paintings prints and stuff

a flock of birds rise:  watercolour and mixed media, detail This is another look at the wonderful late afternoon light over the first snowfall of the year.  Getting the intense glow of the sun wasn't easy - until I treated myself to a tube of opera rose from Winsor and Newton .   It is intense !  mixed with transparent yellow it glows .  Thank you to my friend Robyn Sinclair for introducing me to this colour - another friend  Liz Steele also bought it on her recommendation and has fallen in love with it too! The whole painting: It isn't easy to see the glazes and subtle colour changes in this so, further details below:   This was done in the big A3 moleskine watercolour folio sketchbook.   A lovely size to use.   Unlike the S&B sketchbook though, I had problems with the page buckling, meaning a lot of moving the book to prevent gulleys of deeper colour settling - not good (it did dry flat).  The same wet wash in the S&B caused no b

 Detail  I have always liked the calligraphic tangle of the hedges when they are sihouetted against the sky.   Recent snowfall meant even more opportunities with amazing light and the landscape simplified and hidden by the snow, throwing hedges into relief. Above is a detail of a double page sketch in the lovely Stillman and Birn Beta A4 hardback sketchbook.  This paper is so forgiving and the watercolour works beautifully with it.  It allowed me to work through wet washes with charcoal pencil - something that tears many papers, leaving holes.  Some of the hedge is paint, some tinted charcoal. First snow, more on the way, winter light: silhouetted hedges in watercolour and Derwent tinted charcoal in a Stillman and Birn A4 beta hardback sketchbook The earlier warm golden glow of the low sun is covered by clouds, threatening more snow to come.   The spiky calligraphic marks of the hedge and the underlying form of the bank, with some of the taller dried grasses showing

Late afternoon light on snowy fields, a flock of birds suddenly took to the sky, watercolour and mixed media in Stillman and Birn Beta Hardback sketchbook Another in the series trying to capture the fleeting dramatic light on fresh snow and to get to grips with the sheer amount of liquid my new brush holds! This one is difficult to photograph as the photos tend to lose the subtle colours on the hillside and darken the sky just a fraction too much. This involved Derwent tinted charcoal pencils used with watercolour and a tiny touch of oil pastel in a Stillman and Birn Beta sketchbook with its lovely heavy paper. I'm not sure what the birds were - starlings or pigeons? And a watercolour version of the hedge:   Again it is done with watercolour plus tinted  charcoal pencils.

Winter snow and frozen puddles, watercolour and mixed media I just treated myself to a wickedly expensive brush and I'm busy test driving it.   It holds so much water!  that's something to adapt to.  It's a size 18 filbert that comes to a nice point. There is also a little Tombow pen drawing in there in a cool grey and a little of the ochre tinted charcoal from Derwent in the hedges. I did a couple of others that I'll show another day. What is your favourite watercolour brush?