Memories of a rainy visit

Watercolour of Lugano

A second painting after my visit to Lugano in October. Despite the gloomy weather, the colours shone through and brightened up the scene.

Piazza della Riforma, Lugano

Watercolour, Aquarell

This is Piazza della Riforma, the market square of the pretty Ticinese town of Lugano. The photo reference for this painting was taken a day after deluges of rain hit the canton of Ticino. As we emerged from the train tunnel (Europe's longest) on the south side of the alps, we could see waterfalls everywhere running down the  mountains.

I do like painting rainy weather, as it provides reflections and colourful umbrellas that can enliven a subject.

Saltburn Beach

One the coast of Saltburn, I was amazed to see these large round boulders that looked like perfect sculptures, shaped and smoothed over millions of years.

Paintings of the City and the Countryside

This is the Viaduct Tavern, which I photographed on my phone sitting on the top deck of a bus. This made the horizon line a bit higher than usual. I liked the cast shadows and strong contrasts of dark and light in the scene and had to go quite dark to bring out the white walls of the building.

This folly belongs to Wimpole Hall, a National Trust estate in Cambridgeshire near Royston. A folly is quite a romantic subject, which I tried to convey by using soft edges and heightened colour. 

Plant pot in sunlight

I think this plant is an agave, a type of cactus. For the leaves, I used phthalocyanine green mixed with  different blues (cobalt, ultramarine, cerulean) and yellows (lemon, aureolin, quinacridone, raw siena) to create a variety of hues and tones. 

The background was painted mostly wet-in-wet to give an impression of an outdoors setting.

Avoiding symmetry in painting

One of the design concept one should adhere to when composing a picture (or even a photo) is to avoid design elements that are exactly the same, as this makes for a static and boring composition.

When I drew Tower Bridge, I realised that the composition was quite symmetrical, so I knew I had to counteract this in the painting stage.

You may notice that I darkened the water unevenly and also lifted paint from one of the  towers to stop them from being identical.

Ickworth House

What isn't clear from this painting is how large the building is in real life.

Ickworth House is a National Trust property. If you love art, you will be impressed by the collection of portraits by famous painters, such as Titian, Velazquez, Hogarth, Vigée-Lebrun and Gainsborough.

August has been exceptionally hot, so we really enjoyed the exhibition in the cool basement of the building, where we found out more about the life of the servants working at the house in the thirties.

Ermitage Arlesheim

The Ermitage in Arlesheim, Switzerland, makes for an easy ramble. Although the area looks perfectly natural, it apparently is a landscaped park in the English style created in 1785. You can find out more about it on this site (in German).

I liked the way the buildings nestled in the landscape, with the red roofs contrasting against the greens. For the mountain on the left, I painted lots of washes wet in wet and mostly wet on dry for the rest of the painting.

Staithes

Staithes watercolour

Staithes is a small harbour village in North Yorkshire and is a popular painting destination for British artists. Well-known painters like David Curtis have painted this place and you can find his paintings in the local gallery.

I made my own attempt at painting this iconic place from the reference photos I took when there in August.

What isn't so apparent from pictures of Staithes is the number of seagulls roosting and flying around the place, their cries echoing loudly from the cliffs.

Painting the backdrop to a model railway layout

My husband is in the process of building a new z gauge model railway layout of an imaginary small town in Switzerland.

The background is painted in acrylic paint on mountboard. I first looked online for advice on how to paint backdrops, as I had done this only once before some years back, and soon realised that we did most of the process the opposite way to the advice given, namely:

- one should create the background first (we made the layout first)
- backgrounds that go around the corner are not advised (ours has three sides)
- perspective views should be avoided (I joined one road on the layout to the background)

Despite all this, I am quite pleased with the result, and it took me just three days to create (one for planning and two for the actual painting).

In the shade of the chestnut tree

Whenever I have walked past this chestnut tree, I have been impressed by its size and thought it would make a good subject. I photographed it on a particularly sunny day for reference and painted it this strong yellow to convey a sense of light and warmth.

After turning the painting upside down for assessment, I felt the yellow was too isolated and introduced the same colour into the shadow underneath it to help with unity.

Ich bin oft an diesem Baum in der Zofinger Altstadt vorbeigegangen und habe schon lange vorgehabt, ihn einmal zu malen.  Mir gefällt seine Grösse und ich stelle mir vor, dass er schon sehr alt ist. Wieviele Generation haben sich wohl in seinem Schatten unterhalten und ausgeruht?

Ich möchte mit meinem Bild eine lebhafte und lichtvolle Atmosphäre wiedergeben und habe deshalb für den Baum ein kräftiges Gelb gewählt.

Vintage steam engine

Nene Valley Railways, steam engine

This is outside the engine sheds of  Nene Valley Railways. Engines are quite complicated to draw, which I solve by simplifying the shapes, as I am not interested in technical detail. 

Looking at the subject through half closed eyes is a good way to cut out detail when judging overall shapes and tone. 

I suppose this painting is about shadow and light and how to make greys colourful. Most of them I mixed from varying proportions of alizarin crimson (Winsor & Newton), raw sienna (Jacksons) and turquoise blue (Turner).

Still life with fan

watercolour 30cm x 40cm

when it's getting too hot to paint outside, then a still life set up indoors is just ideal. One doesn't have to spend long on choosing the items for it, whatever appeals should make a pleasing arrangement.

I chose the tea towel to complement the jug and used a limited palette to make sure the colours work together.

Some of the items you choose may have a personal significance. In my case, the jug on the left used to belong to my husband's grandmother and it's nice to record heirlooms in this way.

Market Square, Peterborough

We visited Peterborough in March, on the day of the Royal Wedding. There was a large Morris Dance event on at the same time, and I wanted to capture some of it as incidental detail in this painting.

Two cats by the window

Two cats, watercolour

I looked after these two cats for my son while they moved house and really enjoyed having them. They are two siblings, Athena (on the left) and Hercules.

They are still quite young and playful and enjoyed sitting on the window sill, catching insect (real and imaginary) and watching whatever was going on outside.

I painted this on khadi paper, mixing the black tones from ultramarine blue mixed with raw sienna and permanent crimson alizarin. The red tones on Athena were mostly pure burnt sienna.

Nene Valley Railways

On the day of the Royal Wedding, we went on a rail trip to the Nene Valley to celebrate my husband's birthday. Although we had expected a steam engine, our train was pulled by a vintage Diesel engine, which apparently is used once a month.

We had an hour's break in Peterborough, which had a Morris Dance event on. It was very enjoyable to see so many different styles of Morris Dancers. In the park in front of the Cathedral, a big screen was installed to broadcast the Royal Wedding and lots of people had set up for a picnic, some little girls dressed up as bridesmaids to celebrate the occasion.

I liked this little scene of the three people chatting, waiting for the departure of the train. The bright sunshine made for strong contrasts in tone.

View Towards Piccadilly

Piccadilly, Watercolour

Another watercolour of a wet day in London, based on a visit from last February. 

Painting rainy weather calls for softer edges and wet-in-wet passages; I also used greyer colours to express the dull light.

Château de Valère

Schloss Sion

This is one of four castles (a fortified church, really) we find in the Valais (Switzerland). I haven't seen this one personally but painted it from a photo taken by my husband, who went through the Rhone valley on a day trip.

In this painting, the sun is behind the castle, which makes parts of the roofs brighten up to near white.

Schloss Birseck

Birseck castle, watercolour

This castle lies on a small hill just outside Arlesheim, Switzerland and has always been shut when we were in the area in previous decades. 

It's part of the attractive view from my parents' house on the opposite side of the valley, and this April, we finally managed to visit the castle when it was open. 

It is mainly a ruin with a small chapel and one sparsely furnished room, which opens to views towards the dome of Arlesheim and further into the valley. The tower is only accessible half way.

It took us an hour to walk there in beautiful sunshine, but as soon as we arrived at the castle, the weather turned to rain and we took considerably less time to march back home soaked to the bones!

I think I have painted this castle in the past in summer foliage, while this time of year, the trees haven't grown their new leaves yet. I tried different mark making to get the textures for the trees and kept the colours autumnal.

Fourth Plinth, Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square, watercolour

This is the latest  in a  small series of watercolours of London in the rain, which is based on a visit back in February. This link tells you more about the sculpture which was installed on the Fourth Plinth at the time. I was quite taken aback, when I saw it!

Just recently, a new artwork has taken its place, one with a more political and humanitarian message. 

This watercolour is painted on an A3 block of Saunders Waterford paper. I am quite pleased with the transparent grey I achieved for the clouds, using Teal (Ken Bromley) and Permanent Alizarin Crimson (Winsor & Newton). 

The reference photo had a very close tonal range between background and foreground, so I planned to keep the background lighter in tone for the foreground to stand out.

Tulips and Elephant

Tulips and Elephant watercolour

I have painted this set-up before, about four years ago, and that painting is now in China. 

The ceramic elephant is a particular favourite of mine, made by my husband, when he learnt how to work with clay. For that project, they had to work with an oval mould, and while most chose to make a vase, he came up with the idea of an elephant. I love its colour and pretty shape.

I have painted the tulips in hope of spring arriving soon; the tulips in my garden are showing some flower buds but are not quite ready to bloom yet.

Gate to Chinatown

Chinatown watercolour

Although London presented itself on a rainy, grey day, the ornate Chinese gate in Wardour Street and the many umbrellas provided some much needed colour.

Lode Mill, Anglesey Abbey

Lode Mill, watercolour

Another iconic building, which is part of the National Trust property Anglesey Abbey. The link will tell you more about its history. 

I do like white buildings, as they provide a backdrop for colourful shadows, and this mill contrasts beautifully with the dark trees leading up to it. 

There were more shadows on the left side of the building, which I at first painted in and immediately regretted doing so. As the red (alizarin crimson) used in the mixture is a staining colour, I could not remove it completely. To bring back the white colour, I therefore painted over it with white gouache, something I am usually reluctant to do.  I felt it was worth it not being a 'purist' in this case, as I felt the painting was worth rescuing.

St Remigius Church, Dunston

I painted this picture following our stay at the lovely Dunston Hall hotel. Although this hotel caters mostly for golfers (something we are not), there is also a suggested route for walkers, which avoids the golf course and leads to this beautiful little church.  

St Remigius Church, watercolour

This is painted on A3 Khadi paper; in some areas of the painting, I tried for a livelier paint application by placing unmixed colour patches next to each other and letting the paint mix on the paper. 

Black Tutu

Ballet dancer in black tutu, watercolour

Before each painting, I try to visualise the finished picture and plan the light and dark areas. This is the time to decide which parts of the picture should be a focal point.

At first, I thought it should be the black tutu, but then decided on the dancer's head and arms.  That is why I chose a dark background, painting it in the same colour as the tutu (mainly Teal from Ken Bromley with ultramarine blue and permanent alizarin crimson), but in different tonal values.

Red Umbrella

This is painted from a reference photo taken on my iPhone on a wet day in February. For once I took pictures throughout the painting process to show as a step by step for those who would like to know how to approach such a subject.

I usually start a landscape painting with the sky, taking care to keep the tones light. I used Turner Turquoise Blue mixed with burnt sienna for the clouds and washed over the light walls with raw sienna.

For the next step, I don't have a usual approach but start with the shape that stands out to me, in this case the dome of the building. I painted this darker tone with cobalt blue and permanent alizarin crimson. The shadow sides of the buildings are a mix of turquoise blue mixed with raw sienna and burnt sienna to give a grey. The small roof is pure turquoise blue.

I started to lay in some darker washes for the buildings (Teal from Ken Bromley mixed with ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson) and painted the couple with the red umbrella (alizarin crimson), which was one of my focal points.

For the reflections on the ground, I wetted the paper to create a diffuse effect.

The crowd of people in the distance provides further dark tones (cobalt and ultramarine blues mixed with burnt sienna and alizarin crimson)  to contrast with the lighter ground.

At this point, I decided that the church in the background needed to be knocked back, so I lifted some colour off with clear water. The finishing touch was the lamp post on the right, painted with teal, ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson. I like to include some street furniture, as they make interesting stopping points in an urban painting.

People sometimes ask me how long my paintings take; this one was painted over three days and took mainly that long because the washes took some time to dry.

Three Ballet Paintings in Watercolour

Painting dancers is always a great opportunity to practise drawing the figure.  I love the beautiful lines dancers make. Tutus also create fantastic shapes, and they are a linking device in the first painting.

I found the red tutus easier to paint because I could create them with brushstrokes, rather than having to paint around them, as in the other two paintings. In pure watercolour, white can only be achieved by painting the negative shapes.

Bridge House

Bridge House, Watercolour

I have been meaning to paint this old local house for a while. I loved how the sun lit up its white facade and took a photo to paint from later.

The bridge the house is named after is not visible from this angle, but it spans a canal which runs between the white house and the dark building behind it.

Standen House

Standen House, watercolour

This is Standen House, a National Trust property in Sussex, which has a lot of Arts and Crafts influences and beautiful views to a lake.

This is again painted on Khadi paper.

Cloudy sky watercolour

This is a view from Standen House, a National Trust property in Sussex, England. I thought the lake or reservoir in the distance made a good focal point, but this painting's story is really about the big sky. If you have read my previous post, then this is the picture I had aimed for at the time.

One painting turns into another

Winter landscape, watercolour

When I started this picture, I wanted to make the cloudy sky the main focus of the composition, but as the painting developed, I felt there was something lacking. I therefore decided to add the trees to the right, which gave me the opportunity to paint a foreground shadow. I feel the painting has a satisfying balance now, but of course is no longer about the sky.

Sometimes we have to listen to what the painting is telling us and react to what is happening on the paper. And of course there is always another day to paint a moody sky.

Wettsteinbrücke Basel

This is the first time I am painting on Khadi paper (A3 rough). It feels more absorbent than Saunders Waterford or Bockingford paper and tears more easily when using masking fluid. Some of the paper fibres lift when painting, which can cause a mottled effect. I feel this paper is therefore not suited for traditional watercolour paintings and is maybe better for an impressionistic style, where unpredictable effects don't mar the painting.

Near the bottom of the painting is one of the iconic ferries that cross the Rhine in Basel. They are attached to a cable that spans the river and are dragged from one bank to the other by the current of the water.