Secret of watercolour

Misty Morning 

Watercolour.

I love painting days like this and watercolour is the perfect medium. Three colors are all you need, lots of water, an umbrella, if like me you are mad to sit outside and plenty of patience. This is the key technique.

 Between each mountain range the colours are left to dry and mist softly forms. The lake is painted simply with a few strokes of paint reflections and ripples added carefully. The secret is less rather than more!

 Stones are picked for the foreground and added with dark juicy tones and a few swift ripples added with confidence.

If you fancy painting some Lakeland scenes in watercolour and would like some guidence along the way my online course is just for you. I post to the UK and abroad. Six projects are £55.00

 

www.watercolourcourse.co.uk

Watercolour demo Ullswater

 Sunday Sail, Ullswater painted in watercolours

Here is as promised a watercolour inspired by the scene in the last blog.

I've not changed it too much, brought in more light and colour and sunk a few boats.

 Stage one

My original idea was to have mountains in  the background and a thin stretch of water in the foreground.

A little candle wax was applied before applying paint  to give more texture

Warm ochres with added Rose madder are painted in swift strokes showing the direction of the fells.Cobalt Blue with Rose madder gave a subtle shadow colour, then the waterspray helped to merge the colours together softly.

Stage two

With the background nearly dry stronger shades of Cobalt Blue and Rose Madder was used for distant tree shapes. Using the side of a brush to create the foliage. Gamboge yellow helped to give a complementary colour to some of the closer trees.These are all softened with the waterspray.Note the use of masking tape torn into shapes to preserve the white on the boats and shoreline.

 Stage three

By now I had decided to crop the top section of the background and concentrate on the trees and lake.

Very strong tones of yellow and orange are used in the front trees, cadmium red was added to Gamboge to create the rich shades. Whilst Rose madder with a little Cobalt Blue mixed together to create a strong dark that helped to negatively shape the trees and boats. Keeping plenty of light showing between the foliage is a key point.

I decided that the boats should be a complementary Blue and used neat Cobalt and shades of Ultramarine for these lovely little boats. Reflections are painted with a dry brush using the colours of the trees in the background.Finally a couple of swift strokes of white pastel for the masts.

For more watercolour courses

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Painting Ullswater

It's great to be be back in the Lakes. Only driven on the wrong side of the road a few times and asked for 'L'oignon in Sainsburys so adjusting to life in good old England. I've not managed yet to get the paints out properly but have unpacked all the gear and got all my wonderful art books out of store.
I wonder if anyone else also thinks about placing certain artists books next to each other. Matisse is rubbing shoulders with John Singer Sargent  and Trevor Chamblain is in between John Curtis his painting friend and Edward Wesson!!

I managed a sneaky cycle down to Ullswater, this been my closest lake about five miles away. The skies threatened heavy rain, as you can see by the grey lake shimmering in light. Autumn colours are starting to show and the fells are rich velvet shades of Ochre.
I think this little scene would be great in pastels or watercolours, I will keep you posted on which medium I pick and do a little demo.

www.watercolourcourse.co.uk

Heading back

A little sad to take a photo of the view from the terrace this morning.
It's our last day here in the French Alps, we head back home to Cumbria tomorrow to start a new chapter. But I'm not too sad, it's been an amazing adventure and I've seen and done things I will never forget.
 I do believe that you should follow your dreams and try and make them come true, and spending time here in the Alps is a dream come true.

I'm delighted to be heading back to the Lakes, and spending time away, made us realise how much we love this very beautiful part of England. And so with new inspiration ready to hit the lakes, I look forward to sharing it on the blog with you. And of course those gorgeous Autumn colours that should be coming out a treat. Thank you for all the positive comments over the last couple of years it really does make a difference.
See you in the Lakes ................

Painting in Val Veny, Aosta

I've been wanting to visit ' Val Veny ' in Aosta for ages. Not because it is a beautiful valley on the Italian side of Mont Blanc with stunning scenery. The main reason 'John Singer Sargent' one of my favourite artists spent many Summers painting here. He would bring a party of friends and family to this high mountain valley in Summer and stay near this hotel at Purtod. Days would be spent painting and relaxing. Ladies wearing costumes of Oriental floral silk, lazing on the grass beside the bubbling stream were famously painted. He also painted many dramatic Glaciers and rock strewn valleys wanting to capture the bright light and shadows. He used wax as a resist to create texture and overlaying transparent colours in his watercolours. I could see the famous honey coloured rocks here in this valley. I used a mix of Naples yellow with a touch of permanent Rose.

We drove up the same thin mountain road that Sargent had, seeing the mountain scenery as he would, and found the famous river. It  gushed rather than bubbled and no way was Number One Art Critic dressing in Costume for me to paint!

I did get the paints out for a quick watercolour sketch of Brenva Glacier and thought about Sargents 'Moraine' painting while tackling this dramatic scene, which he had painted in 1908.

 

 

I worked very fast on this watercolour sketch, the light was changing at a rapid rate and I didn't want to get bogged down with detail, I also knew it was only a reminder and just to enjoy painting this amazing scenery in front of me.

 

I'd also heard about a place that did 'Porcetta' Now for some reason I had romantic ideas about this meal.
We sat down at a table with a view of the entire valley before us. The sun was shinning, the open oven was gently smoking and the smell was quite enticing. We ordered our roasted Pig with vegetables and fries and enjoyed the scene.
Poor piggy arrived on a plate, we picked at the meat and I enjoyed the vegetables. It was quite nice but I did decline a trotter and wondered why Number One Art Critic was suddenly putting Piggies face onto his plate. I then realised he did not know he was holding one ear!! All I can say is I'm not sure when we will be eating Roast Pork again, not for a while!!!

www.watercolourcourse.co.uk