Alan Reed's Watercolour Painting Blog

• 2010-03-09

  

  Sketch Book Study of the Week

  The North East of England is blessed with some outstanding countryside. My Studio & Gallery is on Cheviot View, the A696 into Ponteland. Not far from where I live, I can often see the Cheviots and at the moment they are still capped with snow.

  On the 4th March I climbed Cheviot for the first time with my friend Adrian. At times, the snow covered the fence posts but reaching the top was well worth the effort for the breathtaking views. There was hardly a breath of wind and the sky was almost cloudless. It was hard to imagine we were in Northumberland as we took in scenery that was more like Antartica.

  On the way down, I stopped for a short while to do this rapid sketch of Hedgehope in my Moleskine watercolour sketchbook. Simplicity was the order of the day. Just a couple of blue washes to indicate the sky and shadow areas on the hills, leaving the white of the paper for the snow. The angle of the sun created some extraordinary white highlights in the snow, a white brighter than anything I have ever seen before. The white of the paper was simply not white enough!

• 2010-02-13

  

  What’s on the Drawing Board?

  The Souks in the Middle East of full of subjects to paint. On a number of occasions I’ve painted on location, working rapidly in my sketch books and it’s not long before some of the shopkeepers will gather around me whilst I’m painting to vocalise their opinions!

  Often there is little natural light to work in so the challenge is to capture the hustle and bustle of the souk in artificial light. Even in the relative comfort of the studio, the difficulty is to retain the freshness and movement of the smaller sketches.

  After drawing this scene in pencil, I covered most of the paper with some direct applications of a yellow mix which set the tone for the artificial light. I then began to knock in the darker shadow areas with a size 20 brush, keeping the marks bold and strong.

  The rest of the painting was tackled with equal speed to avoid any tightening up which would have killed the very life and vigour I was wanting to capture.

• 2010-01-23

  

  Sketch Book Study of the Week

  One of the painting disciplines I have set myself this year is to try and do one observational watercolour study every day.

  When it gets to the end of the night and I have failed to achieve this goal, I usually end up by doing a rapid (about 10-15 minutes) self portrait in my Moleskine watercolour book at the bathroom sink in front of the mirror.

  There is no pencil involved, just the small brush and box of paints seen in the photograph. Due to my levels of concentration, my facial expressions can range from me looking like a madman to Patrick Stewart from Star Trek.

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  What’s on the Drawing Board?

  One of the great things about the heavy falls of snow we have been experiencing here in the Uk is the opportunity to go sledging with our children and grandchildren.

  The Town Moor in Newcastle upon Tyne has a fantastic hill for sledging down which I went to on New Years day. I managed a small sketch in my Moleskine watercolour sketch book before the cold set in. I blasted off a few reference photos too.

  This small study was mainly an exercise in capturing figures in action but it also helped me to get a feeling of the atmosphere, excitement, light, mood and cold! All these elements I tried to retain in the larger studio work, a 14” x 10” watercolour which will form part of my “Winter Landscapes” exhibition at my studio and gallery in Ponteland. Details will be announced on http://www.alanreed.com/

• 2010-01-11

  

  Watercolour Sketch of the Week

  On Saturday 9th January I went on the BNI walk from Newburn to Prudhoe (and back again) with fellow member and friend Malcolm Kyle….and Ed my German Shepherd dog. Although temperatures were still sub zero and there was lots of snow underfoot, we were well wrapped up and kept warm through our steady pace and conversation.

  On the way back, we stopped on Wylam Bridge for me to do a quick sketch in watercolour of the River Tyne. No sooner did I start applying the first few strokes of colour (a very pale cadmium yellow for part of the sky also reflected in the ice cold waters) it began to snow lightly.

  I was able to add a touch of pale Manganese Blue to suggest the break in the clouds followed by a grey mix to indicate the snow clouds, trees on the river bank and the river itself before snow flakes began to land on the pages of my book. These created some fascinating effects (particularly the top right hand side of the sky) but began to freeze over preventing any further work.

  The rest of the walk was conducted with me holding the sketch book open in one hand and the dog lead in the other. Using a couple of photographs taken from the bridge, I was able to add some appropriate flicks of darker grey to give a suggestion of tree details and reflections in the water from the warmth and comfort of my studio.

• 2010-01-06

  

  What’s on the Drawing Board?

  In November 2009, Susan and I went to the Ship Inn at Newton by the Sea  to celebrate by birthday. After a light lunch of Craster Kippers ( Susan had a fresh crab sandwich ) and real ale we took a stroll along the beautiful beach, which was almost deserted, towards Dunstanburgh Castle.

  I stopped for 25 minutes or so to do a small sketch book study of the castle set against the backdrop of a typical Northumbrian sky. The sketch and supplimentary photographs inspired me to do this larger studio work.

• 2009-12-19

  Top 10 Tips to improve your sketch book work

  Tip !0. Try drawing people very quickly by looking at the person without looking at the paper until you have finished. Work small and sketch each one in under five seconds.

  You will end up with several short hand indications of the same person within a minute. What you will possibly find is a series of quite poor scribbles but perhaps one or two useful drawings that really capture the gesture, stance or movement of the person you have observed.

  This technique really helps you to become more visually aware.

• 2009-12-18

  

  What’s on the Drawing Board?
  

  In 2008, Susan and I travelled to Umbria in Italy to do a painting of a clients property set in a small village called Papiano, just south of Perugia. Since my first commission in Umbria in 2002 we have been fortunate to visit this beautiful region a further 6 times, so we have come quite attached to the ”green heart of Italy”.

  We spent a couple of days staying at Ian and Barbara’s property during which time I painted several sketch book studies of potential views and took a number of photographs.

  What you see here on the drawing board at my studio and gallery in Ponteland is a second smaller commission of Papiano, A5 size, painted on hand made watercolour paper, which features their property high on the right hand side. You can also see the scene painted on location in my sketch book and some of the reference photographs used.

• 2009-12-16

  

  Rosso e Nero (Rialto Fish Market, Venice)

  Stage 8. The final painting which was sold from my 20th anniversary exhibition in 2004 to some friends of ours which I’m pleased about, as I get to see the original every time we visit them.

  I was so pleased with the finished result that we decided to publish it as a limited edition giclee print with only 20 in the edition.

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  Rosso e Nero (Rialto Fish Market)

  Stage 7. The last few figures really helped to make this scene work. The older couple look typically Venetian, stolling around the various stalls, looking for the right piece of fish for their evening meal. Will it be risotto or pasta for their starter and how will they cook their main meal and with what vegetables?

  Building up the darker areas around the figures helps to add depth and substance to the overall scenario.