Cloudy memories

It  has been raining for most of the day ... again ... and the Met Office forecast a deluge of almost biblical proportions ... but thankfully it hasn't happened, and now it's a pleasant, dry evening here in the East of England. I painted this view of the lush green flood meadows across the river from visual memory with more than a hint of artistic license of course ;-)

Happy painting to you all!

Great Ouse and flood meadows, Huntingdon, watercolour on Saunders Waterford 140lb Rough, 10x11", 25x28cm

Pier pressure

No moody monochromes this time ... just lovely rich Daler Rowney tube colour! This is based on a photo I took on our recent trip to Weymouth in Dorset on the Southwest coast. The long stone pier used by local fishermen,  that makes it way out almost to the middle of the bay, the blustery coastal sky and the distant shoreline studded with steep chalk cliffs, all help to make this a pleasing composition.

Happy painting.

Weymouth Bay, watercolour and fineliner pen on Saunders Waterford 140lb Rough, 10x11", 25x28cm

Fields of Gold

I can't believe it ... A year ago yesterday I posted my very first entry to this blog. How time flies! So, in celebration of Blogiversary No 1, I thought it would be a nice idea to run a little competition. The lucky winner will receive one of my watercolours, chosen personally by me, and framed by a local gallery. Second prize is TWO of my paintings, third prize is THREE ... Chuckle, chuckle, you get the idea ;)

So, I decided that I would keep things simple and just pick the winner based solely on Google statistics. Based on the trafffic from referring sites, made to my blog in the last year and without further prevarication, the outright winner is ......

Tah ta-ta-ta ta taaaaaah .... Judy at De Draad Aquarellen !!!

Congratulations Judy, and a special thankyou for all your support over the last year, I believe you have commented on almost every single post I have made. Of course the same thankyou goes out to everyone that has taken the trouble to follow me, to leave comments and suggestions, or to just simply 'pop by' now and then. It is all very much appreciated and so thank you again, everyone. A special thankyou also goes out to Sandra at Sandraws,  for encouraging me to start my own blog in the first place !

And last, but not least, I offer this watercolour, with fond memories of my much missed mum, Iris, who was born 85 years ago on the 17th April. 'Fields of Gold' was one of her favourite songs in her later years.

Happy painting, sketching and drawing!

Fields of Gold, watercolour and BrushPen on Cotman Cold Pressed, 25.4 x 17.8cm/10 x 7in

Rough Stuff

The two watercolours posted here were painted with Winsor &Newton Artists tube colours on 140lb/300gsm rough paper, the first on Daler Rowney Langton A4 and the second on Arches 9x12/23x31.
Hope you are all well ... Me, I'm still feeling a little rough but generally on the mend :)
Happy painting!

Light to Dark, Dark to Light

I think it's Ron Ranson,one of my all-time favourite artists, who suggests the use of Burnt Umber for tonal sketches. It is also nice, as in this case, to use for a complete monochrome painting. It has a superb range of tonal values that equals that of either ivory or lamp black, two other great pigments that I'm starting to use a little more. And what's to stop YOU putting black in your palette ? I know I have ! Oops, perhaps I lost a few more followers there ?!? Just in case you're worrying that I may be going through my dark period ... well don't, I'm not ... well not just yet anyway ! ... but have a chuckle at someone who I think may be going through his  .... LOL.

The Fast Show- Johnny Nice Painter


I hope you are all keeping well. Happy St Patrick's Day ... and of course happy painting too to you all :)

'And You And I', Monochrome with Burnt Umber Watercolour and BrushPens on Fabriano5 140lb HP, A5

 And to make up for my tardiness in posting and commenting, a couple more recent pieces for you, both primarily watercolours of course! The first is purely from imagination, the second is from memory.

'Slippery Slope', Watercolour and Watercolour Pencil on Fabriano5 140lb HP, A5

Hemingford Abbots, Watercolour and BrushPens on Fabriano5 140lb HP, A5

Beneath the surface

~~~

Like the snowdrops

Waiting

Beneath the surface

Below the autumn leaves

We sometimes forget

The beauty we seek

Is already there

It always was

It always will be

And will return to greet us

To blossom in the spring

 ~~~

(c) M Bailey 2012

For my wonderful wife Sue. A Pina Colada moment. 

 Thank you, Gorgeous ... you are my life x

You Tube - DreamTheater - Beneath The Surface

'Beneath the surface', Pebeo Fine watercolour on Matt Hannemuhle Cornwall watercolour board (450gsm), 24x17cm

Common Snowdrops in Hartford, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire UK

And finally, happy St David's Day to all our Welsh friends, both at home in Cymru and across the globe. The descendants of my paternal grandmother's family appear to have moved across the border from England into Monmouthshire in Wales over a hundred years ago ... so that makes me slightly Welsh.
Yaki da !!!  Lucky Sue decided to cook leeks for the main veg last night LOL.

Happy painting and drawing (And any other arty 'ings') to you all:)
Tara !

Seventeen come January

I forgot to mention in my last post, I recently turned seventeen ... for the third time! The stresses and strains from work related matters are quickly beginning to fade now as my company's latest product finally moves out of development and into full production. The snow has disappeared completely now and the white, snow leaden skies of late have given way to the beautiful and clear, cobalt skies of late winter. Spring is still a few weeks off, but it soon will be here, bringing forth new growth, and of course, from a personal and selfish point of view, the chance to get out there and have some plein air fun again :)

While I 'm waiting for the better weather, I have been playing around with various papers using small sets of student quality watercolour paints and pencils in an attempt to get the contents of my sketch bag whittled down to something I can physically carry LOL. I'm beginning to move away from good old cream coloured blocks of Arches, towards spiral bound pads of bright white papers like Fabriano Classico 5 HP (50% cotton rag) and gorgeous Winsor & Newton Artists CP, both of which seem to handle any wash I throw at them ... not literally of course !

Happy painting !

True blue

The willows in winter

On thin ice

You take the high road

A Christmas card to you all !

Ok, the studio is full of boxes of decorations, the old faithful tree is up, the lights are ready... had to buy some more this year ... and I've still not made a start on present shopping and sending cards ... as usual LOL. Christmas and the New Year celebrations and all the preparation that goes with it means it's a busy time for me, as I'm sure it is for all of us. So, just in case I don't get enough time to post or comment again for a little while... I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous and Happy New Year. Thank you very much to every one of you for being so supportive over the last eight months since I started this blog .... I really do value you all... I hope to be back again soon with more right-brain development :)

Michael

'Winter Wonderland', watercolour on Arches 300gsm/140lb Rough, 23cm x 31cm/9" x 12"

The Big Chill

What a busy couple of weeks at work that was! Deadlines to meet ... bugs to fix ... problems to solve ... all a little bit too stressy for my liking to say the least. How does one relax afterwards  .. easy ... get out the paints, and share your emotions with friends !

I hope the serenity of this imaginary scene helps to convey the return of my usual inner calm! This was done on a fairly heavyweight cartridge paper (200gsm or more I think) in an old Goldline A4 sketchbook. I just love to work on cartridge paper sometimes. The paper is tough enough and I even used a little bit of glazing - a new concept to me !

A big thank you and welcome to my latest followers, a glorious weekend to you all ... and of course, happy painting :)

'Chill', watercolour on Goldline paper, 28x19cm/11x7.5"

Divine geometry

Ok, eveyone take a deep breath, lets do some mathematics :) Before you all start clicking away from here, lets bring it straight back to art ! I'm sure you're all familiar with the rule of thirds in composition and design. The rule is just a very rough approximation of the classical golden section, a proportion based on a mathematical constant (phi). Phi can be calculated accurately from the Fibonacci sequence of numbers, a sequence that occurs regularly in nature, such as in the distances between the petals of some flowers. It also occurs in other examples of artistic beauty, notably music. Many famous works of classical art and architecture as well as things of natural beauty from the Great Creator himself have proportions that are based around the golden section, which approximates to the ratio of 1 to 1.618. The rule of thirds by comparison would give the ratio of 1 to 1.5. Not a massive difference, but is it significant enough to make or break a composition ?


Are you still there LOL. So, I thought I'd put it all to practice. I took out a steel rule and a calculator, measured the height and width of my working area of paper, calculated the divine proportions accordingly, and drew a horizontal and vertical line on the paper at the calculated positions. The base of the tall tree to the right of the painting is at the intersection of those two lines. I could have chosen any of four possible positions for the focal point, but I chose bottom right which gives more sky than land and should also lead the eye from left to right (hopefully). Has it made a difference to my composition, is it more hamonious, is it more pleasing to the eye or would it have been just as good if I'd used the rule of thirds or perhaps simply done it 'by eye' - as I usually do ?  Hmmm ....

Happy painting and a glorious Sunday to you all :)
 

Lake at Dusk, watercolour on Arches 300gsm/140lb Rough, 23cm x 31cm/9" x 12"

Postscript:

And by popular request, and just for comparison, here's a cropped image in which the base of the tree has been moved to lie at the intersection of the lines created by using the rule of thirds. Thanks very much to Keith for coming up with this idea - it saved me having to paint it again ;)

Autumn finally arrives

The weather here has been pretty dismal; lots of wind and rain and of course it's now a little too dark to get any after-work sketching done :( However, I have been trying to get some reference photographs to keep me busy over the coming blustery autumn and chilly winter months. This one is based on a photo I took on a recent dog walk with that now infamous show-stealing canine model himself :) It started life as a watercolour which I subsequently ran under the tap - twice! At this point I decided to give up with watercolour and get out the Kremer and Sennelier soft pastels to see where that took me. But that looked awful too lol, so I dissolved much of the dry pastel with water and then finished off a few highlights in the foreground with dry pastel and some of the tree branches with dry and wet watercolour pencil. A true multimedia experience ... or perhaps a bit of a mess. You decide :)

Happy painting, be it wet or dry!

Autumn woodland walk, mixed media on Arches 300gsm/140lb Rough, 23cm x 31cm/9" x 12"

Electric Sunrise

I work quite close to my home but the landscape changes rapidly as I make my way to the office. The semi-rural soon gives way to the cluttered and less pleasant urban and industrial areas of the town. Being close to major road and rail links is great when you want to get anywhere but not so pleasing to the eye, or at least not for most of the day. However, this was the scene that greeted me a few days ago as I walked the last few yards to work. The beautiful glowing sunset created eery silhouettes of the nearby hedgerows and the railway pylons of the electrified East Coast Mainline which carries passengers and freight to and from London and the North East throughout the day. I took a photograph with my phone camera and used that as my reference Sometimes beauty can be found in the unlikeliest of places :)

On a sad note, I'm sure many of you are already aware of Jane Minter's recent post about the copying of one of her beautiful paintings. I'm sure, like me, you all share in Jane's disheartened feelings about this :(

Additiionally, my thoughts also go out to Maggie Latham who has recently fallen victim of several episodes of copyright issues which has ultimately led to her (sadly) closing down her 1000 washes blog. Maggie describes her reasons in her post here. I for one will miss Maggie's unending enthusiasm and love for pure watercolour.

Finally, my number of followers has increased quite a bit over the last few weeks and will very soon be catching up with my age LOL :) Lots of inspiring blogs for you to check out, some of which are already on my sidebar.

Tara for now. Have a great weekend everyone and of course .... Happy painting :)

Electric Sunsrise, watercolour in Fabriano Venezia sketchbook, 18cm x 25cm/7" x 10"

View from a hill

We decided we needed a good dose of fresh air on Sunday and so drove down to Wimpole Hall, a lovely stately home in the the south of Cambridgeshire. The last owner of the hall was the daughter of Rudyard Kipling, but when she passed away the home was given over  to the National Trust. The grounds surrounding the hall are quite expansive and contain a working farm and a beautiful large walled kitchen garden. The estate is quite close to the county border and so, as is often the case in England, the landscape starts to change as the characteristic flatness of Cambridgeshire finally gives way to the bumps and hills of lovely Hertfordshire.

This watercolour is based on a photo I took as we sat at the top of a hill under the canopy of a beautiful old oak tree and gazed back across the estate towards the hall, which was hidden behind the distant tree line. In the far distance, the chalk ridge of the Chilterns provided a hazy blue backdrop to the vista. The wind coming from the south was blustery but quite warm too. We both laughed as Louie sat there in the wind, his big ears flapping as though he was about to take off!
.

Wimpole, watercolour in Fabriano Venezia sketchbook, 25cm x 18cm/10" x 7"

 And of course this post wouldn't be complete without a photo of Louie enjoying the view ... and the wind!

What a handsome Beagle I am :)

Have  a really lovely week and happy painting to you all :)

The meadow - a quick sketch

I've not had a lot of time to sketch or paint this week. In fact today was the first time I've managed to get out again, so I took Louie the Beagle for a long walk to the local meadows, armed with a small sketchbook, a few pencils, and my watercolour paints. I sketched this scene first in graphite and it looked fine. I then added watercolour on the spot and that was a big mistake. It looked way too muddy so it went sraight under the tap when I got home! I added watercolour again and redrew the structure of the main trees with a dip pen. I'm a lot happier with how it looks now.

Happy painting and a wonderful weekend to you all!

Hartford Meadow, watercolour and pen, 4" x 8"

The city of light (and love)

No, this wasn't a recent plein air experience - I wish! After spending our honeymoon around the Bay of Naples and Amalfi Coast, we decided that we loved Italy so much  that we just had to go back for a second time in 2003, just a year after our honeymoon. This time we decided that it had to be Venice and we were so glad we made that choice. After missing the connecting coach from Treviso airport on the mainland, we managed to find a very helpful young lady in the local cafe who spoke very good English, certainly better than our combined Italian lol,  and she helped us to find a local bus to the nearby railway station in the beautiful town of Treviso. The train journey into Venice was very comfortable and quick and just seemed like any other, although the view started to get interesting as we travelled across the causeway to Venice . It was only when we walked through the station doors at the other end that we knew we had arrived somewhere very special. Wham! Venice, the most beautiful, yet most fragile, city in the world,  in all its sunlit splendour, was the sight that greeted us ... we were enchanted.

For this painting I used a photograph of San Giorgio Maggiore, which sits at the entrance to the Grand Canal, taken from the water's edge below Piazza San Marco. 

Happy painting and my best wishes for a fabulous weekend to you all :)

San Giorgio Maggiore, watercolour on Arches 300gsm/140lb Not, 180mm x 260mm/7" x 10"

The haystack and the honey bee (with better images)

As you may have noticed, I've been a little inactive with posting lately since I've not had a great deal of time to do much art that is worthy of posting. However, when I have had the time, I have been re-evaluating where I want to go with watercolour, reading some of my collection of art books, gaining inspiration and generally playing with some new colour ideas and techniques which I hope to try out properly very soon.

Despite the hiatus, I still managed to get a quick sketch done yesterday on the way home from work. I went back to a local farm that I had sketched recently and was intrigued by the haystack that had appeared since my last visit. The sketch was done a little too hastily and that haste became even worse when a bee that was bigger than a hummingbird decided it liked the taste of the honey in my Schmincke paints! After digesting all that Cadmium and Cobalt it's probably become a radioactive mutant ninja bee now lol. Dissatisfied with the sketch, I decided to rework it into a complete painting and a better composition, all done in the comfort of home! I'm still not entirely  happy with the result but overall it's a reasonable effort.

PS These images, which were photographed in daylight, replace the original awful scanned images I originally posted - time to put the scanner away I think :)

Haystack, watercolour and Inktense pencil on Clairefontaine 300gsm/140lb Not, 24cm x 30cm/9.5" x 12"

And especially for Sue, here's the original sketch.

Happy painting and have a lovely weekend everyone. Normal posting will be resumed as soon as possible :)

The river in flood

I painted this one from a reference photo that I took in February 2010 just before sunset and at a time when the River Great Ouse was quite high and had started to overflow onto the flood meadows that line its banks for much of its course through Huntingdon and the neighbouring villages . This particular part of the river is where I often sit and relax after a good or bad day at the office! This painting and the one in my previous post were both painted using Royal Talens Rembrandt artists watercolours - they are a delight to use and may very well become my favourites! Those Dutch know a thing or two about paint you know ;) Happy sketching and painting everyone :)

River Great Ouse in flood, watercolour on Arches 300gsm/140lb Rough, 23cm x 31cm/9" x 12"

The quiet before the storm

It seems strange that only a couple of posts ago I was talking about Hurricane Irene and hoping for the safety of our cousins in the US and now it seems that we here in the UK, particularly in the northern areas, are about to be visited by Hurricane Katia on Monday. As is the case with all hurricanes, its path and power are quite difficult to predict accurately, but it does look like we are in for some extreme weather conditions over the next couple of days or so, and so I can only say please do stay safe everyone.

I had intended to do a second watercolour, again based on a photo I had of one of the local village churches. However, I often feel that, for me anyway, painting from photographs tends to make me tighten up my work and so instead I decided to paint a similar kind of scene, but this time from imagination. I lost my way in the reflections a little but managed to recover the situation with the aid of a pencil scraping knife! Happy painting to you all :)

Village church, watercolour on Saunders Waterford 300gsm/140lb Not, 145mm x 210mm/5.75" x 8.25"

The meadow and the bull

We went for a long family dog walk across the local meadows last Sunday, taking our chance in between the recent showers we have been having here of late. The walk hugs the river for most of the course and the river itself divides into several branches and the local council have kindly provided lots of wooden bridges to cross between the islands as well as stiles and cattle gates (or kissing gates as we call them) to stop the local herds from wandering too much. We are quite used to walking around the edges of some of the fields to avoid the bulls but we did have a rather stressful encounter with one particular bovine who decided to walk over towards us and so we all made our way through the gate a little quicker than normal lol!

The views across the meadows are truly lovely and there is one particular spot where you can see the spire or tower of three village churches, each belonging to a separate village. This watercolour is a view across the River Great Ouse, looking from Houghton Meadow towards the church of Hemingford Abbots whose spire seemed to puncture the threatening looking sky that hung across this low lying countryside. Happy weekend to you all :)

Hemingford Abbots, Jackson's watercolour on Arches 300gsm/140lb Not, 180mm x 260mm/7" x 10"

Magic Moments

First and foremost, my thoughts and best wishes go out to all my lovely followers and readers in the USA, particularly Joan in Long Island and BJ in Florida. Hope you and your families and friends are all ok over there and keeping safe from Hurricane Irene :)

I know the weather here is incomparable to what is happening across the east coast of the USA at the moment but we have had a few downpours recently and so my plein air activity for the weekend has been scuppered :( However, I have been playing and practicing with watercolour techniques and have managed to do a couple of reasonable small but finished paintings. I use Winsor and Newton pans and tubes for most of my work but I couldn't resist getting a nice big set of Jackson's own brand whole pans with my own choice of pigments. I really like them and, because they are mixed with honey, they are easy to wet and very similar to the Schmincke set I use for plein air.

This is one I did this morning using my new paints. The scene is from a photograph I took on holiday in Swanage three years ago. We had been for a long walk up to Durlston Head and were on our way back into Swanage town, The view of the bay as we walked down from out of the shade of the hiiltop woodland was gorgeous and I just had to get a snap of it. One of those Magic Moments.
 

Swanage Bay, watercolour, 9.5" x 12"