Scissors and Stapler

Click Image to see larger version in my gallery

11 x 6 in  -  28 x 15 cm.     It's about time I improved my watercolor sketching. By chance yesterday I spotted a group of web based artists doing just that. They list a number of objects in their challenge and you have to sketch them FROM LIFE. Painting 'from imagination' or from 'photo references' are NOT ALLOWED but you can take a photo after it is done to show others your inspiration. This was my first offering.

I am pleased with it. The stapler is a bit off but my 'no fiddle' rule came into play and I left it alone.

Four on the Wall

I don't get many of my paintings framed, mainly because I think of my work as being experimental, a way to learn.

These were different, as they were painted as a memento of a trip we made to Cuba at the end of 2005. Three of them were painted back in July. The other was done earlier. The first two, of the six in the series, are now in the USA.

If you trackdown the individual images of the painting (in this blog) clicking on the image will get you to a larger version and to a link to the reference photo for that car.

Three Sunflowers

Click Image to see larger version in my gallery.


13 x 10 in  -  33 x 25 cm.    


I would have liked to have got more merging of the dark centers of the flowers and the petals but I could not pull it off. There is a limit as to how far your should work watercolor even if you happen to be using watercolor paints that are on the opaque side.

Still the shapes are good. Of course much of that is down to the photographer (not me). But I did make the tight crop from the original ref.

Faces from the Past

Click Image to see larger version in my gallery

13 x 10 in  -  33 x 25 cm.     This one has to count as experimental. The reference image is a pre WW One photo from the Balkans.

The colors are Perylene Maroon and Prussian Blue with a dash of Raw Sienna in the woman's face. I think this is one of those that looks better small and declines in attractiveness as you get closer.

On the Anvil

Click Image to see a larger version in my gallery

13 x 10 in  -  33 x 25 cm.    

I cropped the ref, to get strong shapes, ones that are cut by the edge of the image.

On the whole I think that this has to be marked down as a picture that has not quite made it. The core problem is that of needing a lot of darks and still wanting the transparent feel that makes watercolour so special.

Looking at it more I think I should also have taken a bit more care in the hand shapes. And the skin tones need to be much stronger to fit well with the darks that should surround them.

The core shapes are strong and interesting but of course most of that is down to the photographer and that person was not me.

Three Sheep

Click Image to see larger version in my gallery


14 x 10 in  -  36 x 25 cm.    

This was also a "challenge painting" from a shared reference photo. I cropped a much larger reference down to these three fellows. The theory behind this approach is roughly.

• Get an interesting set of shapes. It is good if they intersect the edge of the painting. This is why I choose this particular crop of the reference photo all three heads shapes cut a boundary.
  


• Draw (and Paint) the shapes with reasonable accuracy. My drawings are quick and freehand but I am always trying to get the key core shapes. For example, that ear of that sheep. Not just any ear but that ear.
  


• Paint the tones correctly. Get the darks (correctly) dark and the lights (correctly) light.
  


• The color then won't matter - If you get the first three things right then almost any colors will work.

It can be surprisingly hard to get the tones correct when using strange colours so the painting stage needs more thought and preparation than you might expect.

After all that did it work - I will leave you to judge but it was fun to paint.

Lilacs in the Jug

Click Image to see larger version in my gallery

13 x 9 in  -  33 x 22 cm.    

This was another weekly net challenge painting. This reference in particular was a classic "good to paint" image. By that I mean it has good strong basic shapes and even better these shapes intersect the boundaries.

I messed up with the central clump of leaves. I should have left them alone after a pass (or two) but I could not resist trying to make them darker. However the Charles Reid type splatter at the end improved the painting a notch or two

Purple Glories

Click Image to see larger version in my gallery

14 x 10 in  -  36 x 25 cm.    

This appeared to start off OK but fell off towards then end. It was another net challenge to paint it in just two hours. After it was finished I could see the cause of the problem.

I had painted in it a classical watercolor approach base or mother wash and then added latter washes each getting stronger. However I should have made the original mother wash in the lower green area MUCH darker then when all the other layers were done the bottom of the painting would have set off the lighter petals in the upper half really well.

Instead I tried to paint more and more green layers into the bottom area and it ended up too much of a mess.

Lunch on the Beach

Click Image to see larger version in my gallery

9 x 13 in  -  22 x 33 cm.     I started this one a couple of months ago, I put it aside when it started to become too meticulist. (Meticulist is my invented word for paintings that become far to tight, to meticulous). While a meticulous style works for some people it is not where I want my head to be.

The ref for this painting was a corner of a snapshot taken on holiday last year. One of the delights of digital cameras is that you can make use of snippets of a frame like this that would otherwise just be ignored.

Did it work? Well it came out better than I was expecting a half way. The presence of the bodyboard, not painted until it was nearly finished, works well to place the couple in the space of the beach.

At the Mall

Click Image to see larger version in my gallery

9 x 13 in  -  22 x 33 cm.     Another try at figures in a street scene. Not as well turned out at last weeks attempt (18th Aug) but you have to keep trying.

Sun Hat

Click Image to see larger version in my gallery

13 x 9 in  -  33 x 22 cm.    

This is painting did not come out a well as I wished. While it look reasonable in this small format there are a quite a few "could have done better"s about it. I don't normally show the ref image in this blog but this time I will make an exception so you can see the sort of feeling I was trying to get.

A big pat on the back to any one who recognises the fellow and yes, he is a well known UK watercolourist.

Figures in Blue

Click Image to see larger version in my gallery

10 x 13 in  -  25 x 33 cm.     This is another painting that was done from a ref photo shared over the net. We are not to take longer than two hours. I probably went a little over time in total as I did the drawing in front of the TV last night.

The figures aren't too bad. They do follow the reference quite well but the composition as a whole is a bit "so what". But if you don't practice you won't improve.

New Red Hat

Click Image to see larger version in my gallery

14 x 10 in  -  36 x 25 cm.    

Well the portrait aspect has come out OK but the strength of tone of the red v blue overwhelms the face too much. I probably should have been less strong i.e. more 'hi key' on the red as it is so very hard to strengthen the tones on such a light toned face and still have it look good. And we would not want to leave the model with a 6 o'clock shadow would we?

I should also have thought of a better way to have 'blue in the middle of red'. The way I picked has not worked too well, no merging of colours. I rejected the simple idea of wet cobalt into wet cad red as that would have produced a nice but unwanted purple. Note to self try out ideas it future next time.

Edmonton from Afar

Click Image to see larger version in my gallery

10 x 14 in  -  25 x 36 cm.     This was painted in a couple of hours from a reference photo put up on the web for a group of us to paint. I like it when I can attempt to break a "rule". Here that of course the rule in question would say that I should not have had such a strong division right across the middle of the composition. Did I pull it off? You decide.

Two Sold

Click Image to see larger version in my gallery

14 x 9 in  -  36 x 22 cm

Click Image to see larger version in my gallery

14 x 10 in  -  36 x 25 cm.    

Today is the last day of the Wokingham and District Art Group show. Two of my paintings have sold, which is very pleasing.

I framed these two a year ago as part of my submission to join the art group. While there is alot about them, that I like, there is a lot that I wish was better. But isn't that the way with the world.