Thursday, 15 September 2011

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"
Posted by at 00:50
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38 comments:

  1. Barbra Joan15 September 2011 at 02:58

    The use of the 140lb Rough was perfect for this and it's my opinion for a lot of landscape work, especially involving water.
    It's easy to spot here where you can almost see the sparkle it
    creates. Excellent painting Michael .. I don't do a lot of landscape work,, not good at it.. maybe needing more practice.. I just shy away from it..

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  2. Anonymous15 September 2011 at 07:50

    Michael, Landscapes seem to paint faster on rough, don’t they/…. at least for me they do. Lots of nice different techniques incorporated in this one that work well together. It looks like a very pleasant place to relax after a hard days. Work! The green in the foreground is luminous…is it bright in IRL?

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  3. Pat15 September 2011 at 07:58

    Gorgeous painting. I really love the light coming through behind the clouds - so evocative! xx

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  4. SharonWrightArtist15 September 2011 at 08:05

    Wonderful, love those clouds!

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  5. Judy15 September 2011 at 08:46

    It's a beautiful painting! I love the water and the clouds! I'm glad you tested the Rembrandt paints for me, and that you like them.;) I use the student grade Van Gogh paints of Talens and I need to replace them.

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  6. Unknown15 September 2011 at 08:59

    Thank you very much ladies!

    BJ - I generally use Arches or Saunders Waterford Not/CP and also Canson HP for more detailed work but I do love the sparkle on the Arches Rough. Oh, and the judicious use of my trusty Conte pencil scraper for repairs and fine sparkle too ;)

    Maggie - yes, Rough paper does make painting a breeze and is a delight to work on. As for the green, I used varying mixes of Rembrandt Cad Yellow Medium and Payne Grey (sic). According to the Royal Talens colour chart that's PY35 and PBk6/PB15 so I suspect it's the Phthalo Blue giving the luminous effect? Don't have proper material sheets so not sure about IRL behaviour. Could be my scanner!

    Pat - that was exactly the effect I wanted to get so I'm very very pleased that it came through to you so well :)

    Sharon - The sky, yes ... buckets of Payne's Grey and Cerulean all served up with a little bit of careful planning and a lot of courage! I had to lighten it a litle in places. It's possibly the beginning of my 'Black Period' lol.

    Judy - I would think the Van Gogh are excellent too, on a par with Cotman perhaps. I was surprised to read your comment to Sandra when you said that you used student watercolours. Now just think how amazing your paintings will be when you use artists paints. As for using Rembrandt, I'm delighted with them and of course in your case ... when in Holland, do as the Dutch do! Not tried the tubes yet but the pan colour is so soft it's not a problem ATM. If I go on to much bigger paintings then I will have to get tubes. If you need any more help or a colour chart just email me!

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  7. Lisa Le Quelenec15 September 2011 at 09:36

    Beautiful! You've captured the light perfectly. It's a really strong composition leading the eye around and I love the energy. What a beautiful place to relax.

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  8. Judy15 September 2011 at 09:49

    Michael thanks! I've learned so much about paints from your and Maggie's blog. I just used what was available ..ty years ago and stuck with them. I'm rushing to the paint shop now.... bye!

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  9. Unknown15 September 2011 at 10:17

    Hi Lisa, thank you very much! The reference photo was a little lighter than this but I lowered the darks to give a better feeling of that lovely evening light. I also took out a few trees ... and the black waste bin that was in my shot lol ;)

    It's a pleasure to share any knowledge, information or experience I have, Judy. Wow, can't wait to see how you get on with your new paints in your next painting ... bye!

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  10. Im Zweiten Stock15 September 2011 at 10:44

    That's wonderful. I love the clouds and the light. The reflective light on the water's great.

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  11. Unknown15 September 2011 at 11:07

    Hi Elsbeth. Thank you very much for your lovely comment.

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  12. JANE MINTER15 September 2011 at 13:46

    wonderful grey sky with vibrant greens micheal

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  13. Unknown15 September 2011 at 14:10

    Thank you Jane. I've been playing with mixing more convincing greens recently so I'm glad that you like these!

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  14. Blaga15 September 2011 at 15:10

    Beautiful dramatic sky! I love this effect of a bright rim around the dark clouds hiding the sun - you rendered it perfectly.

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  15. Roger Seddon15 September 2011 at 16:46

    Nicely done Michael.This is quite striking but watch out for riverbanks. Sometimes they can give the impression of water flowing uphill/downhill. I find a sequence of gently stepped horizontals combined with increasing bank depths aids perspective and works much better than a progressive curve which can create the wrong illusion.

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  16. Unknown15 September 2011 at 20:04

    Blaga - thank you. I was very careful with the sky and made sure I had nice big pools of the colours I used before I started.

    Roger - thank you for dropping in - I hope you are well and your daughter's wedding went well. Yes, it's easy to get sloping water isn't it! I think the main body of water is fine but when I scratched out the top section I may have lifted too much colour and perhaps it's not quite true perspective. Thanks for the tips - I'll experiment with that :)

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  17. Maria Elena Ferrari15 September 2011 at 22:23

    Great atnosphere!ciao

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  18. Anonymous15 September 2011 at 22:35

    This is really gorgeous, Michael. It is just off. ;-) The clouds and the shadows in the water are so good and beautiful painted.

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  19. Unknown15 September 2011 at 23:11

    Mari - thank you stopping by and for your kind comment!

    Renske - Thank you. Just off is a fabulous comment to be given!

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  20. Sandra Busby16 September 2011 at 15:30

    This is a lovely painting! I particularly like the water and that sky! I could certainly learn a thing or two from you - Brilliant! :0)

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  21. Unknown16 September 2011 at 16:05

    Thank you so much Sandra. That's a lovely comment but I think the same could be said vice versa too! Off to London on Sunday so hope to get to the Mall gallery and at least one of the art emporiums - that's if my son and daughter let me :)

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  22. Carrie Waller Watercolors16 September 2011 at 22:37

    So beautiful, Michael!!! The colors are so harmonious. Those great greens are put alive by your blue and gray sky. Fabulous!

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  23. Unknown17 September 2011 at 08:12

    Thank you Carrie! I only used three/four colours so that held it together. The sky was a bit nerve wracking. It's quite a big piece of expensive paper to make a mess of but I was so pleased that it worked!

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  24. John (JWJarts)17 September 2011 at 18:21

    Great stuff!! I love that sky Michael. I'm always too timid with my skies ... there's a great lesson here, that's for sure.

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  25. Unknown17 September 2011 at 18:52

    Thank you very much John. I'm the same usually but I look at those paintings that make me go wow and it's always where they have been bold with colour and contrast. So yes, I learnt something here too :)

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  26. JCL17 September 2011 at 22:26

    This is beautiful painted. There's lots of action in the painting. The clouds are well painted and shadows in the water is really nicely done.

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  27. Unknown18 September 2011 at 00:00

    Thank you very much Jan. You have some lovely watercolours on your blog. Thank you for following me - I am now following you too :)

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  28. Rolina18 September 2011 at 13:45

    How clever - you managed to make the river look as if it is about to burst it's banks! Lovely, lovely painting

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  29. Unknown19 September 2011 at 09:27

    Thank you very much Rolina. The river was very high and just about to flood onto the meadows - I think it was due to a long period of freeze and then a thaw last winter.

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  30. JCL19 September 2011 at 11:06

    Thx
    i ike your blog
    and i folow you

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  31. Victor Errington19 September 2011 at 12:03

    Hi Michael.
    Everyone has said it all, so what can I say except---Brilliant mate. All the best Michael.
    Vic.

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  32. Unknown19 September 2011 at 12:57

    Thank you very much Vic. Brilliant is good enough for me ;-) Best wishes, Michael

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  33. Cristina Dalla Valentina22 September 2011 at 08:24

    Wonderful, Michael! I LOVE that sky!

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  34. Unknown22 September 2011 at 17:56

    Thank you very much Cristina - I'm delighted to get such a lovely comment from you :) Ciao!

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  35. Sadeu23 September 2011 at 17:07

    very good watercolours : )

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  36. Unknown24 September 2011 at 09:35

    Thank you very much Sadeu :)

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  37. JCL3 October 2011 at 18:48

    the clouds are good together with the light

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  38. Unknown3 October 2011 at 22:38

    Thank you very much, Jan!

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No silly verification words here - all comments are appreciated! Thank you :)

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