Painting Urban Life

This is a view from Trafalgar Square towards Westminster. I really liked the contrast of the dark statue (of Charles I, incidentally) and the light coloured plinth it stands on. My main aim was to simplify all the architectural detail and record the busy street life, using heightened colour.

View towards Westminster, watercolour

Ballet Dancer adjusting her Shoe

Artists have always enjoyed painting dancers for the beauty and elegant lines they create. One of the most famous painters of dancers is, of course, Degas, who sketched and drew them in pastel countless times.

He is my inspiration in visiting the subject over and again. What holds my attention is the subtle changes of direction in the line of arms and legs and how to express that in watercolour.

I prepared for this watercolour painting by making a line drawing in pencil first to familiarise myself with the pose.

ballet dancer adjusting her shoe, watercolour

St Helen's Church, Wheathampstead, watercolour

This is another painting inspired by my visit to Wheathampstead. I really liked this church; its spire is quite unusual for our region of England but I saw a few more like it when traveling across Northern France, so assume it must be Norman in influence. 

St Helen's Church watercolour

Reflections

A few weekends ago, I visited Wheathampstead to walk on its heritage trail. It was my first visit to this beautiful village. I took a few pictures and look forward to painting a few more watercolours from them. What made me want to paint this subject were the strong contre jour effect and the reflections in the water.

I wasn't looking for a faithful representation of the subject but for a colourful impression

to reflect my mood on the day.

Reflections, watercolour

Two Dancers, Watercolour

One subject I keep coming back to is the human figure, and especially ballet dancers. I prefer capturing them in between performances rather than on stage because I find the formal shapes they make more interesting when the dancers are at rest.

Before I was ready to do the actual painting, I prepared by doing colour notes and small compositional and tonal thumbnail sketches, as well as some detailed pencil drawings. Watercolour needs a lot more preliminary work than other mediums, but then the actual painting stage is really fast, which I find very satisfying.

I painted this on Bockingford rough, 30cm x 40cm.

Two Dancers, Watercolour

Cafe Spitz, Basel

Watercolour, 30cm x 40cm

The green shutters of this elegant cafe harmonised with the colour of the passing tram

Mittlere Brücke

Kayaking on the River Lea

These kayakers provided a welcome splash of contrasting colour to the blues and greens of the river scene.