Still life of grapes on a plate

I am quite happy with this still life. I kept the background simple with dark and light tones and painted the grapes and plate in a fairly realistic way.

I used just five colours for this painting, two blues (cobalt and ultramarine), one red (Turner Quinacridone Magenta, a reasonably priced red similar to Alizarin Crimson), one yellow (raw sienna) and one green (phthalocyanine green). Except for the Turner, all paints are made by Jacksons. They are good quality artist grade watercolours and come in large 21ml tubes.

Not getting the ellipsis of the plate right makes it look unrealistic. I think I managed it and added a shadow underneath to make it 'sit' on a surface. I painted first the tones and then the pattern of the plate and they have blended together quite  well.

Greenhouse

Watercolour of a greenhouse

With the first few days of sunny weather, I have spent more time in the back garden, seeing it slowly come back to life. The snowdrops are already blooming and the first few daffodils are also coming through.

I thought the shadows on the greenhouse made a great subject for a painting, even though a challenging one. The key was not getting too distracted by the detail and simplifying where possible.

Light and Shade

This is based on a photo I took in Bridge End Gardens, Saffron Walden, and is linked to my previous post 'Watercolours from Saffron Walden'. The painting below is of St. Mary's church, Saffron Walden, also seen from Bridge End Gardens.  Every so often, I like to go through my references to get inspiration for a painting. 


I have been using Chinese brushes for most of these paintings. They make beautiful random marks. Unlike sable brushes, they don't spring back to a point, so need to be used lightly to get the best out of them.