in Marseilles, and cars dropping off or collecting travellers.
Watercolour of Marseilles, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300gms.
The La Joliette district of Marseilles, a business area right next to the old port. Here a view up the hill to the centre of the city. Steps for this painting 1) 'dirty' up white background building (not make it so white), 2) continue wash over rest of painting (I can see I went a bit red in the left corner there). 3) Sky with a rich cerulean and turquoise. 4) Shadows of buildings almost all done at once and car details - careful to paint around those two middle figures.
Watercolour of Marseille, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300gms
The 'Quai du Port' running down one side of the old port in Marseille, and looking towards the silhouette of the Fort Saint Jean. A fairly easy subject for watercolour with lots of light and shade, and figures out for an afternoon walk (think it was a Sunday afternoon). Again a nice warm wash for the road of light red and alizarin crimson. Figures were done with almost neat pigment and little water added.
Watercolour of Marseille, 22" x 15" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300gms.
The Old Port of Marseille, a rectangular expanse of water running into the centre of the city and reminding me of a bigger version of my home town Bristol's own waterfront. The view is looking up to the Basilica Notre Dame de la Garde, the highest point in Marseille and a great view over the city. The view is framed by the local coast guard boat on the left and smaller vessels on the right. Hundreds of yacht masts clutter the middle ground.
Landscape Watercolour of Brittany, 15" x 11".
A small slipway at Ste Marine Port, right opposite and on the other side of the estuary, the larger town of Benodet on the southern coast of Brittany. There were a few quite bright buildings in the distance, but I dulled them down a bit. Moored boats were painted around leaving white paper and a few dark lines put mainly at waterline. The table details of the cafe were left as some random marks from the shadows.
Painted on Saunders Waterford Rough, 140 lbs.
Landscape Watercolour od Brittany, 15" x 11".
On the opposite bank of the River Odet to Bénodet, Sainte-Marine is an estuary village very similar to areas of Cornwall in the UK. This little sheltered bay at the 'cafe du Port' has many small craft moored. It makes a great watercolour subject with the negative shapes of the dark trees and sunlight catching parts of the cafes and cottages.Painted on Saunders Waterford Paper, 140 Lbs.
Day 3 and studio exercise was another Paris scene, on a rainy dark day. For me this was particularly difficult because of timing the washes and the reflected highlights of windows and car headlamps (the yellow went in at quite an early stage I can remember). I thought my attempt looked more like an illustration out of a Harry Potter scene.
Anyway job done and on with the next one. In the afternoon the group ventured out to a bay further into Cadeques centre, which offered scenes to either side so I painted them both! First one, maybe a more orthodox Cadeques scene, looking into the light:
And my second painting I relocated a short distance to the other side of the bay and with a beer in hand (well I was sat in a nice cafe there) and a brush in the other (had to make sure I was dipping my brush in the correct glass), did this one. Not an easy one this because of lack of composition opportunities and no contrasts between light and shade because of the diminishing light levels. It did illustrate the very narrow road that hugs the side of the bay.
This was the first day I was using the better Saunders Waterford paper on my plein air paintings. Until then I had used the much cheaper Bockingford. Saunders takes longer to dry by comparison, is not so white, but the washes behave themselves!
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