My weekly watercolour group has been tackling one of the iconic landmark buildings of King’s Lynn just recently. The Customs House was built in the 17th Century, when Lynn was a much busier port than it is now. The Excise men have long gone, but the tourist Information Centre puts the building to good use these days.A view of the Customs House at King’s Lynn. Watercolour 14ins. x 10ins.
Often painted by local artists, I realised that I had never undertaken this view until now, so here is my own effort at it. It’s quite a challenge to draw accurately, but my students did well with it and used the resulting skills to paint their own choice of heritage building of King’s Lynn. I will be reviewing their efforts in the group tomorrow and will post some photos of them a little later.
Margaret and I have been away for a few days, down to Kent. One of those trips that starts with “we’ve got a few days free, where can we go?”. After a bit of thought we decided on Kent, simply on the basis that we hadn’t been there before, at least not for many years. A few minutes, well hours actually, on the internet and we’d booked an hotel near Canterbury. The Pilgrim’s Rest at Littlebourne, which we can definitely recommend as being warm, comfy, and providing an excellent breakfast!Oare Creek near Faversham. Pen and Ink
We got out and about walking as much as we could, although the weather was pretty awful on our first day. But later on it brightened up and we enjoyed trudging the footpaths round the area. Of course, I had my eye out for interesting sketching subjects, as Kent is Rowland Hilder country and Rowland is one of my watercolour heroes. Hilder sketched and painted all around the area in which we stayed, and on the Sunday we found ourselves at Faversham, walking beside the creeks which abound in that area. I spotted some old posts sticking out of the mud and knew I’d seen them, or something very similar, in one of my Rowland Hilder books. It was pretty cold so I took a couple of photos and later did this little ink skech that you see here. I enjoyed doing it, and that’s the main thing, perhaps the only thing that matters. It may or may not become a painting later on, but it was fun. Never forget that!
The east Anglian artist Edward Seago was one of the most popular painters in the mid part of the 20th Century and his work is still widely collected today. Seago worked in both oils and watercolour, but it’s his watercolour paintings that I find most exciting. He had the knack of taking the most simple of subjects, a tree in a field or a couple of boats on the beach, and with what seemed to be just a few brushstrokes produced an amazing rendition of the scene.
Of course, just because it looks very simple doesn’t mean to say that it’s simple to follow those techniques yourself! To emulate Seago’s style requires a degree of skill, in arranging the composition, drawing, and in handling the watercolour brush. But, these skills can be learnt, by studying his paintings and of course by practice.A Norfolk Fishing Village, after Edward Seago. Watercolour 22ins x 14ins.
On the 18th and 19th May 2013 I will be running a weekend workshop at West Norfolk Arts Centre, Castle Rising, Near King’s Lynn, Norfolk. Entitled Let the Brush Tell the Story, we’ll look closely at Edward Seago’s working methods and learn how to apply at least some of them to our own paintings. It should be fun and you’re bound to come away with an increased awareness of what it takes to make a successful watercolour painting.
Alongside this post you can see my own humble effort at painting a scene that Seago returned to on many occasions, a Norfolk fishing village with a few boats drawn up on the foreshore. Note that the eye is drawn in to the cottages by their being light and dark shapes against the sky. See also how limited the number of colours is, just Ultramarine Blue, Raw Sienna and Light Red.
I hope you might like to join me for a chance to let your own brush tell the story! To book contact the Arts Centre on 01553 631689 or get more information at westnorfolkarts.co.uk
I’m back teaching my weekly group, after my eye surgery. My vision is slowly improving, so things seem to be going the right way.
This week, part of the session with my Watercolour Improvers group will be devoted to the use of colour, to give atmosphere and interest to a painting.A twelve-point colour wheel showing the three primary colours and three intermediate secondary colours
I’ve prepared a twelve-point colour wheel, which you can see here, to show the relationship between colours. As you may know, there are three primary colours, yellow, red and blue, from which all others are derived. On the wheel you can see the three primaries, and three secondary colours between each of them. So for example yellow has secondary colours of orange-yellow, orange, and red-orange. These colours are referred to as analogous, because they all contain yellow so they have a close relationship to each other. A painting constructed with a palette of analogous colours will have a strong feeling of harmony within it. An example of such a palette would be one using raw sienna and burnt sienna. The colours do not have to used at their full brilliance for them to be analogous, but they need to have a common primary colour, in this case yellow.
Another way of creating harmony in a painting is to use complementary colours. These are colours which are directly opposite each other on the colour wheel, for example blue and orange, or yellow and purple. Despite being very different, they seem to work well together and their intensity is enhanced when they are side by side. As before, the colours don’t have to be fully saturated for the effect to work, they can contain neutral elements within them but still be effective. I’ll be using a palette of complimentary colours in a painting that my Improvers group will be tackling and I’ll post it here once we’ve completed it.
One of the nice things about being a professional artist is being asked to paint a particular scene for someone, in other words a commission. Over the years I’ve undertaken quite a few paintings of subjects that I would never have dreamed of tackling normally, so there’s an added excitement, or terror, when one comes along.
At my December Open Studio, a lady asked me to paint a view of the locomotive ‘Mallard’ for her husband who is a steam enthusiast. Quite challenging, because it’s got to be ‘right’ and I did a good deal of research before starting work. But I felt that the end result gave a good feel of steam and power, as the Mallard leaves York southbound for King’s Cross. I used the original LNER colour scheme for the loco and carriages, so this sets the scene at around 1938 or 39.The LNER Gresley A4 Mallard leaves York southbound for King’s Cross. Watercolour 15ins x 11ins.
This great locomotive, which still holds the world speed record for steam, is on show in the York Railway Museum, but I was fortunate in being able to find some useful photographs as my reference, to avoid a long research trip!
Very wintery conditions here in Norfolk, with quite a bit of snow on the ground. I should have been starting my weekly group at West Norfolk Arts Centre this afternoon, but it has had to be delayed. No not snow, but the health of the unfortunate tutor. I am having to undergo emergency eye surgery to repair a detached retina in my right eye, so I’m going to be out of action for a week or two, maybe more.The heron waits for his supper. Watercolour on 140lb Arches NOT paper
My apologies to everyone booked on the course, but I promise to back with paintbrush in hand as soon as possible! Meanwhile, here is a small taster of one of the subjects coming up this term – the heron patiently waiting for his supper. I love simple paintings of an interesting shape silhouetted against a sunset. I first painted this scene many years ago and recently found a version of it among some old works in the bottom of a drawer. We’ll put in some trees and more reflections when the group comes to paint it but in the meantime you might find some inspiration here for a composition of your own. Keep practicing!
A very Happy New Year to all my blog-followers! I’m sorry not to have posted anything lately, but we have been away enjoying the sunshine in Madeira. Watch for one or two Madeira mountain paintings in due course.A small painting in Indian ink with added watercolour washes
Looking forward to 2013 I will be commencing my final term of weekly watercolour courses at West Norfolk Arts Centre in a couple of weeks, but beyond that I will still be doing plenty of teaching. Weekends and other workshops, plus there will be more opportunities for small groups to join me here at the studio in Dersingham.
Speaking of the studio, the Christmas Open Studio that I held in early December was very successful, and thanks to all those who visited. Here’s a photo of one of the paintings that was sold. It’s a small work in watercolour and Indian ink, only about 6ins x 8ins and shows the ruins of St James church Bawsey, near King’s Lynn. An iconic West Norfolk landmark.
My thanks to everyone who visited my studio over the three days of the Dersingham Christmas Art Trail, and particularly to those who bought painting and other items. We’ve been out delivering paintings today, which is always a nice thing to be doing!
A total of ten artists and craft-workers took part in the Trail and I thank all of them for their support and the work that they put in to make the Trail a success. We will be back – probably on May 25th 2013 when the annual Norfolk Open Studio scheme commences.My studio ready for the opening of the Art Trail, with as much work as possible on display!
If you missed the recent event then most artists will be happy to welcome you to their studios any time, providing you contact them first. You can find out all about the Dersingham Art & Crafts Trail by visiting DersinghamArtTrail.org
New artist are very welcome to join the Trail, but you must have your studio in or near the village of Dersingham.
Last Friday I was invited to spend a day with a group of fellow professional artists at the headquarters at the SAA – the Society for All Artists. The SAA exists primarily to promote art and particularly painting to those who have not yet started on the road to being an artist. If you join the Society you’ll receive a regular magazine full of painting hints and tips, and be able to buy your art materials by mail order at very reasonable prices. There is also a network of Professional Members such as myself, who are available to give tuition or to run demonstrations and workshops for Art Clubs.
If you already teach or exhibit your paintings, there is very comprehensive insurance for your activities available free as part of your SAA membership. In fact, that was why I joined originally.
A selection of art materials that I had the opportunity to try
I had a very informative and useful day at the SAA. Meeting lots of fellow professionals and exchanging views, and hearing all about the Society’s plans to encourage even more people to take up art. I had an opportunity to try lots of different art materials too, and you can see some of them in the accompanying photo.
You can find out all about the SAA from their website saa.co.uk which is well worth a look. If you decide to join – just mention my name!
The Edge of the Wood – December. Watercolour 14ins x 10insAs I usually do at this time of the year, I will shortly be having an Open Studio weekend. An opportunity for you to visit me here in Dersingham and have a look at the studio and the paintings I’ve been doing. You can see one of them here, but I’ve got several others up my sleeve!
This year I have joined together with a number of other Dersingham artists and craft-workers to form the Dersingham Art & Crafts Trail. You can have a wander round seven different studios, plus see an exhibition of childrens artwork at the Dersingham Junior School.
The dates are Friday 7th – Sunday 9th December, 10am – 4pm each day. I hope you can make it.
