Landscape Watercolour of London, 15" x 11".
Upper St Martins Lane in London's West End. It's a busy crossing point and so I had to feature plenty of figures. Steps were 1) Sky and warm wash on buildings and road. 2) Shadows on background buildings and trees (with a rough old brush). 3) Details on the architecture of the right hand building. 4) Lamppost and figures, then some highlights with white.
Landscape Watercolour of Chipping Sodbury, 22" x 15".
A short hill just before you hit the main part of Chipping Sodbury. I have tried to balance the cottages on the far side of the road with a couple of figures on the right. In the middle of the road is actually a 'mini-roundabout', but putting that in the composition might have ruined it, so I've just added a few swirls as a suggestion.
Painted on Saunders Waterford Rough, 140 lbs.
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 Chipping Sodbury, 15" x 11".
Just near where I live and like a little slice of deepest Devon, up here in the heart of South Gloucestershire. In fact this little spot could spawn many compositions from different angles, and there's the River Frome (hence the name of this road I guess) crossing the area. Chimney smoke was done almost at the end - the area of smoke was dampened slightly then Chinese White dropped in (heavier at the base).
Landscape Watercolour of Madrid, 15" x 11".
Calle Major near the entrance to the square of the same name. It's summer so there's a few parasols around - always nice to introduce into a painting I think to add in some bands of light as you travel down the picture. The whole scene was framed either side by taller buildings thrown into shade.
Landscape Watercolour of Tossa de Mar, 15" x 11".
Landscape Watercolour of Tossa de Mar, 22" x 15".
A practice again in taking a subject and trying out at quarter size then doubling up to half size paper. The canopy of the cafe had quite a shiny, metallic coating inside to it so hopefully that came through with it's reflective quality. The waiter in the second picture has probably had to much to drink based on him leaning into his walk - well it might give him a bit of movement! There's just a hint of the beach on the other side of the cafe.
Landscape Watercolour of Limassol, 15" x 11".
A mixture of different architecture in downtown Limassol, and new offices blocks rubbing shoulders with the old town. With the figures, I am trying to make them merge into their background a bit so they're not standing alone or being too isolated, and some dry brush strokes leading the eyes hopefully into the picture.
Landscape Watercolour of Yate, 15" x 11"
Hollisters is a small DIY shop in my home town. Small, but they stock everything, and long before the big supermarkets and chains moved into town, it was and still is a great place to get good advice. Locals will know there's no pedestrian crossing here, but I thought it aided the composition. To the left of the shop there's a quaint row of cottages set back from the street.
Landscape Watercolour of Yate, 15" x 11"
A scene near to me and the White Lion Inn with a few locals enjoying a few beers in the rare UK summer sun. The background trees were rendered with a sword or dagger brush, an odd shape of a brush but brilliant for random foliage effects and also long straight lines like phone cables etc.
Landscape Watercolour of Mykonos, 15" x 11".
The sweeping bay of Mykonos Town and the perimeter of wall-to-wall restaurants attracting the local tourists. I have come to the conclusion that some good paintings have bands of light and dark tones down them, so starting with the sky being normally light, then a dark mountain or row of buildings, then a line of light roof tops/blinds, then shadow coming down, then sunlight hitting the ground and so on. I'll experiment.
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