Watercolour Wet

HBO, Winsor & Newton and a Port Winery

2012-02-21T10:33:00.002Z

Lots happening at the moment...
I have been approached by HBO (USA) who want to use 2 of my London paintings on the set of a new production. It's a pilot for a new series called "The Corrections" starring Ewan MacGregor (and rumours of Maggie Gyllenhaal and Rhys Ifans). These are the paintings to look out for, should you be in the USA at the right time with a subscription to HBO. I believe filming should have started by now.

Another surprise out of nowhere came from Winsor & Newton, who invited me to join their band of official demonstrators. I was happy to oblige; I use W&N artists' watercolours exclusively, as I genuinely believe them to be unsurpassed in quality. If anything comes up, I'll let you know where I am "performing". Call by and say hello if it's in your area.

Lastly, I have been commissioned by Taylor Fladgate Yeatman to illustrate one of their port vineyards, Quinta do Panascal in the Douro valley, Portugal. This is where the wonderful Fonseca is produced in the traditional way - they still tread the grapes. I have to produce a cutaway view of the winery, showing the production process from beginning to end. It's quite a challenge; even though production is small-scale, there is a lot going on in a fairly confined space.

I did a similar thing for Chateau Latour a few years ago; the illustration appears in the World Atlas of Wine, 6th edition.

As an aside, I have also painted a large overview of the Quinta. I hope you like it. It is such a beautiful region of Portugal - a revelation to me, as one who has, until now, never ventured beyond the Algarve.

Church Interior watercolour

2011-11-30T17:24:00.001Z

Thought I'd try something a little different; I don't often paint interiors, but I was struck by the deep gloom inside the church (St. Mary's, Hitchin) with a blaze of light from the windows. The screen stood out as a sharp silhouette and I tried to make this the focus of the painting.

It's quite heavily worked for a watercolour, with a lot of lifting-off and re-painting to give depth and texture, as well as areas of heavy opaque colour.

More Cambridge Paintings

2011-11-24T17:34:00.000Z

2 more paintings of, and from, the River Cam.

Bath University Demo

2011-11-24T17:26:00.001Z

I'm happy to report the day went extremely well. You can read a brief report here. I was so impressed with the students' enthusiasm and commitment - well done to all who turned up on the day.

Due to the success of the format, we may well be repeating the event at other universities and certainly hope to return to Bath some time.

Demonstration for Bath University

2011-10-10T12:33:00.000+01:00

The Society of Architectural Illustration will be holding their Autumn meeting on Saturday 15th October, where I, amongst others, will be demonstrating techniques to the architecture students. I don't normally prepare too much for this sort of thing, but as I will be working under the close scrutiny of my peers I thought I should have a dry run to make sure I don't make a complete fool of myself.

My theme will be conveying a concept without getting tied down in details, i.e. the way I like to paint! I have only 20 minutes to get the message across...

The painting below took a little longer, but I think I can cut that down to 20 minutes. I would like to think that if Isambard Kingdom Brunel had approached me with the idea of a new suspension bridge for Clifton, this is what I would come up with!

A4 Cheap Langton paper 140lb NOT

Cambridge II

2011-10-10T12:14:00.000+01:00

Another painting of the River Cam, Cambridge. 12"x9", Saunders Waterford NOT.

The Doldrums

2011-10-05T17:39:00.000+01:00

I've been struggling with a painting of Venice for weeks; after 4 attempts it still wasn't looking right, and I abandoned the idea completely. I had almost convinced myself that I should give it all up as a bad job and find another way to amuse myself. Then I remembered that I had a few photos on my phone, a memento of a lovely day in Cambridge last week, and realised that I had some potential paintings here...

After a couple of hours splashing the watercolour, I came up with this. It all seemed to slot into place for me at long last and I was pleased with the result. Hope you like it. I shall be doing more.

Just realised the irony; it's the Bridge of Sighs, a copy of the one in Venice...

The painting is 12"x9", Saunders Waterford NOT 140lb.

New Blog!

2011-10-04T13:34:00.003+01:00

Welcome to my new blog; I was having difficulties with my old one at Wordpress, so I shall attempt to relocate everything here. My aim is to post new work here as it is completed and I invite you all to leave comments (good or bad!). I welcome questions on technique, materials etc. and look forward to a fruitful dialogue with the world at large. Or at least, a few of my mates.

Some paintings from the archive to be getting on with:

The Palladian Church - Ayot St. Lawrence

Blue Boat - The River Ouse at Sunset (SOLD)

Falls of Rogie - Contin, Scotland

Irmi's Roses

These are currently on show at the Norton Way Gallery, Letchworth.

Here are some from my Venice series:

SOLD (Thank you Judith & Chris!)

SOLD (Also Judith & Chris!)

(SOLD)

More to come soon!