Category Archives: Landscape
A walk in the woods
Hi Everybody
During these days of being at home I am reminded that I had planned soon to go with a group of painters, under the guidance of Alison Cotton, to paint some watercolours in Arlington Bluebell woods near Polegate in East Sussex.
I had been looking forward to the visit, but then had to cancel to Go on a golf trip with friends to the South Of France,which is naturally now not going to happen. Now of course a Watercolour outing like this really no longer possible, at least for this year. Let’s hope I can get there next spring!
Arlington Woods are very famous for their wonderful displays of Bluebells. This, the most English of wild flowers is a wonderful shade of violety blue and has heady and very strong scent. They are very common in Kent and Sussex and have featured in my watercolours before. One of those is also reproduced below.
So today I have painted this watercolour of Arlington Woods which I hope you will enjoy. The watercolour is 16 inches by 9 and is painted on Arches NOT watercolour paper.
This is my favourite paper as it is very nice to paint on and in this case I have used a block of glued edge paper which is also very good for travelling when I can!
Arlington Woods in East Sussex
I hope you enjoy this painting and like me get a chance one day to visit this beautiful area of the English countryside.
The second watercolour was painted a couple of years ago and is of a small pond and wood near to Hawkhurst in Kent.
Stay safe
Brian
Bluebells in the woods near Hawkhurst in Kent.
Skylines
Hi Everybody
Life here in the UK is changing daily, and not for the better it seems, as we contend with the Virus.
Not going out is the new phase we are in and as it will last a while we will all be rather frustrated.
Maybe some more time for painting, reading, gardening and hopefully still some golf will now now be our new norm! Travel will have to wait for now.
So today I painted a watercolour of the skyline of Toronto.
After a recent commission from there I thought I should look up Toronto as I had only passed through it years ago when visiting Niagara Falls.
I immediately saw that like a number of other cities it has an impressive skyline and so here is the watercolour.
Toronto. Watercolour 18 inches by 8 on Arches NOT watercolour paper.
I have painted a few skylines before and so they are reproduced here. They are enjoyable to do and I like the almost monochrome approach I have used here.
As they are fun to do I think I might do some more, well there is going to be plenty of time over the next few months!
I hope you like these so far,more to follow.
Red roof on Teal lake. Watercolour 10 inches by 10.
San Francisco. Watercolour 16 by 8 inches
Rye from the Marshes. Watercolour 14 by 8
San Francisco, watercolour 11 by 7 inches
Montreal. Watercolour 14 by 9 inches
Stay well and Travel will return for us later on.
Brian
“Sunlight on the Pond”
Sunlight on the pond. Watercolour 21.5 inches by 14.5 Version 1. The Original
With windy weather keeping me at home I thought I might paint a larger watercolour of trees and a pond
I woke up with this image whizzing round my head so that seemed a good excuse to have ago.
I do find painting at larger sizes quite challenging and this sheet of Arches paper is 22 inches by 15, and very nice to work with as it holds the water very well for long periods of time.
So here it is and I have added below two more versions of it cropped to different sizes below.
I can’t decide which version I prefer but if you have any thoughts on this I would be delighted to hear them
Just don’t ask where the pond is though!
Happy travelling!
Brian
Version2 cropped to square 13 inches by 13
Version 3. Cropped to 18 inches by 12
30 Degrees, hot sun in January-Whats not to like! -Mauritius in 2020
The view from the Lounger at Le Tousserok beach. Sketchbook watercolour 9 inches by 8.
Hi Everybody
We have just returned from 10 delightful days in Mauritius, staying at the Le Tousserok Shangri-la Resort on the East coast. It is a long way away but the beautiful January weather makes that journey worthwhile.
For us it is a mixture of Sun and Pool and Golf as well when we are there, and The Shangri-La is a great place to stay at. Of course it wouldn’t be a holiday for me without the watercolour kit and so I also get some time for a few watercolours of the sea and the boats and mountains.
I think its the only place that I have ever been to where I can sit on a comfortable lounger at the beach and paint watercolours!
So here are those watercolours, some just sketches in my Sketch Book. This sketch book is a Khadi papers one and very handy on travel. There are also a couple of watercolours that are larger and were painted in the comfort of our balcony.
I hope you like them and this vision of just a little bit of this lovely Indian Ocean island.
Mauritius is an Island formed from huge volcanoes and large Basalt rocks are everywhere. It is also very fertile and Coconut Palms and Sugar cane grow everywhere, making the island very green. You are never very far from the mountains which make for some wonderful scenery.
“The Mountains by the sea”. Watercolour 14 inches by 10 on Arches paper.
Everywhere around the coast are many small fishing boats and the fish in the restaurants are very good.
“Fishing boats and a shack by the beach”. Sketchbook watercolour 9 by 8 inches on Khadi paper.
“Yachts at Sunrise”. Sketchbook watercolour 9 inches by 8.
There are fisherman all over the island, some fishing from the shore and some standing for hours waist deep in the sea catching their supper.
“Fishermen and boats by the sea”. Sketchbook pen and Ink watercolour 9 inches by 8.
“Boats at the shore”. Watercolour 14 inches by 10 on Arches watercolour paper.
We have now visited Mauritius on quite a few occasions and have always enjoyed it there. The people there are delightful and even though it is far away it is so lovely to go there for some seriously good weather in January
I hope you will enjoy this and maybe my other posts on Mauritius and elsewhere .
Have look at my Artfinder site too, maybe something there will catch your eye.
http://www.artfinder.com/brianswatercolours
Happy travelling
Brian
Seasons Greetings!
“Do you think we will be able to play by 10 o’clock?”. The Golf Course in the winter snow Watercolour 20 by 14 inches by Brian
Hi Everbody
I would like to wish you all a Very Happy Christmas and Good wishes for the New Year.
I very much appreciate you looking at, and following my blog and for your comments and interest in my watercolours.
Its been a busy year with a lot of new watercolours being created and it’s been exciting to ship quite a lot to homes around the world, where I hope they will be lasting memories of travel and good times.
Winter in the UK has been a wet affair with no snow in my area yet, but maybe we will see some in the next few weeks.
With that in mind I painted this scene a few days ago, of our local golf club and it seems appropriate for this last post of the year.
Enjoy the holidays wherever you are.
Happy travelling
Brian
Kent, The English County that’s Home!
Rochester,visions of 1937,.A Sunderland flying boat makes it’s maiden flight.
Hi All
Another dreary November day, more rain and not much golf!
We seem to be having a very wet early Winter this year and as the leaves fall into ever increasing piles my mind wandered to all the lovely places that Kent has to offer all year round.
I thought I would see how many watercolour paintings I have produced over the past few years and it seems there are a lot, over 70 in fact and many have been in various posts in the past.
So here is post dedicated to Kent, our home County of England.
I hope you will enjoy seeing some of them.
Lets start in Hastings, such a famous town and still noted for its fishing fleet located on the “Stad”, or beach.
Fishing Boats at Hastings
Fishing boats at Hastings
More fishing boats at Hythe and Littestone
Towards the East are The White Cliffs, Dover and at South Foreland Lighthouse
Dover from the Cruise Ship Terminal. 15 inches by 6.5.
South Foreland Lighthouse on the Cliffs
And further to the East the traditional seaside town of Broadstairs
Broadstairs 18 inches by 14
Nearby on the Isle of Thanet, the most easterly point of Kent, and there we find is Margate, famous for it association with WM Turner.
Margate sunset 14 inches by 10
Towards the Swale and Thames Estuaries is Faversham, a very old town famous for Barges and its old buildings. There are many creeks in this area and boats and barges are often moored there.
Barge as Oare, near Faversham
Barges and Barge races are common around the Kent coast. Here are couple of watercolours of some barges
Barges racing in the Thames Estuary
The 2016 Medway Barge Race
Inland lies the great city of Canterbury with its magnificent Cathedral
Mist over the City of Canterbury
Sketch of Canterbury Cathedral
In spring Kent is famous for the beautiful Blue woods and the rolling countryside around Horsmonden
Bluebells
Near Horsmonden
i have posted before about the famous Oast Houses of the South of England, and Kent especially
Here is just one watercolour
Kentish Oasts
And finally back to winter, no snow yet but will there be some for Christmas?
Oasts in the Snow
The gardens at Sissinghurst Castle.
Well I hope you have enjoyed this quick visit to Kent,The Garden of England,so I will leave you with a final image of Sissinghurst castle and it’s beautiful gardens.
Come and visit Kent sometime, there is so much to see and enjoy.
And so many more watercolours, I may venture to part 2!
Happy travelling
Brian
Occasional larger watercolours
Hi Everybody
Thanks for reading this blog post.
I like to paint my watercolours in a few regular sizes
On travel they are often 10 by 8 inch pen and ink studies that sometimes become larger paintings. Here is a recent example
In the studio or en plein air I like to paint watercolours that are 14 by 10 inches or 16 by 12. For me it a comfortable size and I quite often use Arches 300gsm watercolour paper blocks which are very nice to work with whether indoor or outside.
Again here is recent one
Varenna on Lake Como
Occasionally I will paint lager paintings in watercolour up to about 25 inches by 20. For me these take a bit more preparation and thought and naturally take longer to do.
So here is recent example of a lager painting recently sent to a customer in the USA. It is of Durnstein on the Danube river and was based on painting and photos taken there a few years ago.
It is 24 inches by 16 inches and was painted on 600gsm Saunders watercolour paper . This thick paper is great to use as it retains the water for long periods and that helps with larger areas of washes.
Watercolour of Durnstein. 24 inches by 16.
Here are a few more larger watercolours painted over the last few years
Misty morning in Norfolk. Watercolour 25 inches by 20.
Portofino Watercolour 20 inches by 10
Watercolour of Burnham Overy Staithe. 25 inches by 20. Painted during a Herman Pekel Workshop.
I hope to be painting quite a lot more larger watercolours in the future
Happy Travelling
Brian
Evenings, stormy and calm
Hi Everyone
Just a quick post with some new and old watercolours of evening skies
Lets start with a very recent watercolour of Rye and one of a scene on the Rhine also painted recently.
Evening at Rye in East Sussex. Watercolour 14 inches by 10 on Arches Rough paper.
Evening on the Rhine in Germany.watercolour 14 by 10 inches on Arches Rough Paper.
And some stormier skies :-
A Evening storm brewing At Antibes
Fishing boat at Littlestone beach as the storm approaches.
Blustery evening at Kinderdijk.
And some calmer Evening to end this post
Evening in Provence
The sun setting on the Ile de la Cite in Paris
Sunset in Tuscany
Happy travelling Everybody!
Brian
Lake Como and a week cruising the Rhine. Kinderdijk Update
We have just retuned from a great 10 days with some very good friends from a Viking cruise of the Rhine that started with 3 days at Lake Como in Italy.
We enjoyed really great weather and mostly blue skies and nice white clouds.
It was a trip that we had been looking forward to for quite a while and it was very good with the most spectacular views at Lake Come and on the Rhine.
Many photos were taken and each day I managed to find time to paint some watercolours of scenes we had seen as we travelled on the Viking Longship and on a smaller boat around Lake Como.
Most of these watercolours were sketch book size pen and ink studies which I hope will prove to be subjects for larger studio paintings in the future.
3 were larger 14 inch by 10 watercolours more traditionally painted with a few ink highlights. I have titled each one with their details.
The sparking water of Lake Como and the Rhine made the scenes really great and the Rhine Gorge area was spectacular with it’s many Castles and lovely towns by the river. Our lake trip around Lake Como was wonderful too with time at Bellagio and stops at many interesting vistas around the lake.
So here are my Watercolours of the trip, I do hope you like them as they were all fun to paint.
LAKE COMO
In Como itself we ascended the funicular to Brunate for Great Lake views but Como Town itself is a very nice and ancient place.
The Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, better know as Como Cathedral, caught my eye and so this is the first watercolour.
The Cathedral in Como, Italy. Watercolour ,Pen and wash. 10 inches by 7.5, on Arches Rough Paper.
A view of a lakeside residence from the Como to Cernobbio ferry is the subject of this next painting with a water fountain being enjoyed by some local boys.
From the Ferry. Watercolour sketch in Pen and Wash.10 by 7.5 inches.
On our way to Bellagio we paused at some great vistas. This very tiny town of Nesso with a waterfall cascading through it to the lake was just one of many.
Here is my interpretation of the scene
Nesso by the lake. Pen and Wash, 9 by 7.5 inches.
Bellagio is very nice lakeside town to wander around ,enjoy a coffee and the stunning views. From there you can see and visit Varenna
Varenna from Bellagio
i have also painted these two larger watercolours of Varenna
They are both 14 by 10 inches on Arches NOT watercolour paper.
Here they are
Varenna, Watercolour 14 inches by 10 on Arches NOT paper
Varenna,Watercolour 14 inches by 10 on Arches NOT paper
Lastly while on Lake Como I painted this watercolour of a lovely town as seen from our tour boat. It is called San Giovanni. Really a lovely looking town but so far only seen from the water. Maybe on the next visit….
San Giovanni on Lake Como. Pen and wash sketch 10 by 7.5 inches
We eventually left Lake Como and were driven across the Alps to Lucerne. A truly spectacular drive over the passes and not through the tunnels.
THE RHINE
We boarded the ship at Basel, itself a very lovely town but no paintings from there as yet
We traversed 600 miles of the Rhine to Amsterdam and the passage through the Rhine Gorge was terrific with many castles and towns to see.
These two painting are of Kaub Castle, Pfalz. This was once a tollgate on the Rhine and dates back many hundreds of years.
Kaub Castle sketch 10 by 7.5
Kaub Castle PFalz on the Rhine. Watercolour 14 by 10 inches on Arches NOT paper
On the way to the Rhine Gorge we stopped at Strasbourg and took a detour to Heidelberg on the River Neckar. I managed a quick sketch of the impressive bridge at Heidelberg with its towers.
The Bridge at Heidelberg.Pen and Wash sketch 10 by 7.5 inches.
From the Rhine Gorge we travelled to Amsterdam and stopped at Kinderdijk to see the lovely windmills there. That painting and some others are now awaiting action in the studio so another Rhine post should be coming soon.There were so many wonderful scenes to paint that I may be busy for while!
And so here is an update. This watercolour was painted today. October 1st.
This is Kinderdijk in The Netherlands. Our final stop before Amsterdam
This watercolour is 14 by 10 inches on Rough watercolour paper.
Title : “Kinderdijk Windmills on a blustery evening”
Kinderdijk Windmills on a Blustery evening.
Happy Travelling
Brian
A short trip to Northern Ireland
We have just been over to Northern Ireland for two Celebrations.
The first a couple of days at the Lough Erne Resort in Fermanagh to celebrate a couple of notable Birthdays and then to Carrickfergus for a great family Wedding
Both events were really good and the weather was very kind to us too, with sun and warmth as we travelled about.
Just time for a few watercolours and a couple painted before we went as gifts for the Bride and Groom.
Lough Erne is a huge Lough with countless islands and lovely views. We were able to take a boat trip on the Lough and visit Devenish Island with is now ruined and very old Church and Monastery.
The ruined Monastery on Devenish Island on Lugh Erne. Water colour 14 inches by 10 on Arches NOT paper
At the southerly end of Lower Lough Erne lies the very old and historic town of Enniskillen.
The “Watergate” there is a focal point of the town and this watercolour was painted from photos taken from our boat trip on the Lough.
The Watergate at Enniskillen. 14 inches by 10 on Arches NOT watercolour paper.
Around the shores of Lough Erne there are many sights to see and this cottage scene is typical of the scenery.
A Cottage in Fermanagh. Watercolour 12 inches by 9 on Arches Rough watercolour paper.
The Wedding was held in the lovely statley home called Magheramorne House, quite close to Larne and not far from Carrickfergus.
This sketch of Magheramorne House will remind the Bride and Groom of there Wedding day there as they start their new life together in Carrickfergus.
Magheramorne House. Watercolour pen and Ink sketch 10 by 8 inches.
Everybody wishes them All the Best for the Future.
Carrickfergus on the Causeway Coastal Route. Watercolour on Arches NOT paper 12 by 8 inches.
So a very enjoyable week on this beautiful part of the UK, and many more photos to paint in the future
Happy travelling
Brian
