'Controlled Wash' demo

Here's a demonstration painting from the last day of my most recent course at Art Holidays in Dorset. When I can, I like to use the ,controlled wash, watercolour technique, as described by Jack Merriott in his book 'Discovering Watercolour'. The first wash is applied to wet paper, the colours being allowed to blend wet-in-wet on the surface. While the wash is wet, the paint can be moved around and allowed to create a soft, foundation wash. Once it has dried, a further wash or two can then be applied to dry paper.
This method of painting creates an atmospheric feel to the whole painting, and that first wash influences whatever transparent washes you place afterwards. It's a really good technique for depicting sunny scenes, as here.
I usually stretch the paper beforehand but here I simply used masking tape around the edges of a quarter sheet of 200lb Bockingford.

'Marine Scenes in Watercolour'

Got back from Boscombe yesterday, from my 'Marine Scenes in Watercolour' course at Art Holidays in Dorset. Here are a couple of the demo' paintings I did. The monotone one was an example of how to build up the painting in three washes, from light to dark.

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.

'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.

'Cretan Landscape'

I painted this watercolour yesterday. It was a reference sketch for a demonstration painting I did for Brixham Art Society last night. The sketch is 1/4 Imperial size (11x15"). I did the small painting to work out my colours and tones for the demo'. The demonstration painting was twice as large and, although I was pleased with the result, it's always a bit of a rush and I'm talking/answering questions while I work. So, on this occasion, I prefer the smaller, first version.

'Beacon Cove, Torquay'

Rocks again! Another demo from a recent painting workshop on the subject of 'Torbay Seascapes'.
I'm fortunate enough to live quite close to some impressive coastal scenery where the rocks are a beautiful red. This painting started with an all-over wash, mixing colours on the paper, wet-in-wet. Once dry, I built the painting up in wet-on-dry washes, from light to dark.

I think the rock on the right looks like some kind of sea monster, rising from the sea.

'Rocks, Sea and Sky'

I do like painting rugged scenery, such as this. Luckily for me, I live by the coast and I'm close to a variety of rocky views. This was painted as a demonstration for a workshop and, unusually for me, I used a little masking fluid here and there. I wanted to show my students a range of watercolour techniques so I used some for the distant sparkle on the water, plus a few highlights on the rocks. I was then able to cover all areas quite freely, with an all-over wash, not having to worry about going over the areas I needed to reserve.
Once the initial wash was dry, I peeled away the masking fluid and then rapidly built up the painting in a couple of harder-edged washes. The foreground grass, being warmer in tone, provides some much needed aerial perspective.

"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.