Category Archives: England

Recent watercolours

Hi Everybody

The Domes of St Marks Basilica in Venice from the Campanile Watercolour 10 by 15 inches. From a photo taken by me in 2008!

 

I haven’t been posting much of late but I am still producing a lot of watercolours!

Here are some of this years paintings , most can be found for sale on Artfinder/brianswatercolours or on Artgallery

I hope you enjoy them and please do let me know what you think

Happy Travelling

Brian

Prague in the Spring Watercolour sketch 10 by 8 inches

Sunset at Viking bay in Kent Watercolour 18 inches by 10

Meadow in the Norfolk Fens Watercolour 30 by 12 inches

Sailng in Mauritius Watercolour sketcg

Mauritius beach sketch

El Capitan in Yosemite Watercolour 18 inches by 12

 

 

Scotney Castle in Kent Watercolour

 

 

Low tide at Mousehole in Cornwall Watercolour 18 by 12 inches

The beach near Portowan in Cornwell Watercolour 18 inches by 10 inches

Fairhead at Ballycastle on the Antrim coast in Northern Ireand Sketch 10 by 8

Across from Camber sands to Fairlight in SussexWatercolour 18 inches by 12

Across to Fairlight in Sussex from Rye Watercolour 18 by 12 inches

Bewl Water in Kent. Watercolour 18 by 12 inches

Some more soon!

Brian

A few days in Delightful Devon

The Cary Arms at Babbacombe, watercolour 36 by 25 cms.

Hi Everbody

We have just had a few days on the very sunny South Devon coast, staying at the lovely Cary Arms Hotel in Babbacombe Bay.

South Devon has many lovely places to visit and one of our favourites is Dartmouth and the River Dart.

Time too for a few watercolours ,sketces and a  formal watercolour.

We also ate in two very good restaurants whilst there plus in our Hotel where the food is good too!

In Torquay I would recommend Amici, an Italian restaurant in the heart of the town.

In Babbacombe we would highly recommend The Waddling Duck at Hamiltons, just superb and good value too.

The National Trust property of Coleton Fairacre is for us one of the best in the Country , featuring an Art Deco House and stunning gardens looking out over the sea. My next subject for a sketch!

Anyway here are few watercolours and sketches

The River Dart near Dittisham. “Greenways”, Agatha Christie’s former home can bee seen across the river. Watercolour 36 by 21 cms.

The view from our Terrace at The Cary Arms. Sketch 22 by 18 cms

Paignton Harbour in Devon.Sketch 22 by 18 cms

Brixham Harbour, sketch

If you know South Devon then I hope you will enjoy seeing these paintings. If you haven’t been then do go, you will enjoy the many charms of the lovely area of England.

Happy travelling to you all!

Brian

Have a look at my Watercolour shops too!

http://www.artfinder.com/brianswatercolours

and

http://www.artgallery.co.uk/ Brian Tucker

 

New Lake District watercolours

Hi Everyone
I have recently been painting some new watercolours of the Lake District of England. It is an area we have enjoyed visiting and we hope to again next year.
I am indebted to the site “Walk my World” for letting me use one of their Lake District photos of Lake Buttermere. Do visit their site as it is a great place to see more of their extensive travels. Thanks Cat and Joe.
I have included a few other watercolours painted previously to show some more places of this  delightful part of England.

The view below of Buttermere is from near the Honister pass on the lower slopes of “Haystacks”

Lake Buttermere, Watercolour 46 by 31 cms

Lake Buttermere and Cummock Water in Winter

 

Grange in Borrowdale, watercolour 46 by 31 cms

 

 

Not far away is the little village of Grange in Borrowdale with it’s unusual twin arch bridge over the two branches of the River Derwent.

Near to the spot where the River Derwent enters Derwentwater this watercolour includes St Herberts island

Scafell Pike and Peak are so well known that I have had to include this watercolour of tem  here and below this is a watercolour of yachts sailing on Lake Windermere

Scafell Pike and Peak

Lake Windermere

“Haystacks” behind Lake Buttermere

Here are some Lake District Bridges painted during previous visits.

Aira Force sketch

The house on the bridge at Ambleside



And finally a watercolour again of Buttermere, a lake that I find is a continuous source of inspiration for my paintings

Lake District Buttermere

There is no doubt that we are very lucky in this small island of Great  Britain to have such wonderful places to visit and in my case to get inspiration for even more watercolours

Happy Travelling

Brian

Don’t forget that many of these watercolour are for sale on my internet shops.

http://www.artfinder.com/brianswatercolours and

http://www.artgallery.co.uk/briantucker

New watercolours while the sun shines in England!

Hi everybody

I have managed recently to produce some new watercolours, some of which are in exhibitions and others for friends or just for the pleasure of painting them.  A few are copies of recent commissions which I have really enjoyed painting, and receiving  the  very  generous  responses  from their new owners.

Paintings completed during our South East Open Studios event at “The Drawing Room” Gallery in West Malling.

Six local artist were exhibiting for all of June and we were delighted to welcome vistors and friends to the Gallery. Some sales were made as well I am pleased to say.

We each took turns to produce paintings in the shop front window which was a lot if fun. Here are the ones that I produced.

 

Dawn sky at Broadstairs in Kent

 

 

Godrevy Island in Cornwall

The Landgate in Rye in Kent

A very quick “en plein air” sketch of West Malling

Some recent Commissions

Three scenes of Lucca and the Tuscan countrysde

And one of Bosham in West Sussex


Here are a few recent watercolours painted just for the sheer pleasure of doing them.

Cape Cornwall

Eillean Donan Castle in Scotland

St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall

Storm clouds forming over Irish Cottages

I painted this Kent sunset for a local art club competition, but then found out the subject was “Birds”, so I added a flock of Lapwings!

I hope you will enjoy having a look at these recent watercolours and remember some are for sale on http://www.artfinder.com/brianswatercolours

Happy Travelling

Brian

The End of 2023 , and a Happy New Year for 2024

Salisbury Cathedral

Hi Everybody

2023 has been a pretty busy year for my watercolour painting.

With over 90 watercolours and sketches completed and quite a few new destinations explored I have had a lot of fun. Lucky I am retired!

I hope that 2024 will be as good for my painting and rather better from some personal issues. Maybe, just, maybe a bit more peaceful across the World as well.

It would be too long a post to cover them all so I have selected some to reprise for this post.

It has been a good yoear too as I have been lucky enough to have some watercolours in a few exhibitions here in Kent, and whilst sales haven’t been high it is nevertheless very rewarding to know others are , hopefully , enjoying my work. On line sales have been low too, probably as a result if the current economic situations.

So here are a selection of this past years effirts, many have been on the posts before but gathered together this way may be interesting for you to see.

Studio and larger Watercolours

Kent

Lake District Buttermere

Fair Head

Mournes from Murlough Bay

The Regatta

Leigh on sea dawn

Scotney Castle

Rye from the Marshes

Bluebell Woods

Bluebell Woods

Antibes

Drôme le Provencal

Lake Windermere

In The Lake District

Pin Mill 64 by 30

Sketches and Pen and Wash Watercolours

Mousehole

West Malling 1890

Augusta the 12th

Provence Pont Madame

In the Peak District

Peak District

Coombesgate Bay Devon

Semi abstract and very large Watercolours

Bamburgh Castle

Irish cottages by the sea

The Lighthouse 80 by 20 cms

Fens, 80 by20 cms

The Shore

The Mourne Mountains

Dawn

The Beach

Bamburg Castle Dawn

We are looking forward to 2024 and with some further a field travels planned I hope there will be lots of opportunities for more painting and Blog Posts too.

I have also been asked to do a few demonstarions to painting groups and I now feel confident enough to take on these skighlty daunting tasks. Painting and talking about the orocess to other very competenet artusts will be n exciting challenge.

in April I will be mounting a month ling solo show of my Paintings at aLibrary in Crambrookin Kent and I am really looking forward to that, and I hope to continue to exhilit at some local Galleries. What fun!

The past year also saw me try painting some semi abstract watercolours and I plan to continue with more of these from time to time.

Large ,over one metre, watercolours are tricky but very exciting as the speed of the work has to be quite high, watch this space for some more

In the mean time Best Wishes for 2024

Happy Travelling

Brian

 

Buying my Watercolours

Most available watercolours can be seen on http://www.artfinder.com/brianswatercolours

Some are also for sale on http://www.artgallery.com

In Kent in the UK some watercolours and prints are being exhibited and are for sale at “The Drawing Room Gallery” in West Malling and at The Creek Gallery in Faversham.

Or email me and I can advise how to purchase anything you see if it is still available and of course Commissions can n be made through Artfinder too! 

Brian

Where did the Summer go!

A few days in La Napoule near Cannes resulted in this sketch of the local Castle

Hi Everybody

Thanks for reading my Blog.

Its been a  wet and rather odd summer in Kent this year with showers, wind, heavy rain and sun too.

It has been a odd time for my painting too but nevertheless I have managed to paint quite  a few watercolours including s9me new styles and sizes.

i have also now have some watercolours in a local Gallery and in a few other locations in Kent.

I don’t think that in these difficult times that buying Art is not high on peoples priorities but maybe the winter will see sales retuning for artists once again.

So we here are some recent watercolours for you to see in case you think I have stopped painting!

I had a big desire to paint a series of very impressionistic watercolours and here are some of them

 

Bamburgh Castle at Dawn

Venice Lagoon sunrise

Dawn off the Kent coast

And a few more traditional watercolours

A sketch of the Watersmeet hotel where we once stayed at in Devon at Coombesgate bay

A large notebook sketch done in preparation for a watercolour of Malcesine on Lake Garda for some very good friends.

Sailing on Lake Windermere, painted from a sketch when we visited there

At the Beach!

Broadstairs in Kent for a local Exhibition at “The Drawing Room” in West Malling

So there you are , a few of my Summer 2023 Watercolours which I hope you will like.

And lastly our local Art Club asked for a Black and white only artwork for a little competion

Here are two , they were such fun to do and so quick!

Oare Creek near Faversham

Rye in East Sussex at low tide

If you do a moment do have a look at my Artfinder site

http://www.artfinder.com/brianswatercolours

Or if you are in Kent do visit the Gallery in West Malling called “The Drawing Room”where you will find many artworks by local  Kent artists, ideal as Presents!

Happy travelling

Brian

Sketching in the English Peak District

Chatsworth and the River Derwent, watercolour sketch 20 inches by 10.

In Derbyshire lies the English Peak district.
An area of great classical English country beauty with rolling hills, interesting towns, famous historical Country Houses and , in the High Peak some really spectacular scenery.

So for a few  days we stayed in a great Hotel, The Cavendish  Hotel at Baslow,  It is very close to Chatsworth House and whilst based there we toured around this fine part of Central England.

Good and generous food portions and really delightful scenery abound and so it was a nice opportunity to do some sketching and painting of the area.

As we were so close to Chatsworth we spent some time there both inside this extravagant home of one of England’s historically richest families and  in the countryside of the Derbyshire Dales.

If you haven’t visited this area it is very well worth doing so.

A more formal watercolour of the River Derwent as it passes by Chatsworth. Watercolour on Arches 300gsm paper. 14 iches by 10. For sale on Artfinder.

Derbyshire and the Paek District has some wonderful Pack horse bridges and waterfalls. Here are Sketches of two of them to give you some idea of the great scenery to be seen in the area.

A bridge over the River Wye near Bakewell

A Derbyshire Pack Horse bridge

Whilst in the Peak District one the best places to visit  is the Hope Valley and Castleton. Castleton is a nice small town nesting below Winnats Pass with lots of pubs and coffee shops. It is also the home of Blue John Jewellery which is mined just outside the Town.

From Castleton the drive over Winnats Pass is amazing and for those with better walking capabilities than I it is  a wonderful hiking area. At the top of Winnats Pass the scenery is really lovely with Mam Tor and the high peak area really delightful.

This sketch tries to capture that panorama there but you reall have to go there to experience the spectacular nature if the area.

On the top of Winnats Pass. A watercolour sketch 21 by 10

We visited the very interesting village of Eyam. There in 1665 plague struck and the villagers virtually sealed themselves off to await their fate, and thus not infect others. Many died  both there and right across the UK and Eur0pe. In Eyam there is an excellent museum with great details of the history of that time and a lot of very interesting information about the village and the plague.

Quite close to the M1  in this area you will also find Hardwick House, the former home of Bess of Hardwick and the creator of Chatsworth. Another great house to visit and get the feel of Elizabethan 17th Century England.

We enjoyed our time in The Peak District a  great deal and will return there again to explore more of the scenery,  towns and villages of the area.

Happy travelling

Brian

Don’t forget you can see many of my watercolours at http://www.artfinder.com/brianswatercolours where they are for sale.And also on http://www.artgallery.co.uk

Experimenting with watercolour abstract painting

Hi Everybody

I have been experimenting with some watercolours that have some abstract ideas in then and I have really been enjoying the challenge.

Whilst trying to preserve lanscape and seascape ideas these paintings have a bit of abstraction about them and I hopw you will like them

They are fun to produce and they can also be upscaled as Giclée prints to create large centrepiece paintings up to 1 metre wide  and this is an exciting prospect too.

Hre are some recent ones for you to see and any of your thoughts would be appreciated.

I hope you will enjoy these

Happy Travelling 

Brian

Norfolk Fens. Watercolour 90 by 20 cms

 

The Island. Watercolour 46 by 24 cms

 

The Lighthouse. Watercolour 90 cms by 20.

Norfolk River scene. Watercolour 85 by 22 cms

Venice Lagoon Sunset, watercolour46 by 35cms

The Mourne Mountains. Watercolour 46 by 24

Recent watercolours

 

Dawn at Leigh on Sea in Essex Watercolour 18 inches by 8

Hi Everybody

It is  raining again!

During this dreary winter in Kent there have been quite a lot of opportunities to paint in the warmth of my studio!

Here are some recent works including one larger than usual watercolour.

Of course we did manage a trip to Madeira which was in a recent post which we really did enjoy as well.

Wast Water and Scafell in the Lake District Watercolour 14 inches by 10.

This scene is one of my favourites and has also been popular on Artfinder.

We love Provence and this bridge reminds me of so many great times there.

Pont de La Madame a la Martre in Provence. Watercolour sketch 10 inches by 9

And more locally –

 

Painted from a Victorian print this scene is of West Malling in Kent . Watercolour sketch 9 inches square, part of a Family History project.

 

 

A sketch of Mousehole in Cornwall from one of my photos of some years ago 12 inches by 10

 

Sunset in the Lake District. Watercolour15 inches by 10.

 

And lastly a recent watercolour,the largest that I have ever attempted.

This is of Salisbury Cathedral  when the Meadows by the River Avon are flooded, as they do twice a year.

With thanks to Rob of Robert Franklin Photography for his permission to use his excellent image.

The watercolour is 40 inches by 12 , by some way the largest I have painted. The watercolour is painted on 600 gsm Arches paper for stability. Very exciting to produce!

Salisbury Meadows and Cathedral.

I hope eventally to produce some high quality smaller prints from this original watercolour.

So pretty busy of late and now looking forward to spring, some sunshine, and some outdoor painting.

Happy Travelling

Brian

Don’t forget if any of these images catches your eye some are available for sale on http://www.artfinder.com/brianswatercolours.

Prices are reasonable and delivery fast!

 

Large and Small watercolours for sale on Artfinder

Watercolour sketch, Faversham Standard Quay, 25 by 22 cms

I love to paint watercolours and I am pleased to say that there are quite a lot of people that own my paintings around the World.

I really enjoy hearing that they enjoy the places depicted which may be their favourite places, or reminders of holidays or places that they would like to go to.

But not everybody has room on their walls for larger pieces and so I have started offering smaller versions of some of my larger watercolours, even some tht have been sold in the past.

They all wiil appear on http://www.Artfinder.com/brianswatercolours and are I hope will be very affordable.

Here are some recent ones for you to see

Boating on Lake Bitterer in the English Lake District Watercolour on Arches paper, 29 by 13.5 cos. £120 on Artfinder.

The Original Large watercolour of Autumn at Lake Buttermere, 46 by 26 cms £200 on Artfinder.

Dawn at Broadstairs in Kent. Watercolour on Arches paper, 35 by 25 cms. £135 on Artfinder

A Larger watercolour Of Broadstairs, 35 by 26 cms currently in an Exhibition at “The Drawing Room Gallery ” in West Malling in Kent.

 

“Stormy Skies at Fair Head” on the Antrim Coast of Northern Ireland. Watercolour 29 by 13.5 cms on Arches Paper. £120 on Artfinder

Larger Watercolour “Stormy Skies over Fair Head”. Watercolour . 40.5 by 30.5 cms .£220 on Artfinder.

And an even bigger one of this same scene, this time a Watercolour on a Primed Canvas which is good to use for really large watercolours

 

Watercolour on canvas ,60 cms by 30, ready ready to hang as no frame requred .£245 on Artfinder

So if you notice any more of my Watercolours that you think you would like to buy a smaller version of on Artfinder.com/brianswatercolours, just send me an email and I will endeavour to paint one and put it up for sale.

Happy travelling

Brian