Another Misty Day

Earlier this year I painted a couple of scenes of Burnham Overy Staithe which, at least to me, suggested a feeling of a misty day. Lots of strong monochrome tone in the foreground and very pale washes in the background. Plus a great deal of plain white paper. In other words a ‘less is more’ painting, ideally suited to the medium of watercolour.

Watercolour painting of mist at Thornham Harbour
Misty Day – Thornham Harbour. Watercolour on Arches 140lb rough paper, 15ins x 11ins.

A couple of days ago I felt drawn to the studio to revisit the misty day theme, with this composition based on a photograph that I took many years ago at Thornham Harbour on the North Norfolk coast. I enjoyed painting in this simple by quite dramatic style again and may do one or two more along the same lines. I’m thinking that ‘I must make new work’ at the moment as the Dersingham Art Trail will be running over the weekend of the 28th and 29th November, and my own studio will be one of those open.

For those who like to know how a painting was done, this began as a simple pencil line sketch, to which I then added strong toned watercolour washes in a dark navy blue made from French Ultramarine, Burnt Sienna and a touch of Permanent Alizarin Crimson. Only when I had the darks pretty much established did I water down the mix and add the background of distant trees and buildings. I often find that putting in the darks early on makes the painting easier to visualise, so I don’t necessarily work in the traditional watercolour way of light to dark. The sky and foreground are mostly unpainted white paper.