Lighthouse

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14 x 10 in  -  36 x 25 cm     Watercolor    

I tried to be a bit clever on this two hour challenge. Painting a lighthouse it just a bit cliché so I tried to make it a lighthouse plus 'skyscape'. Then I let it get far too tight for my taste in painting. But once that has happened there is nothing you can do.

Also once it had started to become meticulous I was bound to overrun the time and indeed I did.

Does it work as a painting? What do you think?

This is the ref that was supplied. I cropped it only slightly to focus more on the lighthouse.

The ref is shown here with kind permission of - Stacey

Giverny Village

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10 x 14 in  -  25 x 36 cm     Watercolor    

Another quick painting. To be honest this sort of scene is very hard to make look interesting. The problem is that the tones are a little to even one might almost use the word bland.

The shapes are OK. Of course a great painter like Charles Reid will pick his colors to make it look interesting. I don't claim to be able to do that so I set myself the target of making the greenery match the rest of the high key painting. Did I manage it? You decide.

The ref taken a year or so ago.

The church spire in the distance is but a few yards from Monet's grave.

Pont Neuf

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10 x 14 in  -  25 x 36 cm     Watercolor    

Just a quick painting to, keep my hand in. It's not come out that well but not that bad either. Always better to paint than not paint.

This was the ref I used. Taken in Paris a couple of years back.

Blue Swan

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14 x 10 in  -  36 x 25 cm     Watercolor    

For his weeks two hour challenge I picked the supplied photo of the swan. For me the challenge is to try to create the 'feel' of the water around the swan as depicted in THAT reference. I am not trying to paint any water. I am trying to get that water down on my paper.

The ref which I cropped slightly from the supplied original.

The swan itself is very simple to paint. Its shape is decided by how well you draw its outline. It really exists as a negative painting of the water.

Here is a close up of the head.

On the paper it is about 2 ins, 5 cm tall.

Did I succeed? Not quite, I did one too many layer on the water. I was trying to get the bottom section darker and that has broken the liquid flowing feel that should be there. Could have done better, is my verdict.

The Matterhorn

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14 x 10 in  -  36 x 25 cm     Watercolor    

This is another two hour challenge. I planned it on the "keep it simple" principle. However it took slightly longer than one might expect given how little is in it. The time taken was of course much shorter that two hours I guess the extra time was spent on having to do more than one laver on the mountain and the chalets.

The final result almost has the effect of a "Travel Poster" from the 1930's. I had not planned for this but it is most appealing now that I see it.

This is the ref, slightly cropped from the originaly supplied challenge photograph.

Turbaned Man

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10 x 14 in  -  25 x 36 cm     Watercolor     I am pleased with the way this painting turned out. While it is not so different from the reference the important thing for me was to get the white beard reading as "white" even though it has to be painted with definite colors.

Using only grays would not work because then the beard would jar with the rest of the painting and at best would just look, stuck on.

The reference is taken from a pre World War I (yes one) genuine color photo.

Some painting friends of mine encouraged me to darken and widen the eyes.

I not much of a one for altering paintings but I gave in this time. I'm not sure that changes, while an improvement make enough of a difference to really matter.

Radio Man

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14 x 21 in  -  36 x 53 cm     Watercolor     Again a weekly 2 hour challenge. I finished, well, called it done, just on the 2 hour mark. Impressionist portraits, like this one, can be very iffy. When they don't work, they really don't work. However I like this one even if there are some poorly rendered sections.

This was the crop I chose from the original reference.