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.
Landscape Watercolour of Jerusalem, 15" x 11"
A busy market scene in Jerusalem, with oriental rugs hung high and the surrounding of the ancient buildings of the old part of town. Stages in this painting were 1) Sky, 2) Wash over most of the painting of yellow ochre and then left to dry. 3) In with the darks going around the figures with a bit of negative painting (actually done with quite a large mop brush) and then 5) figures & details.
Landscape Watercolour of Lymington, 15" x 11"
A pretty, Georgian market town, Lymington is situated on the southern edge of the New Forest, between Southampton and Bournemouth and at the western end of the Solent. Apart from the placement of the buildings, I 'invented' the boat, car and people. My source photo I took had little interest and the painting needed a little action. The shadow on the left was very dark pigment and some water dropped in to make it less boring hopefully. I also simplified the background - there was far too much detail of windows and structures on the buildings.
Landscape Watercolour of Alexandria, 15" x 11"
An anonymous building in Alexandria shortly before the citadel, and a liberal use of yellow ochre and deep shadows. Stages for this painting were 1) sky wash, leading to 2) mid and foreground wash with a little cobalt blue towards the bottom. 3) After drying I start with the side gate and the shadows of the buildings. 4) Last are the figures painted in while the shadows were still wet.
Landscape Watercolour of Athens, 15" x 11".
Monastiraki was the site of one of the largest monasteries in Athens. So little was left of the complex - and only this little church remains, hence it's name 'monastiraki' or 'little monastery'. The area around the square here has many tourist souvenir shops and traditional Greek Kebap Restaurants. I very rarely go back to paintings to rework them, but the yellow taxi was an afterthought (there were tow many plain cars, so I washed over one with a Cad Yellow bit of paint).
On Saunders Waterford Rough Paper, 140 lbs.
Landscape Watercolour of Chipping Sodbury, 15" x 11"
The rear entrance to Ridgewood Community Centre in Chipping Sodbury, home to my local art club up there on the first floor. Not an obvious choice maybe for a sketch, being a fairly ordinary building with an older part of the left and the newer bit on the right. I took the liberty of reducing the height of the building in order to accommodate the larger foreground car park (sorry Ridgewood).
I don't often paint on holiday, but here's a few from last year, and all from my 10" x 7" sketchbook.
Landscape Watercolour of Lanzarote, 15" x 11"
Tias is a small town in central Lanzarote, a bit off the tourist areas and a popular residency for local and ex pats. I don't know the name of this street corner, but I took the liberty of changing a few minor architectural details and put in the two people and the car to balance the composition. Pedestrian crossing went in first with a dry wash of light blue pigment just to dirty it up a bit before the cerulean blue sky and ultra marine/alizarin crimson was on the lower half (with a bit of yellow ochre on the lighter right hand side of the central building.
Landscape Watercolour of Lanzarote, 15" x 11"
The church tower of San Miguel serves as a useful landmark if you're ever lost at the busy Sunday market in the old capital town of Teguise. I can remember doing the foreground in one go with bold dry brush strokes, and leaving a bit of the paper below to enhance a bit of sunlight sparkle on the surface.
Saunders Waterford Rough Paper, 140 lbs.
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.
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