After last week’s somewhat rampant start to the Artists Open Houses (in terms of sales that is!) – the 2nd weekend has been much more sedate. A lot more visitors, matched ironically by far fewer sales. Never the less, having started off last week by displaying the paintings that I’ve sold I feel somehow beholden to …
With only nine days to go until the opening of our Park Gate Collective artists open house things are beginning to come together. The weekend was largely spent cutting yet more mounts, getting frames ready and whitewashing walls. I took the measurements for ‘my’ wall and did a quick 1:100 scale mock-up of the space and …
I was wary of returning to the scene of one of my favourite paintings of late, but I hoped that a different composition combined with everything I’ve learnt and experienced since, would be sufficient to make it a worthwhile exercise. As a reminder, here’s my painting of a sunlit café in a Barcelona side street, …
Returning to the scene of a Barcelona watercolour Read More »
After last week’s effort, I was keen to tackle the same view again but to iron out some of the creases while replicating all of my favourite elements: My main aim was to introduce a little more subtlety, in particular to the buildings on the right. When I started to draw this out again, I …
Cropping a watercolour from the jaws of disaster! Read More »
I promised a change of scene in my last post but I must confess to only achieving half of that promise. I did manage to leave behind Dieppe for a while, opting instead to move back to Barcelona. I was, however, unable to shake my rapidly developing obsession with sun shades! I like to think …
I can’t help but notice over the course of my recent watercolour paintings of Dieppe that a certain motif has started to emerge; the sun shade! I like to think that it reflects just how nice the weather was while we were in Dieppe and perhaps as winter begins to tighten it’s grip here in …
I’m always wary of tackling iconic views, or famous buildings, even when they’re in the background like in this Barcelona painting with La Segrada Familia in the distance. This is one of those subjects that I’ve had my eye on for a while, but sometimes you’ve just got to wait until the moment feels right. …
Barcelona’s La Segrada Familia in watercolour (x 2) Read More »
Sometimes I regret revisiting a painting when the first is still so fresh. Other times however, it feels the right thing to do. On this occasion I’m really pleased – and hugely relieved – that it seemed the right thing to do. As much as I liked my first attempt at this view that I …
La Boqueria side street, Barcelona, in watercolour Read More »
This past week was one of those where my hopes and expectations for painting were dashed upon the rocks of everyday life. In a nutshell – I barely managed to squeeze any painting in this week. I had it mind to revisit last week’s subject matter, with the aim of putting a warmer wash of …
I received some new brushes the other day, three Da Vinci Cassaneo Wash brushes that I ordered from the Society for All Artists (SAA). I’m vaguely familiar with the organisation but think that this is the first time that I’ve ordered anything from them. The service and delivery etc was all great, as was the price …
