Places I would like to be – St Ives in Cornwall
Hi everybody
St Ives in Cornwall. Watercolour 13 inches by 9. Painted on Arches watercolour paper.
I have visited St Ives quite a few times over the years but suddenly today I thought I would paint a watercolour of the town.
It is a lovely spot and of course all of Cornwall is great to visit, not only for the scenery but also the food and restaurants too.
it didn’t turn our quite as I had planned it but I hope you will enjoy seeing it anyway.
Happy travelling
Brian
Other paintings that I have completed over the years of Cornish scenes can be seem by clicking the Category tabs on this page.
“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
Sunset at Leeds Castle in Kent
Leeds Castle in Kent, “As evening falls” Watercolour 15 inches by 7 on Arches watercolour paper.
Just a bit of an experiment
A quick watercolour of Leeds Castle in Kent as evening falls
I thought I would post it, any comment would as always be welcome
happy travelling
Brian
Places I’d like be – Milford Sound in New Zealand
Early morning at Milford Sound 20 inches by 14
Hi All
It seems a long time ago now that we enjoyed a wonderful touring and golfing holiday with great friends in New Zealand.
Wherever you go the scenery is stunning and in both the North Island and in the South Island we saw wonderful sights that will always live in our memory.
Although we do hope to return there I thought recently that based on some of the photos from that trip that I would try and paint a watercolour of Milford Sound early in the morning as the sun burst through the mountains. Milford Sound is one of many fjord in the Soth west corner of New Zealand’s South island. The trip to it is amazing and a boat trip right out to the sea when you are there is a definite “must do”.
The watercolour is 20 by 14 inches and is painted on Arches NOT 300gsm paper, and mainly with Daniel Smith watercolour paints.
Maybe it will hasten our return to this wonderful place that is, alas, so far away from the UK.
I hope you enjoy seeing my effort.
Happy travelling
Brian
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
A quick visit to The Seven Sisters in Sussex
The Seven Sister in Sussex Watercolour 12 inches by 10.
I had the opportunity to spend some time at the Country Park that overlooks the Seven Sister Cliffs at Seaford Head recently.
It gave me a little time to sketch the scene and start a painting of the view.
As it was November it was a pretty cold day but there was a lovely morning glow way out to sea in the English Channel and this just had to be in the watercolour, together with very threatening dark clouds nearer to where I was standing.
I love this iconic scene with the Coastguard Cottages in the foreground and the mouth of the river emerging into the calm ,cold sea.
so this quick post is just that one watercolour which is now for sale on Artfinder ,or you can contact me directly.
i hope you like it and if you get a chance make your way to the Country Park and walk down towards the Cotteges and enjoy this oh so English scene.
incidentally I also had lunch at the Seaford Head Golf Club which open to non memebers and it was very good and I was made very welcome there too.
Well worth a visit!
Happy travelling
Brian
brian@brianswatercolours.com
Lest we Forget
Poppies in the Field
It is now 101 years since the end of the First World War.
Today we remember those whose sacrifices both in that War and since have enabled us to enjoy the freedoms we have today.
We will never forget them.
I am reminded of this in the personal sacrifices of members of my Wife’s family in 1917.
We have visited Ypres twice in recent years following the final days of my Wife’s great Uncles who were killed at Passchendaele in 1917. Visiting there was a remarkable and very moving experience.
We will always remember the great sacrifices made by so many over 100 years ago that give us all the freedoms we enjoy today.
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
