Ballet Practice, Watercolour

Watercolour, 30cmx40cm

I wanted to paint this scene because of the the reflections, which gives two different aspects of the dancers. I invented a lot of the background to add interest to the composition.

This is in fact the second painting of the subject, as I hadn't done a tonal study first to sort out the lights and darks and ended up with an unsatisfactory first attempt. I then decided to do almost a reverse in the lights and darks to the first painting and am happier with the result.

Les gorges de la Jogne

I have a quite a large number of blues in my watercolour palette; cobalt, my mainstay, cerulean and ultramarine, all from Jacksons. Recently I bought Teal Blue from Ken Bromley and used it as my main dark blue in this painting. I like it; it leans more towards green in hue and makes a lovely range of light to dark blues.

Les gorges de la Jogne, watercolour

This is another watercolour based on my visit to the Gruyere region. The walk through this beautiful gorge is not too strenuous and provides wonderful views.

Mountain Landscape

This is another watercolour of Gruyere; my main interest in painting it was the hazy mountain range behind the little village on the hill. I loved their hazy blues.

Chateau Gruyere, watercolour

Bygone Elegance

While visiting Dedham, I noticed this beautiful old car, no idea what make it is, but I loved the rich red! Painting shiny surfaces is quite a challenge, and I haven't drawn many cars as main subjects, so it was good practice.

Bygone Elegance, watercolour, 30cm x 40cm

Flatford Mill

Flatford Mill Watercolour

I have just recently found my photos again from my visit to Dedham and Flatford Mill, which has made me want to paint those beautiful old houses.

Sometimes my watercolours almost paint themselves, when I get into the flow, so to speak, but it wasn't the case for this one. I had to paint it over a number of days, which maybe hasn't helped to get into a painting frame of mind.

House in St. Urban

I had the chance to visit St. Urban in Pfaffnau (Switzerland) on a sunny August day and loved the beautiful whitewashed buildings of this former monastery. One building is now a psychiatric hospital and the beautiful baroque cathedral is a popular venue for weddings.

 I wanted to show more detail in this building than I usually do, as I loved the grey stonework and window surrounds.

St. Urban, watercolour

Two Cows, Watercolour

To my surprise, this painting almost painted itself. Quite often, I hit problems in a painting  that I had assumed would be straightforward and sail through others that I expected to be difficult.

I had a general idea that I wanted the meadow to be understated and was aware that I could easily overwork the grasses, so painted the background trees and meadow wet in wet in one layer, apart from the masked grass blades. The cows, too, were painted mostly wet in wet in about two layers.

Two Cows, watercolour 30cm x 40cm