Original Watercolours by Tim Wilmot

Plaza la Puntilla, Las Palmas, Spain

Las Palmas, Spain. 15" x 11"

The end of the long beach in Las Palmas and raised open square beyond overlooking the bay.  A beach has many colours when I observe them.  The more I look, the more colours I see.  Painting done with my trusty 3 colour palette (with a neutral tint added for the darks), which I enjoy using more than my full palette to be honest.  It's interesting sometimes to see the output of some colour combinations without it getting to green/brown/muddy.

Painted on Saunders Waterford, Cold Press 300 gms.

Demo painting to Chippneham Art Society - Summer 2017 - Lynmouth

Lynmouth, UK, 22" x 15"

A demo I did last year to the Chippenham Art Society.  Normally when I do demos to art groups I start the session by showing 8 possible scenes (normally photos I have taken relating to the chosen subject type) - in this case a seascape or harbour scene was requested.  Then with a show of hands and trying to get a bit audience participation the photo with the most votes is the painting subject for the night.  So this was chosen from a number of different harbour scenes - mainly UK ones.

Painted on Saunders Waterford, Cold Press, 300 gms

 

Porthleven Harbour at low tide and a view across to the Ship Inn

Porthleven, Cornwall, 22" x 15".

One of my favourite places in Cornwall and a view across the harbour at low tide to the Ship Inn.  What attracted me to the scene were the horizontals and the verticals - the horizontal shards of light, intersected by the vertical masts and reflections.  50% of the picture is made up and sorry to the locals about the correctness of the background.  Quite a big use of dry brush strokes also with the boat markings and lines over the harbour.

 

South Wales Art Society - demo of a Harbour Scene

Watercolour, 15" x 11"

A demo for South Wales Art Society back in January and a Harbour Scene.  A demo of different techniques - laying down a wash, drawing boats, getting in reflections and how to tackle soft waves.  Achieving good results in painting water with watercolour is best done with a mop brush with a good point to it (useless if it has lost the point)

 

Cretan Harbour

Crete, Greece, 15" x 11".

One of my submissions to the annual Bristol Savages Exhibition 2017.  This is a composition loosely based on a scene of Chania Harbour, with the low lying hills in the background and some soft reflections in the foreground.  Quite a 'light' painting compared to some I have done of this area, with much darker backgrounds.  The buildings here are not really white, but take on the hues of their surroundings and some fairly shabby in a nice kind of way.

 

Latest watercolour demo video - an imaginary Harbour scene

Here's my latest video up on my YouTube Channel.  A painting of an imaginary Harbour scene - maybe somewhere is the UK.

 

 

 

A study of boats at Puerto del Rosario, with a background of warehouse buildings

Fuerteventura, Spain, 22" x 15".

The main thing about creating realistic water with watercolour is timing and having soft reflections and hard reflections.  So a large part of this composition is the sea.  I start with a weak colour at the top of the where the sea starts and make it deeper, richer as I come down to the foreground.  While this is still damp, I drop in thicker pigment and a darker colour to make the softer waves - especially in the foreground.  Then when everything is 100% dry I do the boat reflections.  The mast reflections were done with a rigger - straight at first then becoming more haphazard as the come towards us.

 

Small boats moored up along a jetty, Puerto del Rosario, Fuerteventura

Fuerteventura, Spain, 15" x 11".

A few small boats moored up along a jetty in the Puerto del Rosario.  Quite a tricky one with painting in the sea all in one go and cutting around the boat shapes ad trying to get the boat shapes 'right' with them pointing in different directions.  Thankfully the boats in the background needed less detail and they're just really lines, but it's the shape of the sea surrounding them that makes them appear as boats (hopefully).

 

Reflections Puerto del Rosario, Fuerteventura

Puerto del Rosario, Fuerteventura, 15" x 11".

Quite a tricky one this one with many different tones in the reflections and completed in an hour or so.  Also quite a complex background with all those building details, so they needed to be simplified.  Paper used here is Saunders Waterford, rough texture.  I do notice the sides are very different from each other - one side a more grid like pattern and the normal side to paint on, and then the other a more random pattern and not so rough.  When doing wet in wet, if you're using this side, watch out for a bit of bleeding, and painting water can be easier on the 'normal' side.

 

Boats and Surf, Playa de las Canteras, Gran Canaria

Gran Canaria, Spain, 15" x 11".

The Playa de las Canteras in the north of the island and a composition of boats and people on the beach.  Sand can be a tricky thing to paint.  It's almost like painting moving water - you have these highlighted peaks and then bits of shadow behind them.  Timing is very important.  The beach was is laid down then paint in the shadows and lift out the highlights.  I have tried also to create a good bit of bright light from the surf and put some darker figures in front for contrast.