Watercolour of Tavira, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300 gms.
A 'pedestrian' only bridge in Tavira Portugal, and looking to some whitewashed buildings on the far side. It's low tide and there's just a slight reflection in the mud and shallow waters of this tidal river. There was a bit of careful painting around the roof tops and chimneys and the white building was made not too white, but tainted a bit with some blues and any old paint off the palette.
Watercolour of Tavira, Algarve, 22" x 15" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300 gms
A view of central Tavira, a town near the coast in eastern Algarve. Looking across the street and a row of shops/cafes. This sort of composition I think is great for watercolour - areas of light and dark shade coming down the painting. Wish we had those strong lights in the UK. Car windscreens are sometimes a bit of a challenge - they're not flat and they take in reflections from everywhere, so I just give them a very loose treatment and leave in some lighter areas.
Watercolour of Albufeira, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough 300 gms
A windy road leading down into the old part of Albufeira Town. The pedestrian crossing was not made too perfect - I try to make the perspective correct with the initial pencil drawing (I use a 2B or 3B), and then 'mess' it up a bit by not keeping too rigidly to the lines and a few tyre marks at the end of the painting - some sweeping curves with the dry brush strokes of a synthetic brush.
Landscape Watercolour of Tavira, Algarve, 15" x 11".
A busy backstreet in the Portuguese town of Tavira on the Algarve. I think I've put everything into this one - houses, people, cars, birds! I think the shadows left turned out okay and the way they merge with the darker walls of the background houses across the middle of the composition. Also a bit of merging in of the figures limbs into the shadows worked out alright.
Landscape Watercolour of Faro, Portugal, 15" x 11".
Based on a holiday photo, my source picture just had the row of parked cars on the left, so I added the people and especially the solitary person in white on the right with the no entry sign, just to balance up things on that side. The foreground shadow was invented as well. Nice when the light comes from the side or slightly behind.
Landscape Watercolour of Tavira, 15" x 11".
Another Taxi rank picture (I can see a theme coming here), and sort of looking into the light, with the impression of a road-side cafe on the left. I think I maybe could have gone a little darker with the background behind the taxis, but overall it was an okayish sketch. Dry brush strokes as always on the road.
Landscape Watercolour of Madeira, 15" x 11".
A narrow back street in the capital of Madeira, Funchal. A good practice for me of doing some 'wet in wet' painting in the shadows of the building and the figure on the right, to try and blend in the shapes and not make them stand out so much. Maybe the red roof was a little too bright, but they are that colour. If I did this again, I would probably add in more detail and take my time.
Landscape Watercolour of Faro, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough Paper 140 lbs
The high perimeter of walls of the Old Citidel casting their late afternoon shadows over the rest of the Old Town part of Faro. The whole sketch was done quite quickly and the shadows going in at the same time. I was pleased with the guy on the right side left understated and sort of merging into the darkness.
Landscape Watercolour of Lagos, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough Paper 140 lbs
Located facing the fishing port, this building was built in 1924 to originally house just the towns fruit and veg market but was also devoted to selling fish in the last 1950's. The wonderful selection of freshly caught seafood is housed on the ground floor while fruit, vegetables, freshly baked bread, and an open-air terrace with restaurant can be found upstairs.
Landscape Watercolour of the Algarve, 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough Paper 140 lbs
The busy marina at Olhao (pronounced "oll Yow") on the Algarve and the pier stretching out to the main ferry point for the islands in the Ria Formosa natural park. Olhao. This is the biggest fishing port on the Algarve, and if you ignore the shabby appearance of the town centre there's a great daily fish market here on the waterfront and loads of restaurants along the Outubro Promenade serving fish and shell fish dishes. I am gradually getting used to the Saunders paper now away from my usual Bockingford and doing wet in wet on Saunders is a hell of a lot easier.
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