Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Beside the seaside, watercolour in progress....



I'm still not too sure where I'm going with this one, changed horses in mid-stream, which is okay,..... and I should sign off at that before I start sliding into a whole raft of metaphores......... as I did there..
I'll be back on this one
Watercolour 7 x 5, with pen and ink on gesso-primed 200lb Bockingford paper

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Beside Inglis Falls, Owen Sound, Ontario.



Here's number two that I foretold yesterday ...

As always, I was on it too long...

Wish I'd done it bigger.....

Watercolour 7" x 5" on gesso-primed Bockingford 200lb paper

Inglis Falls, Owen Sound, Ontario. #1

Inglis Falls, Owen Sound, Ontario. #1

I started this small study last night, it's the first in a series I intend to do of this place, a series of..... well, two at least - I'm always full of good intentions....

I haven't been here for about ten years and more, when a friend and I dropped in on the drive up to Tobermory. I recall the salmon were running that week, they were everywhere we went, or so it seemed, laying around in great lumps, resting between waterfalls.....
I took lots of photos that week ....... and can't find one of them anywhere right now. This I painted from a photo taken more recently by my friend Eric Norcross, - thank you, Eric.

Watercolour 7" x 5" on Gesso-primed Bockingford 200lb paper

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Friday's piece.... finished at last....



I started this one on friday, it's a small practice piece, that I decided to do on gessoed paper which, amongst other things, allows for easy lifting of colour, a technique which I love, and use an awful lot..... some of my artist friends, watercolourists, often 'loosen up' by doing small pieces on various supports (canvas, paper, masonite) that have been gessoed prior to starting on a bigger piece on paper. The gessoed surface allows for a level of manipulation, experimentation and reworking that cannot be achieved so easily on paper, and some fantastic results can be achieved - and if it doesn't work out, stick it under the tap, rinse away the paint, dry it, and off you go again... Often, in my mind, the practice pieces are better than the main work...
The building shown at centre is sort of ...well, it's stolen from Robin Hood's Bay and hacked about a bit, everything else I made up as I went along, and is pure Vyv Green....

It's likely I shall be doing some more of these over the next few days - seeing that I have a full sheet of paper gessoed up and cut up and sitting there...... perhaps then, if the muse appears, I might consider doing a bigger piece.... long overdue....

Watercolour, pen and ink with gouache hi-lights on gessoed 200lb Bockingford paper... 5" x 7"