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.
Saint-Junien, France, 15" x 11".
A central square (well more of a triangle) in a central town in France. I put a fair bit of thought to how I could render the house walls to make them look more authentic. In reality they are a bit shabby chic - here in deep shade, I added in different colours as I went downwards. While the paint was still moist I still added in a bit more pigment of thicker consistency. Then as the base of the buildings was still wet, I painted in the rest of the cars and their shadows.
Payzac, France, 15" x 11".
Market day in the small town of Payzac in the Dordogne region of France. The plan here was to have the alternating horizontal bands of light and darks down through the composition - roof tops, market parasol, car tops and road. I could perhaps made the roof tops a shade lighter. A little bit of neutral tint went into those darker shadows to get a bit more contrast going. I put in a few dabs of bright red to give the impression of fruit for sale.
Fabriano, Italy, 15" x 11"
I don't often do close-ups of cars, but this being an Italian scene I had to include a Fiat. I must have been going through a colour mood with those bright colours of the buildings, but going quite cool into the shadows. I resisted the temptation of slapping on white gouache for the figure highlights (just did some careful painting around head and shoulders) but it crept onto the car headlights!
Duras, France, 15" x 11".
The Place du 11 Novembre, a small square in the market town of Duras, France. Most of the time with watercolour you paint from light areas first then lay over darker tones. With some bright objects in deep shade I normally paint around them (e.g. the cafe sign and the van on the right) with the dark shadows, then when that's dry I paint those brighter objects with the appropriate colour (with a bit of bleeding if the shadows are still a bit damp).
Bursa, Turkey, 22" x 15".
Yesil Caddesi Bursa, or 'green street' in English, high up on the southern slopes rising above downtown Bursa. It certainly is green and very peaceful away from the hustle and bustle of Turkey's fourth largest metropolis, and the area is better known for the location of the tomb of Sultan Mehmet the 1st and his smaller children. I moved some of the street 'furniture' around to suit the composition, e.g. trying not to make that big lamppost dead centre.
Ilfracombe, Devon, 15" x 11".
Quite a quick sketch and an 'H' composition with the simple left wall and right hand building. It was done in about 45-50 minutes or so. It needed a little bit of careful painting around the signs on the lamp post and the 'P' of the car park sign (I rarely would use white body paint on top of the blue). I think the bleeding of paint on the road surface worked well and using rough surface paper it was easy to leave some spots in the foreground to hint at some sunlight.
Marseille, France, 15" x 11".
The 'Quai des Belges' Marseille in the Old Port area - a very busy part of the city and where the fish market is. The first wash was light cerulean blue for the sky, yellow ochre in the middle and alizarin crimson at the bottom. Then I painted the Hotel in the middle and the buildings in the distance on the right. Then the left hand shaded area, people and cars were almost done in one process, dropping in darks while the paint was still damp. Darks were done with neutral tint with ultramarine blue. The globe street lights needed a careful bit of painting around.
Faro, Portugal, 15" x 11".
The corner of 'O Seu Cafe' in central Faro, Portugal. The road surface here are 'polished' cobble stones - impossible to paint every individual stone in a loose style, so instead I plump for a very light area up against very dark areas, smudging out patches with a dry paper towel to add a bit of interest to the surface. The left hand side of the painting was left deliberately vague with that white van almost disappearing into the shadows.
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