Watercolour 15" x 11" on Bockingford NOT Paper 300 gms
The perimeter around the citidel in the old town area of Faro has a great collection of all the styles of period Portuguese architecture with wondeful hues of ochres, yellows, dark terracotta roof tiles and bright white-washed walls. The odd Phoenix palm breaks up the lines and throws shadows on the walls.
Watercolour 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough Paper 300 gms
This is a busy town in a busy part of the Côte d'Azur - Monaco is one side and Nice is on the other. A few of the features that make it attractive to visitors are the seaside, with long sandy beaches (the bay is supposed to be in the top 5 worldwide), terrace cafés and restaurants. Villefranche’s Old Town, with most buildings dating from the 12th and 13th centuries, is filled with wonderful provençal colours, flowers, and balconies — all cascading down the hillside to the sea and the waterfront quayside.
Watercolour 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough Paper 300 gms
Mudanya's a prosperous, vibrant town siting on the southern coast of the Marmara Sea (the bit that connects the Black Sea with the Mediterranean). The wonderful old houses here in the centre of town are characterised with their upper floors being larger than the ground floor. Not sure why, or whether it's the Greek style, but it makes an interesting subject and offers great shadows for watercolour.
Watercolour 15" x 11" on Bockingford NOT paper 300 gms
The many street markets in Alexandria have agreat buzz about them with many different products on offer - all the normal mediterranean veg, herbs & spices, and plenty of fish and shellfish. The nice thing is that unless you're in a tourist area you won't get the high pressure sales from the vendors if you approach too close. But it's about as far from the aisles of Tescos as you can imagine. I went a bit looser with this painting which I think turned out okay to catch the essence of the scene.
Watercolour 15" x 11" on Bockingford NOT Paper 300 gms
In the myriad of streets around the port area of Alexandria, it's easy to get lost or disorientated. Stumbling on a view of a main road or the sea front allows you to get your bearings again. The area has many different types of architecture - the old juxtaposed with the new. In this scene I was struck by the earthy coloured old building with it's old turquoise shutters in the centre of a market area and a newer 70's style office block behind, looking completely out of place. Numerous old parasols cover and shade market produce up the sunny side of the street.
Watercolour 15" x 11" on Bockingford NOT Paper 300 gms
An evening stroll along the Wharf in St Ives Cornwall. Had to get in a reference to Ice Creams, this being a popular summer resort. St Ives has for a long time been a rich centre of all forms of art (Barbara Hepworth, the Tate Gallery, etc). Artists are quite rightly attracted by the light (one of the most southern points of the UK) and the mild climate. Even Turner has done a few sketches of the area!
Watercolour 15" x 11" on Bockingford NOT Paper 300 gms
An anonymous vegetable trader down an anonymous street in Alexandria. Apart from the focal point of the stall, I wanted to also capture the essence of the beautiful ochre-coloured building behind with it's turquoise shutters and the confusing myriad of cables running above your head (I would hate to be a telephone engineer there). This painting allowed me to try out my new Nicholas Simmons Escoda size 20 brush - a synthetic brush with great holding capacity and a very sharp point. The brush easily dwarfs all my other brushes. Apart from the figures, I did the whole painting with this one brush.
Watercolour 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Paper 300 gms Rough
A second picture of Whitby, this time I perched myself on the swing bridge with a view up the side of the harbour with the red top roofs of the old town and it's pleasure boats coming and going (tried to capture a large yellow boat that moored there). Thousands of holiday makers were making the most of the June sunshine. Lesson practiced this time was 'lost and found', along the tops of the harbour walls. Hope I pulled it off.
Watercolour 11" x 15" on Saunders Waterford Rough Paper 300 gms
Our painting trip to Whitby brough the sun and the day trippers out. The sight of our party of 14 painters all grouped together doing 'Plein Air' certainly attracted on lookers peering over your shoulders and normally positive comments for all of us. I thought the street scene here with the bunting helping the perspective, made a good composition. Just had to get the Fish and Chip sign in as there's plenty of them about in Whitby!
Watercolour 15" x 11" on Bockingford paper 140 lbs
Jaffa Gate - one of the ancient entrances to the old city district of Jeruslalem from the West. The area is of course significant for so many religions, Jews, Christians, Armenians and Muslims as it contains many important sites and tombs. Beyond the gate you also come across a labyrinth of narrow streets and bazaars.
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