'The Guildhall, Totnes'

I painted this view of the Guildhall this morning. I took a photo after completing the mid-tone wash, to give an idea of how the painting is put together. Once this was dry, I put all the darks in, which pull the painting together.

'The Devil's Slide', Lundy

  'The Devil's Slide' is a 400 foot slab of granite on the island of Lundy. This small island, 3 miles by 1 mile, is 10 miles off the N. Devon coast. It is owned by the National Trust and is accessible only by sea or air.
  We travelled there by boat, the MS Oldenburg, some years back. There are hardly any trees to speak of. It's like a mini Dartmoor, all on it's own in the middle of the sea. The coastline is very rugged, as you can see from this painting. There are similar views where I live in S. Devon, which I find very inspiring.
  I used a limited palette for this painting. My intention was to depict the play of sunlight and shadow and give some kind of feel of distance.

'Chichester Sketches'

On my free day, I got an early bus from Earnley to the centre of Chichester. My class and I had painted this view of the cathedral just a day or two before. However, it was an overcast day before and I really wanted to make a series of watercolour sketches during brighter conditions.
I attached a half Imperial sheet of Bockingford paper to my board with masking tape. I then used two more pieces of tape to divide it into the three rectangles you see here.
Then the sun came out!
I first painted the larger sketch of the cathedral in about an hour. I then turned around and painted the poppies and daisies, which were growing on a bank. This little sketch only took about twenty minutes to complete.
I then retired to one of Chichesters pubs for a spot of lunch before returning to the cathedral and painting the sunlit doorway of the bell tower, which took about half an hour.
The theme running through these three sketches is sunlight. It's really enjoyable, trying to capture that light before it changes.
This method of dividing a half-sheet of watercolour paper isn't my invention. I learned it from the renowned Australian artist, Robert Wade. His book, Watercolour Workshop Handbook, contains many such sheets painted all over the world. The book, unfortunately, is now out of print so my copy is all the more treasured.

"Low Tide"

I think it's been a while since this old boat has been out but it does make a good subject for painting. I began with an all-over wash first, to get that feeling of wet sand/mud, using a combination of warm and cool colours. You can see where the weak winter sun is catching the forward-facing planes of the boat.
The soft, wet-in-wet wash was allowed to dry before I finished the painting with harder-edged wet-on-dry brushstrokes.

"Bright Morning at Torquay Pavilion"

Earlier this year I got on the bus to Torquay, with my paints, easel & paper, and hopped off at the Pavilion. I managed to find a little shade under a tree and set up my easel. For anyone who's ever painted outdoors, you'll know just how fast the shadows move and the light changes. This seems to be even more apparent when you're painting architecture. As the sun catches widow sills and railings, the shadows move across the surface like a sundial. Still, I work pretty fast and managed to paint this in just over an hour. I began with an all-over wash with cobalt blue in the sky and raw sienna on the sunny areas of the building. Once dry, I quickly filled in shadows with cooler mixes of cobalt, light red and alizarin crimson.