Watercolour of St Tropez, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300 gms.
The buildings surrounding St Tropez harbour have this lovely warm reddish tone and sit well with the cooler colours in this cloudy spring day. Painting was kept loose - there's too many details of windows, people on the far quayside, and paraphernalia to worry about. Watercolour lends itself well to these bands of light, dark, light, dark coming down the picture.
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.
Landscape Watercolour of Lanzarote, 15" x 11".
The old town part of Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote. It's actually the car park by the harbour, but it's Tapas Festival time with the vendors' blue marquees in the background. First step in this painting was to go over the white stripes of the pedestrian crossing with any old pigment left in the palette to 'rough it up' a bit - When do you ever see a pristine white crossing?
Landscape Watercolour of Madrid, 15" x 11".
A Churros Shop (a Spanish Donut) on the Calle Major, a fairly major road in central Madrid. The sketch was a good opportunity to paint in a more loose style with the understated architectural details and dry brush strokes hinting at columns, window frames and pillars. I think the cool sky and the warm background building worked quite well.
Landscape Watercolour of Mykonos, 15" x 11".
Fabrica Square in Mykonos, a quiet square in Mykonos Town frequented more by locals than tourists. I've tried to hint at the fruit & veg store on the right, with just an indication of produce there and a trolley catching the sunlight. Behind the couple in the centre of the square is the bus shelter and bus stop.
Landscape Watercolour of Lanzarote, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough Paper 140 lbs
A quick study of a typical potato field on the Island of Lanzarote. Potatoes are one of the main crops on Lanzarote and they're a great local speciality tapas - Canarian Potatoes or wrinkly potatoes, served with spicy mojo sauce. Because the whole island is a series of dormant volcanoes, lava rock is in plentiful supply as a crushed black mulch for the crops, keeping the moisture in, and a building material for the boundary walls around the fields.
Landscape Watercolour of Istanbul, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough Paper 140 lbs
Fatih district in Istanbul, away from the typical tourist routes. The Fatih area is home to the main mosques and the Grand Covered Bazaar. My subject was a typical scene of a street in Fatih looking down towards the Bosphorous. I was probably most pleased about the job on the car of all things and left it not too overworked. The danger is you start painting in detail on windscreens and then wheels and it all ends up looking too false.
Landscape Watercolour of Staithes, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough Paper 140 lbs
This is the quant little footbridge joining the two halves of Staithes Town on the beautiful North Yorkshire coast. I was lucky enough to have pleasant sunshine when I was there last year. The river here is the primary subject for many visiting artists, especially at low tide and featuring the old rowing boats which are almost a trademark of the town.
My 400th post.
Landscape Watercolour of Cadeques, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough Paper 140 lbs
A sheltered corner of Cadeques with the afternoon sun streaming in to light a corner cafe. This painting was finished quite quickly for me and I think it looked better for not being overlooked. The foreground shadow I added as a later stage to bring a bit of balance and I believe it improved the composition.
Landscape Watercolour of Bursa, Turkey, 15" x 11" on Bockingford NOT Paper 140 lbs
An anonymous back street in Bursa Turkey, showing a typical scene of shops, a street trader's three-wheeled transportation containing various seed covered breads or Simit - Turkish version of a pretzel and very delicious too.
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