Watercolor paintings, tutorials, and videos
Starting to think about the next ‘big’ painting. This is a night view of Marlborough which is going to be challenging to say the least. I’m working up to it with some studies and starting small (3”x5”) with a sketch. This is to work out the value relationships and how the different areas relate to each other. So far so good.
A slight intermission in my 30 in 30 but I’m back to it now for day 15. This is again a local view of a church in Somerville. I always liked the geometric arrangement of shapes and values and the contrast with the more organic shapes of the trees and the background. This is also on Fabriano Artistico soft press paper which I quite like. Smoother than cold press but still absorbent. It shows up the blossoms which I’m liking more and more.
Not as successful as the previous one I don’t think but I did enjoy this enormously. Sometimes you just need a bit of color. Day 14 of 30 in 30.
Boston Common watercolor painting – day 13 of 30 in 30. I used to walk through the Common on my way to get my hair cut at a fancy Newbury St salon. This was back when we both had the fancy jobs and I hadn’t had any mad ideas of giving everything up and painting full time. Can’t say I miss the hair cuts but I do miss Boston Common. I wanted to focus on the statue and keep the buildings (probably a hotel?) misty and in the background.
One of the things that really attracted me to this composition was the way the horse’s legs intersect giving an abstract pattern. As the statue is against the light the values are very close on the figure and the horse. This gives it a subtle, misty feel which I really like. The added texture due to granulating paint (mostly cerulean blue) and some water splattering adds to the effect.
But oh that lamppost! It’s gone past loose to sloppy and I didn’t keep it straight. Lost edges are fine here (in fact probably essential) but I didn’t keep my eye on the ball here and the painting suffers.
But on the whole this came out rather well I think. I love the texture on the statue and the muted colors. I’m getting behind on a painting a day so they’re coming thick and fast right now. Helps in some ways as you don’t worry too much over details.
I didn’t record this one (wish I had done now!) but here’s a link to a another Boston painting which was livestreamed in November. If you want to be notified of any upcoming videos or livestreams please subscribe to my youtube channel and join my mailing list.
Another one from the archives and a view of the very popular Motif #1 that has a bit more compositional interest than most. As usual I’m not sure about this. I’m rushing these in order to get them done in one day so there’s some areas that I should have thought through more. But on the whole it hangs together well. Day 8 of 30 in 30 – long way to go.
Watercolor of St Mary’s Church, Cambridge for day 7 of the 30 in 30. Phew this is getting intense! Maybe something a little simpler tomorrow. It’s hard to assess the results when you’re in the midst of this challenge so I’ll just carry on and take a breather at the end. Pretty happy although I rushed to finish. (Edit: It looks a little wonky as my photo is slightly off)
A couple of intermediates
