Original Watercolours by Tim Wilmot

Monastiraki Athens

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.

 

Various Holiday Sketches from 2012

I don't often paint on holiday, but here's a few from last year, and all from my 10" x 7" sketchbook.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tias Street Corner, Lanzarote

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.

 

Sunday Market Teguise, Lanzarote

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.

 

Tel Aviv Street Corner

Landscape Watercolour of Tel Aviv, 15" x 11"

A street corner in Tel Aviv.  Well it could be any city.  The painting is based on a holiday snap.  The first thing I do if the picture has some white in it or the stripes of the zebra crossing is dull it down a bit with some dirty or blueish paint, and not to make the stripe too perfect but cut across the edges.

 

Street Corner, Old Jerusalem

Landscape Watercolour of Jerusalem, 15" x 11"

A busy street corner in the old part of Jerusalem, just opposite the Damascus Gate.  There was a varied mixture of shops here, street vendors and even a Hotel in the middle.  What attracted me was the challenge of simplifying the scene (extracting many people and a few cars whizzing around the junction here), and I think the blinds with their stripes added a bit of interest.

 

Corfe Castle

Landscape Watercolour of Corfe Castle, 15" x 11"

Corfe Castle, Dorset, and the subject of Steve Hall's Winter competition.  The brief was from a source photo of the castle on a calm overcast day, make the scene a bit more dramatic.  Any UK watercolour artists out there, please give Steve's competition a go.  It's fun and he picks really interesting subjects for the quarterly challenge.  For Steve Hall's newsletter and next competition, click here.

Saunders Waterford Rough Paper 140 lbs.

 

Portrait of an unknown youth

Portrait of an unknown youth, 11" x 15"

Well this is supposed to be a blog about watercolour landscapes but I recently succumbed to doing a portrait as a bit of a change. It must have been at least 30 years since I did my last watercolour portrait and it'll probably be many years before I attempt another.  One thing for sure, I find they take twice as long as a landscape, and always the temptation is to capture the likeness of the subject.

Saunders Waterford Rough Paper, 140 lbs.

Haria Lanzarote

Landscape Watercolour of Lanzarote, 15" x 11"

A view looking towards the Plaza de la Constitucion of Haria.  Haria's a quiet town in Northern Lanzarote and in the centre of the 'Valley of Palms', allegedly over 1000 palms giving the whole area a very green and lush feel at contrast to the rest of this mainly dry volcanic island.  The main challenge with this painting was the lighting - being a dull day and trying to get some different tones in amongst all the white buildings.

 

Market Day, Teguise, Lanzarote

Landscape Watercolour of Lanzarote, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough Paper 140 lbs

Sunday's Market Day in the old capital town of Teguise on Lanzarote Island.  There's all sorts of vendors there from arts & crafts, clothing, local foods and British burgers and bangers.  The stalls line all the narrow central streets.  I think with this painting what worked well for me was the framing of the two side walls and merging in the characters into the shadows.