Beach Huts

Beach Huts
Watercolour on Paper
24cm x 34cm (9.5" x 13.5")

A couple of weeks ago, I said that I wanted to spend more time working on composition (see Ye Old Dog & Partridge).

The next day John Lovett posted a description of his recent workshop, which focused on selecting subjects to paint and composing pictures (see http://splashingpaintblog.com/2011/11/28/studio-workshop-2/). It is an excellent post with a number of paintings to demonstrate the concepts he taught - it is a perfect study plan.

This picture uses the first technique from John’s post – it has a large simple foreground leading the eye in to the centre of interest.

Before starting the picture, I drew a number of thumbnails to explore the subject and decide on the composition. On the first page, I experimented with portrait and landscape formats and decided where to position the huts. This is the second page on which I refined the sizing and positioning of the huts.

Beach Huts - Thumbnails

This is the first time I've used thumbnails and the process was very helpful. I was working away from home during the week and drawing thumbnails was a useful and relaxing way to spend an evening in the hotel.

John is at least partly responsible for the existence of this blog. I nearly gave up on the idea of learning to paint until I found his book (Starting Watercolour) and DVD (Splashing Paint), (see http://www.johnlovett.com/).