Norfolk Mill

Norfolk Mill, watercolour

We walked from Morston Quay to Cley next the Sea on a sunny February day, stopping frequently to take lots of photos of the marshy landscape. The dark fields and bright reeds created beautiful contrasts and rhythms in the landscape. I must admit that I had expected to see the sea on our walk, but we were a lot more inland.

Incidentally, this wonderful windmill in Cley next the Sea can be rented for holidays.

For this painting I used some gouache to restore the highlights that were lost in the background. I am quite relaxed about using other media with watercolour and am not a purist about using just transparent watercolour. This is again painted on Saunders Waterford Rough paper, which takes the paint really well and keeps the colours bright.

Lilies

With this painting, I went for a more minimalist approach, keeping the background mainly white and painting the flowers with just a few brush strokes. I hope that this conveys the freshness and delicacy of the lilies.

Lilies, watercolour

Watercolours from Saffron Walden

These watercolours are all based on a visit to Saffron Walden and especially the Bridge End gardens, which are beautiful. I found the lemon plants in one of the greenhouses in the gardens. They were the starting point for the still life painting.

Saffron Walden has a beautiful old town and is well worth a visit.

My paper of choice these days is Saunders Waterford Rough High White. It is very sympathetic to my brush strokes and a high quality paper. I am also using my Jackson squirrel brush a lot more and love the marks it can make. Another recent addition is the Pro Arte Connoisseur size 12 brush, which replaces an older one I had for many years and was very happy with. It lost a few bristles at first, which concerned me, but it seems to have settled down now.

Urban Fox

Have you noticed how many more urban foxes there are now than there were a few years ago? They have become regular visitors to my back garden, where on one summer night, I watched three fox cubs chasing each other around the lawn.

My husband spotted this one earlier last year, basking in the sunshine in the middle of the day. It made a great painting subject.

Getting to know a Place better

Altstadt im Herbst

This is the Stiftsturm in the town of Zofingen. I have been visiting this place fairly frequently this year, as my mother has moved nearby and I have family there. Zofingen has a charming old town with a ring of houses that act as a town wall. This small tower is the Stiftsturm; I liked its blue roof and the trees in their autumn colours in front of it.


Dies ist ein Aquarell des Stiftsturms in Zofingen. Obwohl ich Zofingen schon lange kenne, habe ich erst seit diesem Jahr die Stadt mehr erkundet. Der Stadtkern hat viele schöne Gebäude, die es lohnt, mit dem Pinsel festzuhalten. Am Stiftsturm hat mir besonders das blaugrüne Dach gefallen, was den Anlass zu diesem Bild war.

Two Turkeys

Two Turkeys, watercolour

These turkeys live in a little wildlife park in Switzerland (Heitern, Zofingen). I think this is the first time I have seen these animals that close in real life. Their colours were quite vivid, especially the reds and purples of their heads and the deep darks of their bodies. I simplified the setting a lot to make the birds stand out.

Dancers, watercolour

Waiting, watercolour 30cm x 40cm

For this painting, I aimed for a more 'sketchy' feel, so decided to cut the number of washes down to the essentials. Initially, I wanted to leave the background white but this looked a bit too stark, so I added just a light wash with more or less the same colours I used for the figures.

One challenge when drawing the figure is getting the proportions of the hands right; they are in fact larger than one would think. Maybe because they are so complicated, one tends to draw them smaller than they really are.