Original Watercolours by Tim Wilmot

Mountains beyond Monte dei Bianchi, Tuscany

Tuscany, Italy, 22" x 15"

A quickie done in about 30 minutes as a demo on the last day of the workshop I held in Tuscany this year.  The village of Monte dei Bianchi is up there somewhere.  Lovely majestic peaks of the mountains in the distance and the sweeping shadows of the nearby trees I thought made for an ideal watercolour demo without too much detail and the need to put in figures etc.  Also done with a 3 colour palette consisting of a blue, yellow and red of course and a neutral tint.

Painted on Saunders Waterford Cold Press, 300 gms

 

Marseille Old Port

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.

 

Sidmouth Seafront and Promenade, Devon

Watercolour of Sidmouth, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300gms

A late Winter's day on the front at Sidmouth, looking down the South Devon coast and I think the hill is called Peak Hill.  A very quick sky indeed - just a few dabs with a very large mop brush, picking up some leftover paint on the palette.  Figures were painted around, then I decided to make them mostly dark anyway, and used a touch of white to bring out the highlights on heads and shoulders.

 

Puerto del Carmen Old Town, 5

Landscape Watercolour of Lanzarote, 15" x 11".

A sketch of the very edge of the old part of Puerto del Carmen as it meets the side of some volcanic cliffs a very deep brown/red colour.  The low rise white homes here create a nice contrast against the darker hill side and streets.  Anyway I cheated with the dead-end road sign with a spot of white gouache - too time consuming to paint around it!

 

Lynmouth Sea Front and Quayside 2

Landscape Watercolour of Lynmouth, 15" x 11".

The seafront at Lynmouth in North Devon, looking towards the bright red medieval tower on the quayside and the Exmoor hills meeting the sea in the background.  There was a lot of architectural details on the facades of the Victorian buildings here and I suppose the decision was whether to put them in or leave them out.  Well I put some of them in with a bit of white gouache, so a compromise.

 

Haria Lanzarote 3

Landscape Watercolour of Lanzarote, 15" x 11"

Another sketch of Haria, sitting in a sheltered valley surrounded by extinct volcanoes.  I went quite dark with the background hills and of course to make it contrast with the bright white washed town buildings catching the afternoon sun.  I think with hindsight I should have put in one or two figures to add interest and maybe not make the tops of the mountains so sharp.

 

Lynmouth looking towards Exmoor

Landscape Watercolour of Lynmouth, 15" x 11"

A view of Lynmouth in North Devon, looking towards the Exmoor hills to the South.  My painting was based on a black and white 1930's photo I found, so I had to change some details around buildings, people etc.  Anyway the steps of this painting were, 1) sky and foreground wash, and then left to dry.  2) Far hills and then going darker for the middle ground hillside and doing some negative painting around the rooftops. 3) People and telegraph pole and 5) smoke rising from far building with some watered down gouache on dry paper.

 

Cadeques Spain 11

Landscape Watercolour of Cadeques, 15" x 11"

A composition of the church in Cadeques silhouetted by the mountains behind and a bit of sunlight coming in from the left.  I set myself a limit of one hour for this painting ( with the aid of a hair dryer) hence a bit loose on the trees on the left and the house on the right.  The mist on the mountains was achieved in wetting the lower part of the sky in a few places then leading up the darker mountain to it.

 

Haria Lanzarote 2

Landscape Watercolour of Lanzarote, 15" x 11" 

The small town of Haria in northern Lanzarote, is in the centre of the Valley of the Palms - a wide green valley dotted with random Canary Island Date Palms, with extinct volcanoes around the perimeter.  A bit of dry brush strokes for the palm trunks is a quick way of understating them against the light.

 

Mykonos Port, Greece

Landscape Watercolour of Mykonos, Greece, 15" x 11"

Mykonos, a small Greek Island and part of the Cyclades group.  It's a very popular tourist destination I suppose because it's not too commercialised and has the iconic Aegean scenery of pretty villages and white washed houses.  My sketch is of the New Port, a few miles away from the main Mykonos town and an early part of the morning when the air is still.