Category Archives: Landscape
The joy of Pen and Wash watercolours!
Hi Everybody
I love to paint watercolours, and I have always been fascinated by this medium.
Whilst I get great pleasure trying to paint big and bold watercolours I often find myself returning to where I started , using a pen and wash technique.
The sheer pleasure of the pen marks casually laid on the paper which may or may not be important later on is such fun and then applying washes of watercolour over it in a not too rigorous edgy manner is very exhilarating.
Maybe I am easily pleased but this process, which has to be pretty speedy, has been the backbone of my watercolours for many years and I hope will continue to be so.
Pen and wash can be in my sketch books, or slightly more formally on Watercolour paper, I particularly like Arches watercolour blocks which are so great for use when travelling!
Let’s hope we can travel again soon though!
So here are some older and more recent Pen and Wash watercolours which I hope you will enjoy.
These first three were painted just this week from photos of previous visits and that is often how they happen. When I can in love to sketch on the spot but that is a luxury which I can’t do at present of course.
Two scenes for Yorkshire first
And now a recent painting of Mousehole in Cornall and one of the River dart in Devon
A few on place in Provence
And a quick trip into Spain and Portugal
An finally , for now at least, a few of both Canterbury and York
I hope from these you can see the reason why I enjoy Pen and Wash so much. Immediate , Colourfull and fun to do!
Stay safe and well and maybe this year we may all get to travel again.
Brian
Mountains from our Travels. – Part 1
Hi Everybody
Happy New Year to Everyone, and thanks for reading my Blog!
Let us hope that 2021 turns out better for us all than 2020. I am keeping my fingers crossed!
Alas I doesn’t seem that we will be travelling soon so some virtual travel will have to be the way forward for now.
I painted 116 watercolours during 2020 and I am not planning on stopping this trend for this year.
For many years when I was working I travelled extensively on business and went to Seattle many, many times working with Boeing of various airplanes programmes, most notably the 777. I usually stayed at Bellevue but whenever there was some free weekends I took the opportunity to travel to the coast and the islands or into the Cascade Mountains. The scenery of the Cascades is amazing but the one site that dominates all is that of Mount Rainier. Although 60 miles from Seattle it looms large and is a spectacular site even from a distance.
And so painted from some of the many photos that I took in those days ( I rarely had a sketch book with me) I have any last painted a view of Mount Rainier. This painting shows haw due to it height Mount Rainier keeps a snow covered top all year. It is possible to drive right up to 6000 feet there but this watercolour is from one of the approach roads.

Mount Rainier in the Spring. Watercolour 18 inches by 11 on Arches 300gsm paper. I hope those little people give it some scale! Mount Rainer is 14411 feet tall and is a very large and active Volcano!
We have visited many mountains over the years and way back in 2003 I painted this sketch of Table Mountain at Capetown in South Africa.
This mountain dominates Capetown even more that Mount Rainier does in Seattle but it is a very amazing site from across the bay.
Also near Capetown are the 12 Apostles Mountain range and here is a painting again from some years ago of these spectacular mountains above Camps Bay in the evening.
Even further away from the UK is New Zealand with some of the most amazing scenery we have ever
Here are just three watercolours, the first of Mount Tongaringo in the North Island and the others from the South Island.
I hope that you have enjoyed this first part of my Mountain Travel Post. I will be adding more on Part 2
Stay safe and well
Brian
Places I would like to be – Norfolk in the UK
Hi Everybody
This will be my last post of 2020 and it will be a year I am sure we will not look back on happily.
There have been many lows but some wonderful highs such as the achievement to create new vaccines so quickly and the care so many have shown to others in such troubled times.
My watercolours have been a wonderful visual journey to get me through these lockdown days and during the year I have painted well over one hundred watercolours of many places around the world as real travel has had to be replaced with fantasy journeys to places that we love or would like to go to.
To all of you who have taken the time to look at these posts, my grateful thanks, and I hope that as 2021 arrives we can all look forward with more optimism to a better world.
And so it was that over the holidays I was talking to a friend about Norfolk and it spurred me into action to do one of these “Places I would like to be” posts. I do plan to go there in 2021!!!
With travel a distant memory it would be good to be in Norfolk for it’s lovely countryside, coast, big skies and amazing sunsets. Not to mention the food and yes, Norfolk wine too!
So here are some watercolours painted over the past few years of Norfolk and they will help me and I hope you to reminisce about or if you don’t know the area to get on to your list!
Let’s start on the coast where the lovely beaches meet the sky
On the North coast lies the picturesque town of Balakeney famous as one the best places to try crab rolls and sandwiches. Blakeney is apopular harbour town with many boats and yachts moored there ready for the incoming tide.
Here is my watercolour of the harbour, a great place to sit and watch the world go by!
And one of some boats waiting for the tide
To the east of Blakeney is the pretty little town of Cley Next The Sea, with is equally famous windmill which has been the subject of paintings for over two hundred years.
Here is one of my watercolour but in the style of the very famous watercolourist, Edward Seago whose paintings of the British coast and Europe too are all really wonderful. I really admire his work done in the 20th Century.
And here is another of the Cley Windmill but in my more usual style
In 2019 I was lucky to go to a watercolour workshop held at The White House Hotel at Sussex farm, with Herman Pekel, a fantastic Australian watercolour painter and we painted around the Burnham Market area , a very pretty town and with great places to eat and drink too!
These are some of the watercolours I produced during that week with his help and guidance.
And lastly a dawn seascape at Sctby on the East coast of Norfolk
I am sorry this has been a long post but anyway I hope you have enjoyed this glimpse of Norfolk and that you have a Very Happy 2021.
Best wishes
Brian
Around Broadstairs in Kent in Watercolour
Around Broadstairs in Watercolours
A couple of years ago a venue for the Sky Arts Landscape painter of the Year competition was Broadstairs in Kent, and I was lucky enough to be selected to paint there on that day.(I didn’t get selected for the final alas though!)
Although we had been to Broadstairs before that from then on I have enjoyed visting this picturesque seaside town, and painting watercolours from various photos and some sketches.
So I have collected a few in this post which I hope will encourage you visit to our sandy beached resorts on the Kent coast.

The watercolour I painted during the Sky Arts completion. Painted over a 4 hour period on the sandy beach, and it was 28c temperature! 17 inches by 12.

On that competition day I had some spare time , especially as it was so hot for painting watercolours. So I did this second monochrome version, which one of the passing judges said he liked, result! 17 inches by 12.

Around the headland is Dumpton Gap bay, where the beach is strewn with large chalk rocks and at times the sea has a milky appearance. 16 inches by 12.
Just North of Broadstairs is Botany Bay and these next two painting are the views , south and north at the Bay.
So there you have a few views of this rather quaint Kentish seaside town with strong associations with Charles Dickens too.
In the mean time Best Wishes for Christmas and let us all hope that 2021 will turn out to be a better year that 2020.
Stay well and safe
Brian
PS. If you would like to buy any of these watercolours of any other from my blog please just contact me at brian@brianswatercolours.com and I will respond with availability and price very quickly. A good many paintings have already found nice walls to hang on around the world so please check with me. However if already sold I am always happy to paint a new, original and unique version just for you. I don’t sell copies but I can provide Canvas style prints of most of my watercolours.
Payment can then be easily made by PayPal and courier delivery, usually only taking a few days, will follow. Prices will include the shipping to anywhere in the world.
Thanks
Brian
Three New Watercolours – Cornwall, County Down and Northumberland
Hi Everybody
I am always on the lookout for interesting scenes to paint as watercolours and although most of my watercolours use photos that I have taken , occasionally I see a photo that I would like to have a go at painting too.
This has happened twice this week and with time available due to the lock down I was lucky enough to get the permission’s of the two photographers to paint these watercolours. I am indebted for their permissions.
The first one is of a small town in Cornwall, called St Clements, which is near Falmouth.
I saw the image on a blog that I always enjoy reading called Cornishbirdblog.
http://www.cornishbirdblog.com
Even if you don’t live in Cornwall, and I don’t, I would recommend it as it is always interesting to read.
So here is my version of a photo of St Clements and I do hope to visit there one day.

Watercolour of St Clements in Cornwall. 15 inches by 11 on Arches 300 gsm watercolour paper
The second one is of a place I do know well, The Mountains of Mourne in Northern Ireland.
I have painted quite a few watercolours of the area before but an evening photo taken by Gerry Judge really caught my eye and so here is my watercolour interpretation of it.
You can see Gerry’s excellent photos at Gerry Judge Photography and I am very grateful for his permission to use the photo as a basic reference for this watercolour

The Mountains of Mourne from Murlough Bay at evening. Watercolour 22 inches by 14 on Saunders 300gsm watercolour paper
And lastly a watercolour from one of my own photographs, this time of Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland where we enjoyed a short break a couple of years ago. I have tried again to capture that early evening scene of calm waters and an interesting sky.

Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland. Watercolour 22 inches by 14 on Arches 300 gsm watercolour paper.
With several more weeks of this current Lockdown still to go I hope to paint quite a few more watercolours
I hope you will enjoy these two anyway.
Stay well and safe
Regards
Brian
PS If you have a photo of a favourite place that you would like a watercolour of, please email me at
brian@brianwaterecolours.com
and send me the photo for an immediate quotation. Turnaround times are very quick, prices include shipping, and many people have been pleased with their new watercolour.
Back in Lockdown! Back to the easel!
Alas as the COVID infection rate has risen in the UK we are, in England, back in a four week lockdown.
At least the sun is shining and so going out for a walk is pleasant, although alas we can’t play any golf.
so this week I have been busy painting a few new watercolours
During October I was lucky enough to have some paintings in Galleries in Tonbridge, the Artspring Galley, and in the Creek Creative Gallery in Faversham. They both were featuring artwork created during Lockdown and being involved was very interesting. My thanks to them for letting me be a part of their exhibitions.
I had lots to chose from to supply to them as I had painted over 60 watercolours during that first Lockdown.
So here are this weeks paintings some of which will be going to a Gallery hopefully in December.
Firstly a watercolour of White Rocks Bay near Portrush in Northern Ireland, on the beautiful Antrim Coast.
I had previously painted this bay as part of a painting and post of the Royal Portrush Golf Course but this watercolour is from just a bit further along the coast at the Bay.
These next three paintings may go to a Gallery in time for Christmas and are quite small compared to my usual watercolours.
They are all A4 size in their white mounts which I have included here.
They were fine and relaxing to paint and so I think I will do a lot more this size.
Ihope you like them
So as Lockdown has started again I guess I will be back painting some more watercolours and sending out a new Post
Take care, stay safe and chill out!
All the Best
Brian
My Virtual Travel Journal – Part 2 – Weeks 6 and on of the Lockdown.
“It would be nice to be back in Quebec”
As we enter Week 6 of the Lockdown I think I will have to get travelling even more.
With so many places already visited and new watercolours to produce over these next weeks I will start Part 2 and then add to it daily or whenever a new watercolour gets created.
We enjoyed a very nice cruise a few years ago from Quebec to Boston and visited many places on the way. But there wasn’t time to go everywhere and some places remain very firmly on our list for further visits to New England,Canadas and Nova Scotia.
Whilst on that trip we saw many lighthouses, there are a lot on the Atlantic coast, and so this watercolour painted yesterday is of the lighthouse on Curtis Island just off the Maine coast at Camden.
We didn’t manage to visit Prince Edward Island on that cruise due to rough weather which was a very great disappointment, but we did pass this lighthouse on that portion of the cruise.
I
And one more for good measure, the Lighthouse on Mount Desert Island near Bar Harbour.
Bar Harbour is a lovely town to visit and stay indefinitely a place not to miss.
So this week my theme of travelling around New England will continue but who knows where I will travel to next!
UPDATE
One place on the Eastern Seaboard of Canada I had hoped to visit this year, as well as Prince Edwards Island is Peggy’s Cove. This delightful small town and harbour is a photographer’s and artist’s haven and so that is why this virtual visit is stopping off there!
I am indebted to Jeffrey Newcomer and his web site http://www.partridgebrookreflections.com for his permission to use one of his images of Peggy’s Cove as the basis of this watercolour. Thanks Jeffrey!
I hope you like this attempt to capture the scene and maybe i can get there in reality one day soon.
Whilst in the are here are two images form previous actual visits to this area.
Firstly a sunset on the St lawrence Estuary. We did see some really spectular sunsets there! and a watercolour of a really fine schooner off the harbour of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
I would really be happy to be there again too!
More updates in a few more Lockdown days.
Happy virtual travelling!
Stay safe and well
Brian
My Virtual Travel Journal – Part 1 -“The first 5 weeks in Lockdown”
I expect like me you are just wishing you could go somewhere, ANYWHERE I hear you say!
Well those days will return, but I have been travelling around the Globe quite a bit since the lockdown started.
It is of course Virtual, but by painting watercolours of various place I can almost escape there for a while. By the time I have trawled through old photos to find the one I want to paint the memories of these places come flooding back and the concentration of painting soon transports me to those far away places.
I have been posting these paintings recently so not many new ones but I thought I could put them together as a sort of Journal if only for my own amusement, and I hope yours too!
It all stared sitting in the garden in the lovely April sunshine thinking of all the gardening I should be doing, not to mention sorting out the shed, garage,study etc etc.
But soon the travel bug took over.
I had been worrying about a delivery of a variant of this watercolour of Porto in Portugal
to a customer in Toronto when I realised that I had not been to Toronto for a very long time and so the idea of a Skyline painting seemed the thing to do. Don’t ask why, even I don’t know!
One thing leads to another and so suddenly I found myself seeing once again the Skyline of Singapore.
We had stayed in the Ritz Carlton there the last time we were there and this is the skyline from near there. What a City Singapore is! I can even taste a spectacular meal we ate one evening there, in very authentic restaurant, of Beef in Black Bean sauce and Beef Rendang!
The trip back to the UK included a quick diversion to Chateau Chalon in the Jura in France. (That thanks to watching Rick Stein on TV). A wonderful area of that equally wonderful country with stunning ,and rather special Wine!
And just to make sure the days were fully filled up, a return visit to Amsterdam, another great place to be.
But soon I was back in the UK with view of the Countryside in Kent that I can’t now visit and another view across the Oxfordshire countryside as the sun bursts through.
Being back in the UK brought on another attack of the travel bug and a long weekend in Tuscany seemed just the right thing to do. So after a brief stop in Florence to look at the the house located on the Ponte Vecchio —
—I drove into the heart of Tuscany. It has been warm here in Kent and so the warmth of Tuscany seemed just so good.
Basing ourselves near to San Gimignano, as we have done before, gave me some time to enjoy painting some watercolours, first of Piazza della Cisterna in the heart of San Gimignano and then the view from San Gimignano across the wonderful Tuscan landscape.
Luckily there was time to return to Lucca. A real gem of a City in Tuscany and a painters paradise!
And so the first 5 weeks of Lockdown have let me cover a lot of miles without even stepping outside!
I hope that this Lockdown won’t go on too much longer but if it does my Virtual bags will have to be repacked and put into us again.
Happy Virtual Travelling Everybody!
Stay safe and well too.
Brian