Original Watercolours by Tim Wilmot

Burrowbridge, Somerset 2 - Wishing for a plein air visit there!

Burrowbridge, England, 15" x 11".

I missed a plein air trip last year with a group of fellow artists but I managed to acquire a photograph of the area with the iconic mound in the background.  Well I can imagine I am there by the roadside with the view in front of me.  Of course I have to insert man and his dog somewhere and decided to have him cutting across several horizontal shadows along the road.  Thankfully I have the hedgerow to add a bit more interest and angle to those shadows rather than boring straight lines.

 

 

Burrowbridge, Somerset, 1

Burrowbridge, England, 15" x 11"

Burrowbridge, and the 'mump' hillock in this Somerset village.  This painting was based on a reference photo sent me by fellow artist Jem Bowden and a plein air trip I could not make.  I adopted a very loose style here - not too much detail at all apart from a few straw bails and the couple of figures.  Those figures are much smaller than I normally do, but I think they turned out okay.  All in all, quite a dark painting with that stormy sky.

 

Entrance to the Ramblas, Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona, Spain, 15" x 11".

It's been a few years since I painted the 'Ramblas' in Barcelona and after stumbling across a photo of the bottom end of this wide boulevard I decided to have another go.  Being a very very busy area of course there has to be many people in the scene.  I tried not to overdue the numbers and included a little street cafe on the right hand side.  The large tree had a very loose treatment and I dropped clear water into it as it was still moist to get those meandering lines coming down the canopy.  The architectural details of the building was done with dry brush strokes using mainly neutral tint with a smallish synthetic brush.

 

Avebury Stone Circle

Avebury, England, 22" x 15"

Avebury, and the prehistoric stone circle which runs around the edge of the village.  Unlike Stonehenge you can go up and touch the stones/boulders.  Sheep freely graze among the visitors.  This is a plein air done with a local painting group last autumn and I had the battle of fighting against the wind and the sun - both making drying times really fast.  I think the far hill, being a ploughed up field perhaps could have been less 'red'.  The earth really was that colour in my mind but it would do being a bit paler to push it back in the compostion.

 

Cottages at Saltford near Bath - different watercolour techniques

Saltford, Bath, England, 15" x 11"

A painting based on a photo from a recent plein air trip.  Quite a few watercolour techiniques are being used in this painting - the initial wash with a large mop brush, a bit of 'wet in wet' with the sky blending into the roof tops.  Similar to wet in wet I have dropped clear water into the tree when it was still damp to get a cascading, running effect.  I have also washed out a bit of the shadows and figures.  Finally I have used some white gouache and dry brush strokes for the window details.  You can overdo it with the while highlights and I was close to the mark!

 

Old Beech tree at Old Sodbury

Old Sodbury, England, 15" x 11".

A large Copper Beech tree in the village of Old Sodbury near my home.  The whole sky area was wetted first, then while damp I laid in my wash of mainly cerulean blue, but making bold strokes from the centre rather like the spokes of a wheel.  The foreground shadow did not exist in reality, but I think the picture needed it and a way of having the two figures connection that with the middle ground.  The shadow was painted first and figures afterwards.

 

Walk along the River Frome, Chipping Sodbury

Chipping Sodbury, England, 15" x 11".

A pathway along the River Frome, Chipping Sodbruy in the Costwold area.  The river is over to the right of the railings.  Maybe the challenge here was to make something out of 'nothing' or a scene which had little interest.  So I need to build in some interest into areas like the path, the hedge and the woods to the right.  So while the paint is still moist/damp, I drop in extra colours.  I made the scratch marks on the right when the paint was still damp.  When you scrape with a sharp object or your finger nails, timing is very  important.  If the paper is too wet, you make the mark and the paint crawls back into the gap.  If it's too dry you just end up damaging the paper surface.

 

Practice painting for a recent plein air session on the River Avon

River Avon, England, 15" x 11"

A practice sketch for a plein air session with local artist friend Jem Bowden.  Jem said 'lets paint down by the river'!  Not used to painting 100% rural scenes without houses/cars, I asked for some photos of the area.  This is what I came up with.  I introduced 'fat man and his dog' into the people-less photo.  Not sure what possessed me to paint in those two stumps looking like up turned cigarette butts.  

 

Winter Trees, Brook Street, Chipping Sodbury

Chipping Sodbury, England, 15" x 11".

A very faint rendering of the background, you can almost see the main church tower, and then very loose painting of the foreground trees.  The main part of the trees were painted with a small mop brush, and a 'sword' brush was used for the branches.  When the paint was still damp I used a small penknife to make some scrape marks indicating lighter branches.  Timing here is important doing that and also not to overdo it to avoid damaging the paper surface.

 

Antalya, Turkey, road above the harbour

Antalya, Turkey, 15" x 11"

A road high up above the harbour in the Turkish city of Antalya.  Plenty of 'negative' figures here to see if it works - light figure against dark shadows and vice versa.  Middle building almost blends into the background sky with that lower wash of weak yellow ochre.  Palm trees were done with a small brush and thick pigment flicked from the crown of the tree outwards.