Gathering shells

This was painted for a homework assignment on "figures in painting showing movement". It measures 8" by 12" and was painted with St Petersburg paints on Arches NOT paper.

It was rather better received at class than it was on Wet Canvas.

Red Wine for Two

Another of Roy's titles for the Easter holidays was "Seen from above". Combining this with "Shadowdance" produced this still life. It measures 16" by 12" and is painted in St Petersburg watercolur paints on Hahnemuhle Andalucia Rough paper. A little diluted Gum Arabic was used to liven up the glass and the surface of the wine, as the paint dried very flat on this paper.

Pencil Shavings

This measures approximately 31 cms by 21 cms. The paints are as usual St Petersburg White Nights watercolours, but the paper is Hahnemuhle Andalucia Rough.

One of the titles set by the tutor for the Easter break was "Shadowdance". The sun was unusually shining and late in the day it slanted at a very low angle into the conservatory. Sharpening a few different coloured pencils onto a sheet of white paper allowed this composition.

I have tried really hard with the shadows here, dropping colours into the still wet wash to try and make them more interesting. Also transparent or semi-transparent paints have been used to try and avoid the mud.

It has been very well received on Wet Canvas; let's hope it is well received at Art Class on 21 April.

Blue Mosque

The session at Art Club last evening was on vignettes. This was painted from my own reference photograph taken in Oman on holiday last year. Jean and I had walked for many miles in the heat down the Corniche in Muscat and we came across this mosque just before we entered the Old Town.

The painting measures approx 35 cms by 28 cms and was painted with St Petersburg paints on Bockingford paper. While it was quite well received at Art Class today, the feeling was that something was missing to "draw us into the picture". Perhaps my memories of a wonderful day work for me.

The "Window on Watercolour" exhibition at Worthing library is approaching fast. It seems that we will have a wall approx 6 m by 2.5 m plus up to 8 paintings on the stairs. Enthusiasm does seem to be mounting, which is great as we will need at least 20 paintings to make this work.
My commitments so far are Coloured Glass on Windowsill, On the Eggs and Cynthia.

On the eggs

This was painted during an evening session at Art Club entitled "eggs and feathers". The reference was a photograph from the Wet Canvas library.

It was well received at both Art Club and Art Class, so may feature in the forthcoming "Windows on Watercolour" exhibition at the library.

Study for lonely boat

This was painted at Art Class today. The challenge was to compose a painting using the structure of the Golden Mean, and paint a value study. The nest stage is to paint a colour study.

It looks pretty good as it stands IMHO.

Pride and Joy

This one measures approx 25 cms by 30 cms painted on Bockingford paper.

The brief from Art Class for homework was to paint the effect of net curtains on a scene. This is looking out of our bedroom at my beloved XJ8.

It was finished off at Art Club under the topic of wheels.

Broadly the feedback was positive, except that the shadows were too brown.