All the colours of white

'White' still life
Watercolours 16" x 23"

Here's a watercolour from my sketchbook last week. I was playing around in the studio with objects that were mostly white or very light colours, to take photos for a workshop exercise that I was doing. The photos looked great, and then I introduced this vintage green bottle that I have and got the watercolours out for a frolic.

Although this example here has strayed away from the principle, a still life composed of various white objects is actually a brilliant exercise for helping you to see and find subtle colour nuances, and get past the simplified notion of local colours.

Detail

It started like this

Bit further on

 A great big hello to the lovely folks at the Retford Art Society, who did all this smashing work and more on our one day workshop together last week, called 'Finding and using more colour'. We had a great day :-)

Student work

Student work

Back from Staithes and London

Sketchbook watercolour Staithes

How is it possible that it's July already? Yes I know it's been a couple of days now but it's taking a while to sink in...
Sorry I didn't get a chance to blog from Staithes, I really was too busy teaching and chatting and eating and painting and dodging the rain showers. We had a really lovely few days with variable weather. I will show you a couple of paintings I was able to do up there. It was fascinating watching the way the colour of the sea changed according to what the sky was doing.
This is a watercolour from my sketchbook that I did on the afternoon before the painters arrived, while eating a nice lunch outside the Cod and Lobster.

Have been very busy framing in the studio since getting back, and yesterday I drove down to London to drop off six paintings for the Russell Gallery's summer show. I also visited the Society of Women Artists exhibition at the Mall Galleries where I have two plein air paintings hanging - one from Morocco and one from Cornwall. The show finishes on Saturday at lunchtime, and disappointingly I couldn't get a catalogue as they'd run out. It's a real shame as I like to keep all the Mall Galleries catalogues from shows that I've had work in, so if you know of anybody that might have one spare I'd be really grateful.

Pond sketches

Pond sketches
Watercolour and pen

In a quieter moment in between either painting with oils or cleaning oil paint off brushes and palette, I worked on these preparatory sketches in watercolours and marker pens. I have a lovely huge and chunky watercolour paper sketchbook (two inches thick) which you can see here. 

These sketches are thoughts about possible large oil paintings of the pond at Lincolnshire's Gunby Hall.   My idea is to start a large painting in the studio with an underpainting, then take it out on site for the main painting session, then work on it again in the studio etc. Not sure when this will actually take place as I've got so much else on the go at the moment, but it's always good to have ideas stacking up!

Masking fluid in action on the lily pads

Back of Millfield Terrace in winter

Back of Millfield Terrace in winter
Watercolour and acrylic ink

Another recent snowy watercolour based on one of my favourite local painting spots, the allotments in Sleaford. 

I started this one with a fairly careful pencil drawing and some blue masking fluid to reserve the highlights. I knew that getting this structure in place early on would enable me to apply the paint and ink freely in later stages.

Firstly the warm sky and reflections in greenhouse glass plus some warmth for the snow in the foreground.

Next I used a mix of ultramarine blue watercolour and sepia acrylic ink diluted with water for the snow in shadow areas and the shadowy backs of the terraced houses, sheds, fences etc.

When that was all dry I went back in with neat ink and a wet brush to confirm all the darkest passages. All that was left to do then was the peeling off of the masking fluid when the paint was dry.

COUNTDOWN!! Only 32 days until my big exhibition begins in Nottingham UK...

8th to 18th January 2014 10.30am - 4.00pm at 71 Friar Lane Nottingham NG1 6DH

Orchard in the snow

Orchard in the snow
Watercolour and gouache

The days are too short and too dark at the moment, and now we have 70mph gales! On Tuesday our heating stopped working but luckily it was fixed yesterday. Then today we've had a power cut lasting most of the afternoon, but fortunately it's back on just in time for darkness falling. Amazing what you miss without electricity ... heating, wifi, phone and coffee to name just a few!

Anyway here's a cheery scene, a glowing watercolour that I painted recently. There's no actual snow here yet but they're saying blizzards are on their way so watch this space...

I started with wet into wet watercolour for the yellow and orange glow, and while this wash was still damp I used a darker warm colour to start to describe the background tree shapes.

Closer trees and a little bit of fence went in next...

Establishing the darkest darks is tricky to get right in watercolour, remember it dries a lot lighter than it looks when you put it on. It's a good idea to have a little test sheet nearby to try out your colours on.

Some purple shadow washes and the addition of a few chickens in watercolour, and then I finished off in gouache putting some warm whites back into the sunlit snow.

If you're in Scotland, Wales, the north of England or East Anglia, especially by the coast, I hope you manage ok tonight with the storms. 

September portraits

Gracie

Milly

Pete

Pipa

As promised, here are some of my September watercolour portraits so far. All of these were painted from life, which makes them very much not just a representation of somebody's face but a marking of a passage of time on a certain day in that person's life that I was a part of. This makes the exercise very special I think. Each one takes between twenty and forty-five minutes. A conversation takes place. Some people move more than others. Sometimes the lighting is good and sometimes it's harder for me to see.
Anybody in my local area want to volunteer to pop round and be my daily portrait? :-)

More sketches!

Some more sketches to show you today- Oscar sleeping, sketches on the beach and Milly being told 'just stay like that for ten minutes please!'.

I'm excited today because I've ordered some new plein air painting kit. I know you think I have it all already and it's true I have quite a range but in the end I knew I'd have to turn to America for the best in lightweight and portable. There are times when I need to be able to fit everything in a rucksack and carry it on my back. I've ordered the 11" x 14" palette/ panel holder which holds panels any height and from 5" to 20" in width. That's the kind of flexibility I was after. (My little Rover pochade is easy to carry but I'm restricted to 6" x 8" panels)

I considered the 'optional wine cup holder' but wasn't altogether sure it would hold my coffee cup so....

http://www.openboxm.com/