Waiting for the Tide

Waiting for the Tide
Watercolour on Paper
55cm x 35.5cm (21.5" x 14")

I’ve been meaning to paint this collection of boats for some time. They are in the harbour at Wells-Next-The-Sea. The distinctive Granary building is directly above them.

I kept putting this picture off because of the painting of Brixham Trawlers that I included on my first post (The Natural Way To Draw).

The Brixham painting is one of my favourites. It was the first time one of my paintings exceeded my expectations.

I was reluctant to paint another harbour view in the same style because it is time consuming and I was worried I might not be able to repeat the experience.

This does not have the charm of the previous painting, but it demonstrates some improvement in technique.

Saint Peter's

Saint Peter's
Watercolour on Paper
25.5cm x 35.5cm (10" x 14")

This porch was built between 1320 and 1340 and the site has been a place of worship for 1300 years.

Our great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grand parents might have prayed here (assuming an average gap between birth of parent to birth of child of 25 years and knocking off a couple of generations because we weren’t born yesterday).

I’ve been meaning to paint this view for some time because of the interesting shadows on the statue of Saint Peter.

Unfortunately, the statue hasn’t worked particularly well and there are a few other bits that didn’t come out exactly as I planned.

One thing I particularly need to think about is the composition with the large dark shadows in the middle. I’ve painted a number of pictures that have shadowy doorways towards the middle of the piece. Elaine doesn’t like them and I am beginning to see her point of view. I hope there isn’t some repressed shadowy part of my psyche trying to reveal itself.

Jack

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

 

Jack (aka Salty the Sea Dog) is Paul and Wendy’s dog. He earned his nickname for his antics on a number of boating holidays. On his first voyage, Paul threw a twig the size of a blade of grass over the side of the boat. Jack launched himself into the water, swam to the bank and dragged half a tree out of the undergrowth. That was a few years ago. He is older and a little bit wiser. He doesn't fall in the water so much but he is still a puppy at heart.

This is my first attempt at a portrait. It was daunting to try to produce a likeness of Jack rather than a picture of a dog. I agree with John Singer Sargent’s definition of a portrait as a picture in which there is just a tiny little something not quite right about the mouth.

I based the painting on some photos of a walk through a bluebell wood. My original intention was to include some bluebells in the picture, but as it neared completion, I decided the simple background was more effective. The texture is the result of placing cling film over the paint while it is wet and leaving it to dry.

One of the biggest challenges in the painting was Jack’s dark coat. It is notoriously difficult to paint large interesting dark areas with watercolours. In this picture, I built Jack’s coat up with multiple layers of browns and blues.

Moo

Moo
Watercolour on Paper
25.5cm x 35.5cm (10" x 14")

It is typical. You spend the whole day looking for a cow and when you give up looking, you bump into a herd of them. I met this one on a recent walk through the Cheshire countryside with David, Jane and Lydia.

This is my second painting using the style and techniques taught by Jean Haines (http://www.jeanhaines.com/). The first one was the picture of Whitby Abbey that I posted a few weeks ago.

Since then I have bought and studied Jean’s Amazing Ways with Watercolour DVD.

In some art DVDs, I have the impression the artists are trying not to give too many secrets away, but Jean is very open about her style and provides a clear explanation of the techniques she uses.

Her style provides an excellent means for learning about the mysteries of watercolour. She works with a lot of pigment and a lot of water - for the uninitiated, this can be an unpredicatable combination.

Her key message is that watercolour is controllable. I suspect she means controllable in the same way as a surfer controls the sea. It is a case of learning to work with it and anticipate its behaviour.

Modelled Drawing

The Red and the Green

Modelled Drawing - 6 May 2011

Lithograph Crayon on Paper
38cm x 33cm (15" x 13")

Hooray! On Friday, I finished Section 4 of the Natural Way to Draw - a day ahead of schedule.

Section 4 has included a lot of Modelled Drawing. This is a continuation of the Weight Drawing exercise (see the previous post Weight Drawing).

The instructions continue the sculpting metaphor. You start with 10 minutes of weight drawing to build up the basic bulk of the object and then spend 15 minutes adding extra crayon (as though it were clay) to model the surface in more detail. Initially, you imagine your hand following the contours of the surface. You apply more pressure when the surface moves away from you and less pressure when it moves towards you. You then imagine the crayon is a modelling tool that you can use to move the clay and poke it into the deepest fissures.

There is no attempt to describe light and shadow. In theory, the lightest parts should be the surfaces that are closest to you and the darkest should be those that are furthest away.

I have really struggled with this exercise. Initially, I misunderstood the instructions and even now, I find the exercise difficult. I finally thought I was getting the hang of it with the picture of Sailor Jack, but too late. Section 5 replaces the modelled drawing in crayon with the modelled drawing in ink. Curses!

Sailor Jack
(The Mansfield Matelot)

Modelled Drawing - 26 May 2011

Lithograph Crayon on Paper
30.5cm x 53cm (12" x 21")

Sailor Jack was Elaine's first toy. Her dad, Pete, made plaster casts from it, which he would paint. The Mansfield Royal Naval Association presented these little statues to visiting clubs and dignitaries as "The Mansfield Matelot".  We have the last one he made in one of our guest bedrooms.

By The Lighthouse

By The Lighthouse
Watercolour on Paper
28cm x 38cm (11" x 15")

Watchet is a little town on the North Somerset coast. This painting is based on a photo of the harbour I took on my “sketching” trip from Dunster (see the previous post Left Luggage). I wanted to draw the lighthouse, but I was too self-conscious so we went to the pub instead.

I thought I was observant to notice the reflected light on the base of the tower - until I discovered Watchet Marina use the same reflection in their logo (http://www.watchetharbour.co.uk/index.htm).

The couple are the largest figures I have included in a painting. I added them to balance the picture and to create a bit more interest. I have been hesitant to include figures and faces in paintings because if you mess them up, the mistakes tend to stand out. The solution for this style of painting is to treat them with the same amount of respect as the rest of the painting and not to get drawn into adding extra details because they are people. As long as they are about the right shape and fit in with the rest of the painting, they will be fine. Having said that, I think the figures are evidence that the exercises from the Natural Way to Draw are having an impact - I think there is gesture in their postures.

Oh yes ... the N on the weather vane should be reversed. This was one little detail I intended to include, but I had a slight lapse of concentration at the critical moment.

Moving Action

Standing Up
Moving Action Drawing - 5 May 2011

Graphite Pencil on Paper
20.5cm x 25.5cm (8" x 10")

These are Moving Action drawings from the Natural Way to Draw.

The model performs an action in which part of the body (usually one or both of the legs) remains static, for example, in:

• Standing Up – Elaine is standing up from a chair
• Turn the Radio On – She is bending forward at the waist
• Kneeling to All Fours – She is sat on her heels and moves forward on to all fours

The model repeats the movement for three minutes at different speeds.

The objective is to draw the starting position and the end position and hopefully some of the movement in between. The drawings are made in the scribbling style of the gesture drawings from earlier posts.

The results are quite effective and repeating 8 poses for 3 minutes each provided Elaine with an aerobic workout. I think she is relieved it is another 5 weeks until the next set of Moving Action poses and that set is made up of 5 poses not 8.

Turn the Radio On
Moving Action Drawing - 5 May 2011

Graphite Pencil on Paper
18cm x 25.5cm (7" x 10")



Kneeling to All Fours
Moving Action Drawing - 5 May 2011

Graphite Pencil on Paper
33cm x 23cm (13" x 9")