Happy New Year everybody! I thought I’d kick off 2014 by showing you a scene of Ely Cathedral which I painted recently with my two students who come to the studio on occasional Saturdays, Chris and Pat. We spend a few hours sploshing in watercolour about once a month and they are both doing really well.
Ely Cathedral in Springtime. Watercolour 14 x 10 ins.If you would like to come to my Dersingham studio and have some tuition with me, then do get in touch. I have a small group on occasional Tuesdays, which is a “drop in and out of” group, and I also have groups of friends who come, as well as one-to-one students. There’s more information about both group and one-to-one tuition on my website Learnwatercolour.com There’s a link to the relevant page here.
It’s worth mentioning that I can also travel to you for art tuition, if that’s more convenient. Again I can tutor one-to-one, small or large groups, or give demonstrations and workshops for art societies. Do get in touch to talk about your requirements. My details are all on the Contact page of this blog.
Wishing everyone a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful, prosperous and healthy New Year. The painting shown here is one of my Christmas Candle series, which was last featured on my Christmas card quite a few years ago. So, I thought that it was time for a return visit, to convey my good wishes to you all.
I’ll be back with more from my artist’s blog in the New Year, with new sketches, paintings and tuition articles. Meanwhile, Happy Painting to all artists wherever they are!
Usually the autumn finds me hard at work teaching groups of watercolour students. Indeed, I have been doing that, but not on a regular weekly basis as before. Early this year I made the decision to retire from teaching weekly groups, to allow more time for painting, walking and travel. These days I tutor more occasional groups, usually here at the studio.
With a bit of free time available, Margaret and I decided to head down to South Africa in early November, for three weeks of game watching and walking. A great country and I hope that the recent passing of Nelson Mandella will not cause any difficulties there. We were certainly made very welcome by people of all different races, during our stay in Kwazulu Natal.View of the Drakensberg Mountains, near Cathedral Peak. Edding pen on A5 cartridge paper sketchbook.
If you’re expecting to see paintings of the rhino, elephant and giraffe that we saw, you’ll have to be patient as they are still in my head, not on the paper. I took a lot of photographs though. There was certainly plenty of wildlife to be seen, although no lion or leopard regrettably. There was no opportunity to sketch on the game drives, as we were in a group, but when we got to the Drakensberg Mountains, I managed to do a few quick sketches in ink. Here’s one, and you can see why the Drakensbergs are so called – the Dragon’s Mountains, with peaks like sharp teeth. Some great walking, but steep, phew!
The Wash, our local piece of water, has been in the news lately with extensive flooding in some areas. Luckily, the Stephen Martyn Studio remained high and dry, although in 1953 the water reached to within a few yards of where our house now stands. A disturbing thought as the tidal surge was supposed to be bigger than ’53! However, the sea remained well over a mile away, thankfully.The Wash from Green Bank Road. Watercolour 15ins x 22 ins.
Thinking of the Wash reminded me of this painting, which was actually the last one to be framed before my Christmas Open Studio. It shows a view of which I am very fond, with Holme-next-the-sea church and the Wash beyond. It has a high point of view, which can be obtained from the eastern end of Green Bank Road, which runs from the top end of Ringstead village east towards Thornham. It’s a green road and overlooks the fields leading to the sea. Maybe 100 feet or so above sea level, it counts as a big hill in this part of the world!
I’m still busy with preparations for the Dersingham Art Trail weekend which is from Friday 29th November through until Sunday 1st December. Five studios will be open, including my own of course, so you can wander round lots of different artists. Two other painters are taking part, Marty Griffin and Mike Smith, plus photographer Jo Halpin Jones and potter June Mullarkey. Do try to visit if you get the chance! You can find out about all the Art Trail artists at DersinghamArtTrail.org by the way.
Meanwhile, at the coal-face of watercolour, here is another “atmospheric” painting that I will be showing. I love to use a really limited palette of colours and this work, Long Shadows in Misty Fields, uses just two, blue and orange. These are strong complementary colours so work quite powerfully in combination. I photographed these trees on a muddy farm lane near Ringstead Downs, Hunstanton and knew that one day they would make a painting. And here it is.Long Shadows in Misty Fields. Watercolour 14ins x 10ins
November in Norfolk and the pink-foot geese are in full flight. They roost out on the mudflats and fly inland to feed so there is a constant procession of skeins of geese to be seen, coming in early in the morning and flying out as the sun is setting.
I’ve made quite a few atmospheric paintings of the geese flying over the fields or the marshes and here are two new ones that I’ve just completed. The sunset scene is entitled When the Geese Fly – at the End of a Winter’s Day and I hope I’ve captured the feeling of stillness on the beach at sunset, with just the great empty space and the haunting call of the geese as they fly back to their roost. The other painting, When the Geese Fly – Dawn on the Marsh uses a very cool palette of colours to give a more chilly early morning feel. Prussian Blue and Manganese Blue are the two main pigments used.
Both of these paintings will be on show over my Open Studio weekend from the 29th November until the 1st December 10am – 4pm each day. I hope you can make it along. See my Contact page for the location.When the Geese Fly – at the End of a Winter’s Day. Watercolour 14ins x 10insWhen the Geese Fly – Dawn on the Marsh. Watercolour 14ins x 10ins
A couple of pen and wash paintings for you here. They are both very recognisable Norfolk scenes, or at least I hope they are – Cley Mill, and Wells Harbour. I painted these pictures in response to an enquiry from a new art gallery soon to open in Sheringham, up on the North Norfolk coast. I went to see the owners, Tony Randall and his wife Isabel, and they have agreed to show six pen and wash paintings of mine.Sunshine on the Mill, Cley-next-the-sea. Pen and Wash 9ins x 7ins
The gallery will display both original artworks and small antiques, so it should be an interesting browse if you are in the Sheringham area. It is due to open in a few days time and is located at 3 Sheringham High Street, right down the bottom near the sea, a blue shop-front on the right hand side. The gallery is over the top of a nice tea shop too!Wells Harbour from East Quay. Pen and Wash 10ins x 8ins
I’ve been very busy in the studio lately, as I always am when ever an exhibition is on the horizon! From Friday 29th November through to Sunday 1st December five studios here in Dersingham will be open to the public as part of the Dersingham Christmas Art Trail. One of those studios will be mine, so I hope you can call in and say hello.An Autumn Ride – Manor Road, Dersingham. Watercolour 11ins. x 15ins.
I’ll be posting some of those new paintings here in the next few days, but I thought I’d start by showing you this scene, which was featured on the cover of the Dersingham Data magazine. The Data is a little A5 handbook that contains lots of information about the village, including parish council members, groups that meet regularly, doctors surgery details, all that sort of handy information, published twice a year. It is edited by my good friend Tony Bubb, who asked me to provide something for the cover of the autumn edition.
The brief was “it must be Dersingham, but not the church or anything else that’s been done before!” One afternoon I went for a walk round the village, armed with my camera, and pausing at the Tithe Barn in Manor Rd. I had just decided that it was a rather uninteresting looking building when two cyclists came along. A composition immediately occurred to me, and I just managed to catch one cyclist with my camera as they zoomed past. A bit of artist’s license and you see the result here. Painted quite quickly to keep it feeling free, in my “traditional” watercolour palette of ultramarine blue, raw sienna, burnt sienna and light red.
The trees are turning and starting to show some nice autumn colours. Pottering in my studio the other day I was searching for painting inspiration and started flicking through my piles of photographs, when I came across one that I’d taken of Castle Rising church. The photo was snapped in early Spring, when the trees were still completely bare, but I thought that it might be nice to put some leaves on the trees and add a bit of autumn colour.Autumn at Castle Rising church. Pen and Wash 10ins x 12ins
You can see the result here. I did a sketch using a Faber-Castell Pitt artist pen, with black ink, and then applied some simple watercolour washes. I tried not to go too over-the-top with the autumn colours as, after all, this is Olde England not New England! Some purples made from Light Red and Ultramarine work quite well with the orange of Burnt Sienna. Greens were made from Ultramarine and Cadmium Yellow Pale.
These pen and wash studies are quick to do and I always enjoy them. Ideally, I would love to be sitting there by the church with pen and brush in hand, but that isn’t always possible. Anyway, working from a photo gives you the opportunity to change things around and not just “paint it as it is”. Why not have a go at making an autumn scene yourself, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it!
View of the 2013 WNAA Small works exhibition in the Shakespeare Barn, King’s Lynn Arts CentreThe West Norfolk Artists Small Works exhibition has drawn to a close and what an impressive show it was. The format of placing each image on a square coloured background really unifies the display of artwork and add a dramatic edge to what would otherwise be just another display of small pictures. You can see a little of the exhibition in my photograph here.
Both my own two works were “rainbow” themed, using the techniques that I outlined in my previous post. I enjoyed using the Rowney FW inks and I will certainly be employing them again in future paintings. After the Rain – Burnham Overy Staithe. Watercolour & Ink, 11ins. x 11ins.In addition to the inks I used a very limited palette of colours for this work, essentially it’s a monochrome in a bluey-grey made from Phthalo Blue GS, Burnt Sienna and Quinacridone Red. The inks provide the splash of colour which hopefully brings the painting to life. I was pleased to see that quite a few visitors to the show voted for this painting as their favourite, which was really encouraging.
However, that’s enough rainbows just for the moment and I’m back in the studio working in traditional watercolour. I’ll post some images of new works here soon!
