I’ve been attending a weekly watercolour course at Heatherlys for two weeks now. We have started with Still Life and have worked on the typical subjects. Vases, flowers, fruit and veg plus jugs and more flowers. The course is interesting but gentle and I’m not really moving out of my comfort zone yet. However a whole days painting is exhausting and I come back home with headaches from the concentration.

The course is forcing me to think about alternative treatments, lets me view other artists work and receive support and direction from my tutor. All very interesting.

Below are a couple of works from the lessons.

Still Life 1

Still Life 2

Over the last few months I’ve been thinking about the layering of washes, tonal gradations and subtleties of colour change. In order to experiment I’ve been thinking of painting skin tones as this will show immediately when washes are too dense, abrupt or muddy.

I selected a model for her tonal contrasts, relatively simple composition and subtlety of skin tone.

This picture shows that I have a long way to go in achieving a creditable result. I’m attending a watercolour course on Thursday, which will last 12 weeks , and I am thinking that at the end of it I will post a similar picture and see if there has been any improvement!

I’ve entered 4 paintings into the Leatherhead Art Show, (22nd – 30th October)

Two are new paintings to this blog. Both are local scenes.

Leatherhead Bridge

Triptych of Mole Valley 

I’m excited entering these paintings and hope they go down well.

Molly chasing spiders on Norbury Park.

Back from walkies

Somewhere in there is a wet and tired Molly.

Molly just out from paddling

I couldn’t help laughing when Molly came out from paddling in the river. Her normally furry legs were abruptly reduced at exactly the depth of the river. It looked like she was wearing ‘plus-fours’ on all four legs.

I exhibited some paintings at the Heritage weekend and sold a painting! This is one of the other paintings on show, of the River Mole, exactly where Molly went paddling.

River Mole at Thorncroft

Molly likes to decimate the fuchsias and chase the bees.

I went sailing on my brothers boat recently and had a great time mucking around the Solent and Portsmouth Harbour.

The light, colours and sights inspired me to capture that feeling of slapping through the waves on a fresh breeze. I tried two versions, one on a typical blustery day with grey scudding clouds and misty horizon. The other on a brighter, clearer day, with more blues and reflected light.

The boat is the same class as my brothers boat but not an identical match, as I didn’t have a photo of his boat to work from. I found photos of locations on the Solent such as the Needles and Ryde, on the Isle of Wight. Mixing many elements from different sources to get the composition I wanted.

It felt good to be painting a subject with a purpose and story, however, the results are a cliche of sailing boat paintings and I’m not totally satisfied with the final outcomes. However, one will be framed and given as a birthday present – but which one?

Tacking Off Ryde

Rounding the Needles

I’ve been working on small paintings of the River Mole that flows through the valley here and trying different techniques.

I took some photos of the river on a sunny day and wanted to test out ways of depicting trees and shrubs. I first sketched one of the scenes in my sketchbook, working out composition, tonal range and scale. To be honest there isn’t much to sketch and it’s why I haven’t worked on this subject before. But looking at other artists work I realise that simple subjects can generate charm and calm often lacking in more complex scenes. So its important to know when to stop drawing.

The next step is to work out a painting from the drawing. The important parts are background line of trees, colour of field, shadows where the water disappears and the reflections in the water. I also decided to focus the detail on the bankside, which is a feature of the Mole. The panoramic shape was also chosen, as it allows the eye to travel across the page, providing more breathing space when less sky or water is featured.

River Mole

I took another photo of the river and attempted another painting using a busier style and a different brush. For some reason I was seduced into a square shape by the scene and showing more water. Having used an old oil brush the vegetation has a more complex feel and actually looks a bit like oils. I probably should work on the foreground more as the plants are looking a little too simplistic but I’ve run out of steam for now.

Amendment: I later realised this painting was not about detail but about mood. So I’ve cropped out some of the foreground using a smaller mount and this improves the scene, in my view.

River Mole 2

Barna is a village above Lake Como, with a quiet, timeless atmosphere. We walked to it from Menaggio, climbing the steep gorge and entering an ancient side street. With clear weather the shadows were crisp, the colours rich and the scene engaging. I took several photos and this painting is the first of a few I hope to complete.

Why this scene? Well the light coming through the gap between the buildings and hitting the wall and foliage was wonderful and a challenge to replicate. The textures of the walls and path surface are also strong features and I wasn’t sure how to capture them effectively without them overpowering the picture. I think I’ve done ok.

But is the picture a strong enough scene to generate interest from the more casual viewer. I’m not sure but I think that its more interesting as a painting than a photo. I wanted to create intrigue, ‘what’s around the corner?’ . What is actually around the corner will be another painting.

Barna, Italy