Landscape Watercolour of Bursa, 22" x 15".
Yesil (pronounced yea-sheel) Caddesi in the higher, older Yesil neighbourhood of Bursa and just round to the left is the Yesil Turbe - the tomb of the 5th Sultan, Mehmet the 1st. The old buildings facing us our now souvenir shops selling quite nice stuff, carpets, lamps etc. The rising Uludag mountains form the backdrop to the composition.
Landscape Watercolour of Chipping Sodbury, 22" x 15".
An old pub in Chipping Sodbury, the Beaufort Hunt. In the winter it always has a nice log fire going. Anyway, steps for the painting 1) Sky and wash over rest of painting, coming warmer on the road. 2) After fairly dry, went in with the roof tops and paint around figures and car tops. 3) Cars and windscreens. 4) Deeper shadows of the buildings and timber details. 5) Last was figure details and deeper shadows of the cars.
This painting won first prize in my local art competition, the 'Yate Open' in 2013.
Landscape Watercolour of Lanzarote, 15" x 11".
The old town part of Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote. It's actually the car park by the harbour, but it's Tapas Festival time with the vendors' blue marquees in the background. First step in this painting was to go over the white stripes of the pedestrian crossing with any old pigment left in the palette to 'rough it up' a bit - When do you ever see a pristine white crossing?
Landscape Watercolour of Madrid, 15" x 11".
Another sketch of one of the main streets in central Madrid Calle Major. The sun is behind this time, throwing light on the buildings in front. The shadow in the foreground wasn't there in reality, but I think it improved the picture. Light vehicles against the darker background, add a bit of contrast and there's a bit of painting around the figures leaving the white paper showing.
Landscape Watercolour of Sitges, 15" x 11".
Steps for this painting - 1) Sky wash of yellow ochre and cerulean blue and a wash in the foreground with more pigment coming towards you. Then allowed to dry. 2) Background buildings and darker at their base and paint around the tops of vehicles. 3) Figures and Cars (dark shadows under the cars as the paint is till damp). Then highlights at the end and the car park sign.
Landscape Watercolour of Ibiza, 15" x 11".
A sunny street in San Antonio, a lively resort on the island of Ibiza. The plan for this painting was deciding where the major highlights were going to be - tops of buildings, tops of cars, and then do a bit of negative painting around them. Dark shadows under the cars intensifies the feeling of strong light (hopefully!).
Landscape Watercolour of Chipping Sodbury, 15" x 11".
As Chipping Sodbury has quite a wide high street, I think from a composition point of view, you have to have the subject being the fronts of shops and houses almost head on. Having the cars parked in front adds another layer of interest. Having the road in foreground, I moved the street furniture around a bit to make something of the foreground.
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 Gran Canaria, 15" x 11"
Calle Doreste in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is a popular resort in SW Gran Canaria, and my subject was this curved arcade of tourist shops just on the side of the harbour there. It was a good practice of negative painting round the roof tops of the vehicles and the figures. Sometimes within these white spaces left behind, I later rub out any offending pencil marks, but I think I forgot this one.
Landscape Watercolour of Sicily, 15" x 11"
Favignana is a very small island off the west coast of Sicily and very peaceful it is too. There's only a few cars/roads and a very laid back atmosphere. My sketch is of a restaurant or trattoria near the port and I was struck by how red the exterior walls were. Well I tried to get the effect here of he baking summer sun beating down on the place.
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