'Paignton Harbour'

I painted this as a demonstration for Whitchurch Art Group last Friday afternoon. They wanted a loose style watercolour painting of a harbour scene. This is Paignton harbour, showing the junior sailing club members.

'Trawlers at Brixham'

Yesterday afternoon I visited Seaton Art Society to do a demonstration. The theme was 'Creating Atmosphere' and my subject was a couple of boats in Brixham Harbour. The photograph I used as a reference was a bit bland and contained a lot of unnecessary detail. I simplified the scene considerably and, hopefully, created a more atmospheric feel with a little mystery.
Painted on Saunders Waterford 200lb NOT paper, stretched onto the board.

Harbour Scene

I was at Derriford Art Society yesterday, for a demonstration followed by a workshop. The theme for the day was Seascapes/Harbour Scenes so I began the day with this demo' of a morning scene at Paignton Harbour.

A recent demonstration...

A demonstration from my recent course at Art Holidays in Dorset. Done in three washes, there are a few drips, which are a bit of an occupational hazard when you're board is almost vertical.

'Bridge at Rieux Volvestre'

Another bridge, but this time in SW France in the Haute-Garonne department. I like the colours of the buildings in this area.
An interesting fact: Rieux Volvestre was the site of the trial of Martin Guerre, in 1560. The original Martin Guerre left his wife and child but, several years later, a man claiming to be him reappeared and took his place for three years.

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'Sgwd Isaf Clyn-Gwyn'

In the late 80's I lived in south Wales for a couple of years. One of my favourite areas for walking was the Brecon Beacons National Park. In particular, the 'Waterfall Country'. The area around Ystradfellte contains a great many waterfalls and this one, 'Sgwd Isaf Clyn-Gwyn', is in the Mellte Valley.
It resembles a mini Niagra and here it is shown in the autumn.

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'Watercolour Demonstration Painting'

I was tutoring a painting course at Art Holidays in Dorset last week. This was one of my evening demo's, a rocky scene in Torquay. It's one of those spots you can paint many times and it'll always look different. I'll be back there again next week for another painting break.

'Rocks and Water'

This demonstration painting was done during one of my 'trouble-shooting' sessions. On the final day of a course I ask my students if there is any last thing that I can demonstrate for them. On this occasion I was requested to do demonstrate water splashing against rocks. Someone else asked if I could show how to portray wet sand. Luckily, I could do both of these in the same painting.

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/168363

'Ferry Slipway at Dartmouth'

Another on-site demonstration painting for one of my painting holiday classes. There's so much to paint at a location like this. This spot is Bayard's Cove, where there's a ferry to/from Kingswear on the north side of the Dart. Just to my right is the Tudor artillery fort, which once defended the harbour entrance. At the foot of the hill, on the north side, there is a steam railway line, which operates between Kingswear and Paignton.

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'Looking Towards Meadfoot'

This is one of the views, in Torbay, which is part of the South West Coastal Path. The painting was done as a demonstration to my students, during one of my painting holidays this year. I wanted to show how to paint the atmospheric feel of the bay, and to portray a feeling of distance with the headland receding into the hazy background.

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/david-webb-2640 

'Seen Better Days'

  I don't know what it is about old wrecks like this, but they make irresistible subjects for many artists and I'm no different. 

  What makes it interesting for me personally, is the light and shade effect and the way that the light is visible through the cracks in the hull.

  This rests by the Exeter Canal, just along by the Turf Locks hotel. We ended up here after a long walk from the relatively busy city, along the canal path, to the very peaceful spot here.

  I chose a very limited palette to keep the colours subtle.

bid for this painting

'Low Tide, Brixham'

Another painting featuring water. The tide was quite low, as can be seen from the hulls of the two foreground boats. Their reflections were mirrored on the surface but a slight breeze was enough to break up their outlines. The movement slightly elongates the dark, reflected shapes.
As always, I've simplified the shapes and the ripples. I used my largest brush to paint the hulls and their reflections in one go. I painted this directly, without any build up of washes, which means that I had to be sure that my colours were strong enough. Once dry, I added a small detail here and there.
With water, less is more.

"Cretan Sunset"

This small painting was done as a 30-minute demonstration during a workshop for the Dartmouth Art Society. The theme of the workshop was 'Painting from your Holiday Photos'. My aim was to show how to use photos for painting without copying them exactly.
What attracted me to this scene was the wonderful evening light, which I remembered from the time the photo was taken. The photo contained a lot of detail in the boat, along with a lot of ripples in the water. But, the light was what I wanted to concentrate on so I applied an all-over wash first, mixing warm and cool colours on the page. Once dry, I quickly added some harder-edged, wet-on-dry brush strokes to describe the hills, the boat and the darker ripples.
With watercolour ~ less is more.

"Boats at Brixham"

These two small boats were tied up at Brixham harbour. I wanted to catch the gentle movement of the water, along with the broken-up reflections of the boats. So, after sketching the outline, I diluted some colours in my palette and then wetted the entire surface of the paper. I then brushed in some alizarin crimson at the top, allowing it to flow down the paper (important to have the board at an angle). I then picked up some cobalt blue and washed this in too, letting it mix with the crimson. Further down the page I added some pthalo blue and a little raw sienna. When this was nearly dry, I picked up some quite dry colour to paint the soft ripples in the foreground. This is the most difficult part as, if you introduce really wet colour into a wash, which is almost dry, the result will be a bloom (or cauliflower, as we call them here).
The rest of the painting was completed once this initial wash was dry.