At the Cafe

I have painted this old lime tree before. You can find it in the old town of Zofingen, Switzerland and the Restaurant Linde is named after it.

Wouldn't we all love to sit in the shade of this beautiful tree and enjoy a relaxed afternoon in the sunshine?

View of Corfe Castle

An early summer painting in England, which is always particularly green at that time of year. This has caused a problem of recession, and maybe I should have used a bluer colour to make the castle sit more in the background.

I am sure I am not the only one to think that beautiful subjects don't automatically make for beautiful paintings...

Whitby Harbour

This was quite a complicated subject and needed a lot of simplification to get to grips with it. It always helps to make a tonal plan. I usually break it down into just three values (light, middle, dark) and do a little thumbnail sketch in pencil.

Roseberry Topping

This mountain is also called the Matterhorn of North Yorkshire but to me, it looks more like the Sphynx. It only acquired this shape after part of the mountain collapsed in the early 20th century. I visited on a clear day in February, when a super moon showed itself in daylight to add to the beauty of this scene (in my painting, I moved it a bit closer to the mountain to make a better composition).

Led by my much more energetic son, I climbed up the short, strenuous route and had to stop several times to catch my breath. It was well worth the climb, though, as the view across the North Yorkshire landscape was fantastic. On the way back down, we took a more leisurely path and encountered this strange building:

The plaque on one of the wall explained that it was a shooting lodge used by hunting parties for shelter in bad weather. By the time we reached it, the sun was already setting.

Roseberry Topping is a popular destination for walkers and I'm sure I will want to go back and enjoy it at a different time of year.

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.