Light on Gondola 1

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14 x 10 in  -  36 x 25 cm     Watercolor    

I have been trying to pay more attention to composition. Once you are sitting in front of a particular scene (or even photograph) the main issue of composition is control of the light and dark values. When sight first arose the brain only saw in shades of gray and only much later, with our fruit eating primates ancestors, did color our vision arise. For this reason the brain relates principally to shades of light and dark the 'tonal map' of an image.

Before painting this tryout work I had a go at a quick 7 x 5 in (18 x 13 cm) large tonal thumbnail. The theory is that if you can get the thumbnail looking interesting then the painting has a good chance of also being interesting.

This is the reference image I worked from. Taken in Venice (of course) in 2006.

Henley Riverboat

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14 x 10 in  -  36 x 25 cm     Watercolor    

This one has not been as successful as the last few. It is very interesting to ask why? A number of possible reasons jump up. Firstly; this is another "no blue" painting. As is the dog I painted a couple of days ago. But I don't think that is the problem or even any problem at all.

Secondly; Taking on a basically, white boat against a white sky and a white band of the river.

Thirdly; And I think this is where is most sags, is that there in no unity of style. Saturday's dog holds together well because of the dry brush technique. Whereas this painting is not held together. A master would have painted (if they were trying to do what I was trying to do) the riverboat with more flowing strokes or used dry brush throughout.

What would have made doing that much easier would have been to paint it as a half sheet and not the quarter sheet that I picked. Going big makes it easier to paint, with a flow.

I took the ref yesterday afternoon at Henley. You might notice that it is quick composite photo. Clearly I should have thought more about the composition as I snapped away.

Mat the Dog

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10 x 14 in  -  25 x 36 cm     Watercolor     Again this came out well. It was another two hour challenge. I used just about all of the time. As I find doing the drawing for a painting can often be a bit of a chore, when I can, I like to draw them in the evening while sitting watching rubbish TV. That way I do not have to look at the screen to follow the often feeble plot. The drawing took me 40 mins last night and the painting just over the hour today.

This is a two color painting. Perylene Maroon and Perylene Green both from Winsor & Newton. As you can see they mix to form a strong dark so you have the choice of a red tinted darks and green tinted darks.

Here is the ref I worked from. It is unchanged and just as supplied for the challenge. So nice to get a strong tight crop. The crop is just perfect to paint from.

At the Garden

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14 x 10 in  -  36 x 25 cm     Watercolor    

I took the reference photo a couple of years ago in the RHS gardens at Wisley.

I am pleased with this one because it has come out how I imagined it would. Or rather how I intended it would.

My aim was to bring out the highlight effect on the woman's head and arms (easy to do in this case because it is there in the ref) and to exaggerate the highlight on the black sunshade.

I think it has worked. What do you think?

John Yardley copy - Roman Cafe

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10 x 14 in  -  25 x 36 cm     Watercolor     I painted this John Yardley copy well before I started this blog. It looks OK but when seen against John's original it does pale a lot.

When I showed this to John he just smiled a big smile and said "I think I recognise that".

This is John's original

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Rising Tide

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14 x 21 in  -  35 x 53 cm     Watercolor     This can be described as being some what in a,'John Yardley' style.

This is the ref I took last May while spending a week painting with John Yardley.

I selected this style for a couple of reasons. Firstly; I will be back painting with John again this year and I think the best way to benefit from sessions with him is to try to see the world as his painter's eye sees it. Secondly; I think that John Yardley's approach suits this scene well.

I am pleased with how this has come out. I think this is the my first truly presentable "half sheet" I normally only paint on "quarter sheets".

As a lot of people who come to this blog do so because they google for "John Yardley" here is the painting that John did of the same scene but from a different angle. The group of us stood and watched John paint this.

Hopper copy - Cold Storage Plant

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14 x 20 in  -  35 x 51 cm     Watercolor     I see copying the work of a master as a good way to learn. You get to see an study a good strong composition. You get to ask all sorts of questions, such as, what colors did the artist use? In which order were they placed on the paper?

Hopper's original is half as big again as my copy. It has a height of 22 inches compared to my 14. I am pleased with the end result. Hopper is one of the easiest of the masters to copy, that is, as long as you avoid the very few of his watercolors that contain figures. This must be one of the easiest as it has few curves and very little of the building detail that he does so well.

Hopper's original.

Vancouver from Afar

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10 x 14 in  -  25 x 36 cm     Watercolor     Sometimes things really do not come off that well and this is one of the those times. My attempt at the shadow has not caught what is interesting in the ref.

This is the ref. It is very highly cropped from the supplied original.

The ref is interesting, I think, because of its softness. In the painting I chose to leave out that softness. I suppose did this because 'I know' buildings are sharp. Not the best of decisions. It is always better to think before you paint, not after.

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.