Musician

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14 x 10 in  -  36 x 25 cm.    


Time for a change so I chose a portrait. I have been trying to paint better portraits for ages, see my gallery, but this is the first time I have blogged about one.

Despite its faults I am quite pleased with this one.

Cuban Car - No. 3

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5 x 7 in  -  13 x 18 cm.     This is the third of my cuban cars. To eventually get to the ref image first click on the painting. This one has not come off quite a well as the previous two. The car itself is no different beacause the size was slightly bigger I allowed myself to be distracted by the figure and the supposed "need" for a background.

It was painted to fit a cheap frame so this is the first time I have ever been able to pop a painting into a frame on competion.

Cuban Car - No. 2

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5 x 7 in  -  13 x 18 cm.     This is the second of my cuban cars. To eventually get to the ref image first click on the painting.

Cuban Car - No. 1 - First in a series

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5 x 4 in  -  13 x 10 cm.     This is the first in an intended series of Cuban Cars. I took the reference image for this painting during a vacation visit to Havan in Nov 2005. To get to the ref image click on the painting

Girl at Henley Market

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10 x 14 in  -  25 x 36 cm.     This is not that successful a painting. But I do not see that as a problem. If an amateur painter only ever wants to show there very best work (what ever that is) it will slowly become harder and harder to ever show anything.

I attempted to do this piece in a Charles Reid style but to be honest I don't think I was brave enough.

A tent in the Rockies - My Copy

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20 x 14 in  -  51 x 36 cm.     This is my copy of a famous John Singer Sargent watercolor. I did this a couple months before I started this blog.

I was and am quite please with it, of course it has none of the quality of the original which can be found in the online J. S. Sargent Gallery.

A tent in the Rockies - Sargent's original
Click the image to see the bigger version in the online J. S. Sargent Gallery

The Old Police Station Wokingham

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14 x 9 in  -  36 x 22 cm.    

Wokingham had a boom in the late 1800's after the railway arrived. This imposing police station and magistrates court was built as a consequence. The court and been unused for many years but the police station was still active until a couple of years ago.

It is architecture to symbolize power and authority. Of course this implies that there were people who needed to be kept in place and to feel the power looming over them. For why would the council have spent the money if there were not?

To see the ref photo I used to paint this image click the painting and then follow the link.

New Year - Quick Still life

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11 x 12 in  -  28 x 30 cm.    
I was away over new year staying with a friend. As the light faded on new year's eve I quickly did this watercolor sketch.

I am pleased with it despite a number of obvious flaws.

Sophie

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14 x 10 in  -  36 x 25 cm.    


Sophie (dA: Lockstock) is the both photographer and model for the reference photo from which I painted this image. Her FREE stock photos can be found at here. I used one from her "Hairpack2" as the ref.

As a painting I am sort of pleased with how this figure has come out but that is the problem :) it sort of kept sliding way from being a figure painting (especially one done in a Charles Reid style). The work became, as much of a portrait as it was a figure. And of course figure work is what I am trying to practice.

Shadow on Corpus Christi - Wokingham

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10 x 14 in  -  25 x 36 cm.     A group of net based artists have been painting their local land marks in a bi-weekly challenge. The plan is that after a year we will have a good record of both our painting style and local area.

Clicking the image will get you a larger version and show another link to get to my reference photo.

Minimum Watercolour paper size?
The other day I saw a beginner say - "I am using paper that is 6 x 8 inches or smaller until I get the hang of using this medium". My reaction was to comment -

To be honest I think you are making it harder for yourself by working small.

The core of a watercolor is the ability to do washes, work wet-in-wet etc. These are hard enough to do on an 'A4' or 'US letter' sized paper, which I would suggest to a beginner, as being a minimum size. (Better still go for 1/4 imperial sheet 15 x 11 in).

Once you have the skills then you can scale down your paper size but it will still be much harder. Of course you can use watercolour paints at almost any size but the smaller you work the more you will end up being like a gouache painter. Which is fine in but in that case why not just use gouache. The issues are all to do with the time the wash can stay damp. The smaller the washed area less time there is to get water colour effects and interesting watercolour effects take time to develop on the paper.

Was I being too dogmatic, any opinions?

Cookie Kitty

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14 x 10 in  -  36 x 25 cm.    

This Xmas I was given a copy of "Charles Reid's Watercolour Secrets" DVD. Unlike the book of the same name the first hour of the DVD is Charles painting the figure so I just had to have a try at a 'Charles Reid' style figure.

Many thanks to Cookie Kitty of "deviantART" who is both model and photographer. You can see the reference photo and access her other stock photos here.

If you have never seen a Charles Reid Watercolor figure painting before this will give you some idea.

I am generally pleased with how this came out. It has no where near the bravery and colour of a real Charles Reid but then I would not expect it to.

Introduction

This blog is to be mainly about painting, well my attempts to do it. My main medium is watercolour.

Comments, thoughts and ideas - especially to do with painting are always welcome.

--
Roger