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.