watercolour Archives - Salcombe Art

4 November 2019 In Art

Postcard from Cobourg, on Lake Ontario, Canada

Anne and I visited Cobourg, on Lake Ontario in Canada recently, partly to attend the 90th birthday of my cousin, but also to have a couple of weeks holiday with my family out there.

We’ve been once before, two years ago and didn’t expect to go again. We couldn’t refuse the invitation to celebrate a 90th birthday though.

Have watercolour kit, will sketch

After the many outings with the SOS (sketching outside) group this year, it was a delight to be out and about, in the sunshine, in Canada while back home the weather was more inclement.

Sketching en plein air could be said to be best, the quickest, route to mastering an understanding of painting. Whatever the subject, it’s all about learning to ‘see’ it. Think mood. Think atmosphere!

Many books are dedicated to the skills required to create a useful summary – a sketch – of what you are trying to record. The basic sketch, whether indoors or outside, needs to capture the artist’s place and time of day – wet or dry!

There are also two magazines which continually inspire me: The Artist and Leisure Painter. Both are published by The Artists’ publishing company. for more information, go to their website: www.painters-online.co.uk.

Technology to the rescue

Sketching is not an impossible challenge in these days. With the support of the iPhone or iPad, the four sides of the screen instantly help the eye to sort out perspective, and light and shade of the subject. In addition to electronic gizmos, the humble ruler is an elementary tool.

My watercolour kit

With weight restrictions for overseas travel, I packed only a minimal watercolour kit. See the featured image above. My smallest paint box has twelve basic colours, a very small water bottle, a foldaway palette, a tiny sponge and and equally small brush. It’s very light and suits my purpose.

I spent many hours recording the various sights near where we were staying. This is me perched on a bench, alongside a walkway at the edge of Cobourg marina. Many walkers took a keen interest in my progress.

Sketching on the quayside at Cobourg marina

The big motorboat in the background belongs to my cousin and I wanted to capture this setting as a reminder of our time aboard Colonel Ken.

Sketch of Colonel Ken moored at Cobourg marina

This photo had me with a more comfortable seating. A whole picnic table to myself in the ground of the Cobourg Yacht Club.

Sketching in the gardens of Cobourg Yacht club

It was a hot day and the paint dried quickly on the page so I decided to stick to pencil sketching from this direction.

Pencil sketch of Colonel Ken

This post is one of my POSTCARD series, sharing all things ART with you when I go travelling. My previous postcard was from FROM MILTON KEYNES: WOUGHTON HOUSE. – a hotel Anne and I have stayed in while visiting her family.

18 February 2019 In Art

Portrait painting with Martin Brooks

I don’t do a lot of portrait painting.

Woman | Portrait painting with Martin Brooks

As a member of Salcombe Art Club, I attend watercolour and acrylic classes on a weekly basis, a term at a time. On top of that, there are often specialist workshops – life drawing and portrait painting – and I sign up for these too.

2018 Portrait class with Martin Brooks

Last year, I produced this portrait at a Martin Brooks workshop.

I know it’s not brilliant but I can honestly say I caught a likeness of the model and am pleased with my efforts.

Aware though that I had much to learn, this year, I signed up for two more workshops with Martin Brooks.

Life drawing last weekend
Portrait painting this weekend

advert | Portrait painting with Martin Brooks

I attend as many Life Drawing classes as I can – they are always immensely helpful in keeping your hand and eye ‘in’.

2019 Portrait class with Martin Brooks

As for the portrait paintings I completed this weekend … well, judge for yourself. This was painted on Saturday.

Woman 2 | Portrait painting with Martin Brooks

The model for Sunday gave me more problems. This is the morning study.

Man, side view | Portrait painting with Martin Brooks

Martin kindly helped me with positioning of parts of the face: the ears, the eyebrows etc. Martin's sketch | Portrait painting with Martin Brooks

MY sketch | Portrait painting with Martin Brooks Above, the top sketch is Martin’s; the other is mine, and I can see how my proportions went awry.

However, I think I am improving … what do you think?

Man again | Portrait painting with Martin Brooks

How can you join Salcombe Art Club?

There are three categories of membership.

Lay members may take part in workshops, courses, and social activities and generally assist in supporting the club but may not exhibit.
Associate members may take part in most club activities including exhibiting in the Little Studio section (but not the main gallery) of the Annual Summer Exhibition. Associate members also have voting rights at the annual AGM.
Full members may take part in all club activities and exhibit their works in the Annual Summer Exhibition when they are required to carry out their share of stewarding duties. Full members also have voting rights at the annual AGM.

The first step is to enroll as a lay member; it only costs £12 per annum. After that, there is an annual selection process to become an associate member or a full member. For full details, check the How to Join page on the SAC website.

28 January 2019 In Art, Postcard from ...

Postcard from MV Ventura: Sketching at sea

Whenever we go travelling, I pack my watercolour kit and various sketchbooks of various sizes and make time for sketching.

Our ritual, as soon as we arrive at a new place, somewhere we will be staying long enough for Anne to write and me to paint, is to set up the space to suit us both. Our cabin aboard MV Ventura was perfect for our needs. And what a view!

Our cabin | Postcard from MV Ventura: Sketching at sea

Anne bagged the ‘dressing table’ as her office space, and I took over the ‘lounge’ area. Some shelving beneath the TV held all my equipment and I used the small coffee table for my palette and to rest my sketchbook.

We were aboard MV Ventura for fourteen days and seven of those were at sea. This gave me plenty of time for sketching.

Water, water, all around …

For the first two days, crossing from Southampton to Lisbon. all we saw from our balcony was the sea. And ships. And even more ships and drilling rigs whenever we went into port. With my marine insurance background, I found this fascinating and took many photos. So much resource material, so much inspiration for my sketching, but never enough hours to paint everything!

Drilling rig | Postcard from MV Ventura: Sketching at sea

However, I did sketch a few cruise ships and captured the landscape when we were in port.

Sketching Queen Victoria

One of Anne’s friends cruises regularly. We met her and her husband for lunch in Madeira a few years ago. We were staying in Funchal over Christmas and New Year; they were due to arrive on New Year’s Eve, in time to see the fireworks that night. This time, they were aboard Queen Victoria and – because our itineraries had us both in Madeira on 31 December, we planned to meet up at the same restaurant for a catch-up. Imagine our surprise to wake up the day before, to see their ship just across from ours.

Cunard moored | Postcard from MV Ventura: Sketching at sea

As it turned out, we should have made the effort to meet that day. Once we got to Madeira, they were moored off and the sea was too rough for them to be allowed ashore on the tenders.

This sketch is of Queen Victoria sailing off into the sunset.

Cunard sailing away | Postcard from MV Ventura: Sketching at sea

Sketching in Tenerife

We’ve visited Tenerife before and we were not inclined to go ashore that day. The sky above the mountains was black, and we’d not been attracted by the various tours on offer. Instead, we enjoyed relative peace and quiet aboard ship. Anne did lots of writing and when I wasn’t taking photos, I was sketching . Bliss!

Tenerife | Postcard from MV Ventura: Sketching at sea

Sketching in Madeira

We’ve also visited Madeira many times but never aboard a cruise ship. The day we arrived (31 December), it was a full house.

Madeira | Postcard from MV Ventura: Sketching at sea

We walked ashore in the morning and returned to the ship in time to avoid a downpour. As you will have seen from a previous post, the rain abated, almost, and the New Year’s Eve fireworks were spectacular.

This post is one of my POSTCARD series, sharing all things ART with you when I go travelling. My previous postcard focused on edible art.

Next week’s blog shares more of the art we discovered ashore. If cruising appeals to you, visit the P&O website.

3 December 2018 In Art

Work-in-progress: Watercolour classes with Michael Hill

I attend watercolour classes with Michael Hill at Salcombe Art Club every Tuesday during term time, October through to Easter.

Michael arrives with source photos and proceeds to show how he would tackle each painting. We can choose whether to work in acrylic or watercolour and Michael demonstrates both. This is done in stages, so we watch Michael for a short while and then we work on our own paintings, watch again and paint again, and so on. All the while, Michael comes around the class giving encouragement. His strategy works …

I have three work-in-progress watercolours at present. All three are executed under time pressures.

What you’re seeing here is how far I got during a class session. It’s up me to complete them in my studio at home.

Watercolour WIP 1: Cawsands

This is the source photo. Source photo Cawsands | Work-in-progress: Watercolour classes with Michael Hill This is my work-in-progress watercolour painting.

Cawsands | Work-in-progress: Watercolour classes with Michael Hill

The lateral structure was enhanced – made to look more interesting – with the use of pen and ink. I don’t usually use pen and ink, so this was a departure from my normal style.

Watercolour WIP 2: Grumpy old man

This is the source photo. Grumpy photo | Work-in-progress: Watercolour classes with Michael Hill

Not a usual subject for me. No water. No boats. No sky. Just a grumpy old man!

This is my work-in-progress watercolour painting. Grumpy painting | Work-in-progress: Watercolour classes with Michael Hill

I’m glad I have him on paper. It’s nowhere near finished and I wouldn’t want to see him in a nightmare.

Again, this was an interesting exercise, but I don’t imagine completing this painting until after I’ve done another workshop on portraiture. I have much to learn.

Watercolour WIP 3: Snow scene

This is the source photo. Michael often provides snow scenes at this time of year. Snow is particularly difficult to capture so this adds an extra dimension to the task.

Snow scene photo | Work-in-progress: Watercolour classes with Michael Hill

The grid lines help me to place the buildings and other features proportionately.

This is my work-in-progress watercolour.

Snow painting | Work-in-progress: Watercolour classes with Michael Hill

I still have to improve the tree line behind the cottage and behind the barn in order to give a sense of recession.

Watercolour classes in 2019

I’ve signed up to continue classes with Michael Hill in the Spring term. He is very popular so there is a waiting list.

You have to be at least a lay member of Salcombe Art Club to benefit from Michael’s classes. All the details are here.

5 November 2018 In Art

Originals: Available for sale?

I often receive phone calls and emails asking if a particular original painting is still available for sale.

It is possible to find out, by clicking on the image to bring up the image page. The Current Status entry tells you …

If a painting is unsold, the current price shows instead, plus where you can view it. Most of my stock is hanging in the Gallery of Beacon House. A few are with galleries.

WHEN CAN YOU VISIT BEACON HOUSE GALLERY?

Beacon House Gallery is open to the public for the SHAF Arts Trail fortnight each October.

At other times, you may visit, by arrangement only. Please telephone ahead to arrange a convenient date and time: 01548 844020

Originals for sale – an easier way to find out what’s for sale

To make it easier to see what’s available, I’ve added a new category of MY WORK on my website: Originals For Sale.

So, while Watercolors, Acrylics and Oils show you a gallery of all my work (including the ones which have been sold already), this new category shows you just the original paintings which are available to buy.

The images of available paintings are then listed in alphabetical order.

If you are specifically looking (say) for a watercolour, select Watercolour from the MY WORK menu and make a note of any titles which interest you. Then, go to this new category to see if the ones you like are available.

And if it is not? …

High quality giclée prints available

As well as the Limited Edition Prints, you can order a print of any image, whether the original has been sold or not.

More details about how to obtain a print of your favourite image, in my next blog post!

22 August 2016 In Art

Reflections at Batson: on display in the Michael Hill Class Exhibition at the Loft Gallery

Reflections at Batson is one of four of my paintings currently on display in the Michael Hill Class Exhibition in the Little Studio at the Loft Gallery, Salcombe.

This exhibition is a collection of artwork by the students of Michael Hill’s watercolour/acrylic classes, demonstrating not only our talents but also his expertise as a teacher.

Painting in Acrylics or Watercolour with Michael Hill

I have today signed up for Michael’s next term of classes: 8 all-day sessions Tuesdays from Sept 27 – Nov 22 except October 25 (half term), costing in total £105. That’s only £13.125 a day, and less than £3 an hour for the most wonderful tuition. What a bargain!

According to Salcombe Art Club’s publicity for this course: Michael is an experienced and highly accomplished painter in both acrylic and watercolour. He will demonstrate both mediums in all his classes, taking in drawing, painting techniques and composition. A friendly and informal class welcoming beginners and more experienced painters.

I couldn’t agree more!

Reflections at Batson

Back to my paintings on show in Michael’s Class Exhibition … This is an extract from a longer posting all about Batson.

At the top of Batson Creek, a collection of thatched cottages delight the eye. They sit around a triangle of grass complete with its old-fashioned telephone box. (At least, the phone box was there, the last time I visited!) The reflections of these cottages in the water only serve to enhance the tranquility of the scene, and this inspired me to paint Reflections at Batson.

Enjoy!

AFFORDABLE ART

Reflections at Batson is also available as a fine art greetings card.

A selection of my cards is on sale within walking distance of the Loft Gallery: at Bonningtons the newsagents, and at the Salcombe Information Centre. The full range is available at Malborough Post Office.

Just think: for less than 1% of the sales price of an original painting, you can invest in a fine art greetings card. Send it to a friend or frame it for yourself. Whistlefish sell frames that fit … about £10 each.

Hope Cove Fishing Gear Contemporary Passions

14 August 2016 In Art

Watercolour Exhibition: 21 August – 1 September

Right now, the Loft Gallery is home to the Salcombe Art Club Summer Exhibition.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE SUMMER EXHIBITION ENDS?

When this annual exhibition ends, late in September, the unsold paintings are wrapped and removed by the artists, and the display boards are stored in the roof space. The trestle tables and easels are retrieved, and the Loft Gallery reverts to its winter role: a busy working space for the members of Salcombe Art Club.

A packed programme of art classes commences for all categories of member: lay, associate and full. These tutored classes – in drawing and painting (watercolour, acrylic and oil) – continue through the winter months until next Easter when the next Summer Exhibition opens.

Then, by way of a reward and in recognition of their hard work, the masterpieces of the artists who attended the various classes are displayed in the Little Studio.

Michael Hill’S Watercolour/acrylic CLASS EXHIBITION: SUNDAY 21 August UNTIL ThursDAY 1 September

Starting Sunday 21 August – for 12 days– it’s the turn of Michael Hill’s watercolour/acrylic class to show their work.

As well as the five oil paintings already on display in the main exhibition, I’ll have five watercolours on display in this class exhibition: Hope Cove Fishing Gear (also featured above), Reflections at Batson, Racing Past Blackstone and Salcombe Dawn III and a mounted, but unframed, study of Corfe Castle in the browser.

AFFORDABLE ART

For less than 1% of the sales price of an original, the first three images, and many others, are available as a fine art greetings card, at Bonningtons (the newsagents) and Salcombe Information Centre (both a short walk from the Loft Studio).

The complete range of cards is available at Malborough Post Office and, if you are visiting Kingsbridge, our newest stockist is Bloomers, the florists, 37 Fore Street (about half way up the hill!).