[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APFZZpkszHw?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

As I say, I’ve only managed to dip my toe into this so far but I’m really enjoying it. I’d say that his paintings are more ‘painterly’ than many watercolourists – even those that describe themselves as loose/impressionistic. What’s stayed with me so far is his approach to laying washes. In summary, he views the first wash as the opportunity to lay down the colours across the painting. In subsequent washes, he builds up the tone working often in purples. This description does rather over-simplify it but it’s pretty much how he describes it.

With the little time I had to paint this week, I tried to keep this approach in my mind. Last summer, on the way back to the UK from the South of France, we had the good fortune to arrive in Dieppe on the day that the streets are given over to a huge market. The old town is closed for traffic and people set up set up their stalls – usually just on table tops or blankets on the ground – and sell all manner of household bric-a-brac, antiques and other curiosities. It was a great, almost celebratory atmosphere that left me completely smitten with Dieppe!

I took quite a few contre-jour or ‘into the light’ photos, one or two of which I’ve long had in mind to try to paint. I really liked the composition of the image below, with the lines of the zebra crossing leading into the picture, the strongly backlit figures and the shaded or bleached out architectural details. My first wash for this was quite vivid by my standards – I had Herman Pekel’s words that the first wash should all be about colour ringing in my ears, but I thought at that stage that everything looked quite promising.

Unfortunately, as I applied subsequent washes, I lost most of the underpainting, and with it the sense of vibrancy. In his DVD, Herman does stress the importance of trying to keep some areas of the first wash visible if possible – it’s just that in the main, I failed in this regard.

Perhaps because this was my first painting in a while too, I felt a bit tight and nervous. I think I also felt a bit hampered by the foreground figures being too large and dominant for me to tackle confidently. So instead of trying to paint them quickly and loosely, I felt the need to try to introduce some detail and ended up fiddling way too much. Similarly, the background figures are painted too strongly, which makes them too dominant and distracting.

Despite all of the failings of this attempt, it felt great to be painting again and I like the overall direction I’m heading in. With this particular painting, I learnt a great deal and think that I’m going to redraw this, making some tweaks to the composition, and to the order in which I complete the painting to see whether I can improve on this effort.

The post Bright Day in Dieppe appeared first on John Haywood Watercolours.

 “Arrrgghhh – I can’t believe that we’re only four days in to 2017 and I’m already feeling overwhelmed at how far behind I am!”

I’ve barely lifted a paintbrush in three weeks and I’m still recovering from my New Year celebrations yet my inbox is overflowing with daily posts of other people’s various ‘January daily painting’ or ‘31 one days, 31 paintings’ challenges! How is it that so many others seem to have hit the New Year running while by comparison, I’m still struggling to get out of bed. It’s enough to make one feel quite anxious.

For my part (and largely because it’s already too late for me to make up ground already lost) I’m going to have to make a much slower start to the year! I purposefully took last year off my various home improvement / DIY projects to focus on my painting but for 2017 there are quite a few projects on which I need to make some progress. I can already foresee that balancing these with my painting is likely to prove challenging. I still hope to post regularly and shall be aiming for my usual weekly (ish) posts, but shall be changing my posting day from Tuesdays to Wednesdays to give me a bit more time to pull them together.

Most significant for the year ahead by far, however, is that I’ll be exhibiting (for one day only!) in an Artists’ Open House during the Brighton Festival in May. I fully expect that this will sometimes be the carrot and sometimes the stick that motivates me for the first part of the year.

So, without dwelling any further on all the things I haven’t achieved yet in 2017, or how little time I’m going to be able to spend painting, I’m going to distract myself with hopeful and optimistic thoughts based on what Santa brought me this year.

As I’ve been doing some more sketch based work on figures of late, I was delighted to receive a little collection of A5 and A6 Stillman and Birn Beta sketchbooks for Christmas. I’ve almost filled one of these with figure studies and they’ve been out of stock in the UK for much of last year so it was great to open these on Christmas day and I expect to be featuring more of my sketches on this blog in the months ahead. I do also have a Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook that I’ve had for a while but I much prefer the paper weight and surface of the Beta sketchbooks for working in watercolour.

I also received a number of painting DVDs too that I’m really looking forward to watching. (I use the term ‘received’ loosely as I actually bought two of them as gifts to myself!) You can see a list of other DVDs and clips that I’ve already watched and have learnt a great deal from in my library.

Whilst these DVDs don’t replace actual on the spot guidance and tuition, I feel that I’ve learnt a great deal from watching how other painters far more experienced and talented than myself tackle subjects. I often find myself returning to them too and picking up different pointers, or seeing different things in them at different times so they have quite a long shelf life. So, here’re some previews of what I’ve got lined up for my viewing pleasure and inspiration:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Mno4W53T_8&w=560&h=315]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-lAZNeBDsI&w=560&h=315]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R2JswlEjgc&w=560&h=315]

My only challenge now is to find some time to watch them.

Hopefully, I’ll be back in the groove with some paintings to show soon, in the meantime, I wish you all a happy and anxiety free New Year.

The post Look what Santa brought! appeared first on John Haywood Watercolours.

After starting out to try to capture the entire picture, I remembered the difficulties I got into last week – in trying to include much more than is necessary to tell the story. On taking a second look at the image, I thought that a long narrow landscape crop may work well – especially with the various angles of the slipway and the harbour wall.

I’d drawn this out on a half imperial sheet of paper so I erased the top half and masked off the top edge of the drawing. I quite liked the composition of the sketch but wasn’t quite sure how to tackle some of the elements – especially the figure and the nets. In working my way through this I was learning all the way, pleased with some elements – particularly with the texture on the harbour wall – less so with others: the heavy handedness of the figure and the overuse/overworking of the white gouache that I added in at the end for highlights which I got far too carried away with! There were some other fundamental errors too. If you look at where the legs end, the figure must be stood about three metres away form the net, which is also tucked under his arm – so a slight physical impossibility!

Also, after examining the photo more closely, I could see that to really make the nets look transparent, I needed to show the contrast through the nets of where the light on the slipway meets the shadow of the harbour wall. Then there were the angles, the top of the harbour wall was too acute an angle, leaving too much of the road on the top (which led me to introduce the shadows to top and tail the image better).

So, with much learned, I thought that I should make another attempt. The space I had left on my half sheet was narrower than my first take but this, I think, suited the image more with the shallower angle of the harbour wall and a little less in the foreground.

I was mindful when sketching it out to correct the errors of the first version. I don’t know the secret to painting transparent items such as the fishing nets – so I’d welcome any advice or suggestions, but here’s how I tried to tackle the nets on this image. After washing in with lots of water and lots of pigment the harbour wall, I used a damp sponge to lift out the area behind the nets. This didn’t take the paper back to white but it did lighten the area. Once it was all dry, I put a light-ish wash of Winsor red over the whole of the nets. Once this had dried, I used some of the same Winsor red but thickly dragging some dry brushstrokes down the nets. Finally, I did the same thick mix dry brushing with some white gouache. I’m painting on Saunders Waterford Rough, so the texture of the paper really helps with this type of application.

I also managed to keep the figure a little lighter of touch and of tone which I think really helps too.

Overall I really like these two. It was great to be able to do them in quite quick succession, and to be able to identify some of the weaknesses of the first attempt and to correct them in the second one. I really prefer the second one – with the exception of the harbour wall, where I prefer the blue-ish hue of the wall rather than the distinctly brow-ish hue of the second painting.

It’s nice to be able to see the two side by side to compare and contrast the differences.

Looking back at my original image, there’s another crop of this that, with a bit of artistic licence, I think might work as a nice portrait format image – what do you think?

The post Mending the nets (or 241!) appeared first on John Haywood Watercolours.

I think it’s a sign of how far I feel I’ve progressed of late that I’m distinctly underwhelmed by this painiting. I do like the harsh contrast of the twigs and undergrowth at the base of the trees on the right against the diffused distant trees, and some of detailed elements of where colours have bled into one another, but there’s a whole host of aspects that I don’t like about this. The three trees on the left for instance.  Why I did three of them all leaning at the same identical angle and with almost identical growth patterns is beyond me. The main tree also. The light is supposed to be falling on the left of the trunk but I haven’t captured this at all (why is the trunk brown-ish, but all of the branches in every direction are black?)

This isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy myself as I was painting this, just that in my enjoyment I perhaps lost sight of some fundamentals that haunt the final image. Nevertheless, I’m pleased that even when time is against me, I’m still managing not just to squeeze in some painting, but to make painting an integral part of ‘what I do’ on a reqular basis. And let’s be honest, for many of us, that’s half the battle.

I’ll hopefully have something more substantial to show next week but in the meantime, and just for fun, here’s a detail crop to show some of the bits I like best in this painting.

The post Better to paint something than nothing… appeared first on John Haywood Watercolours.

For a fleeting moment, I thought that I had finally produced a painting that I was pretty happy with at my first attempt. Until however, I recalled that I did try to paint this scene a short time ago and that I’d managed to ‘almost’ erase the memory of it from my mind. This is the ill-fated first effort:

Unlike most of my paintings, which normally reside on a shelf for a bit of thoughtful consideration before being put in a cupboard to be replaced by another painting – this one was consigned immediately to the cupboard! I seem to remember thinking at the time that, despite my recent progress, I may have reached beyond my capabilities. In retrospect, it’s a a surprise that I returned to it again so soon.

When I did this first effort (above), I was trying to be intentionally ‘loose’ – which somewhat unintentionally led to me become rushed and ill-considered. From the initial planning and sketching through to my choice of colours, tonal values and brushstrokes. The final result was, to my eye, a real mish-mash of errors.

With this later effort I endeavored to be much more thoughtful ahead of applying the paint. What order was I going to work in. What area could I work on whilst another was drying, what did I need to leave light, where where the main areas of contrast etc. Remarkably, it seemed to come together pretty well and the painting was all done and dusted in one relatively brief sitting.

If I had to be picky…  looking at the sky you can discern a distinct vertical aspect to the passages of orange – now whilst these aren’t deal breakers, they’re not like any cloud formations or light effects that I’ve ever seen. The sky wash was done in one take, first wetting the paper in parts, then applying the orange hue, then the blue and letting everything flow together. In the heat of the moment however, I think my easel was on too steep an angle which I think led to the somewhat harsh vertical runs in the paint. Like I say, not a deal breaker, especially when there’s so much else I like about the sky. The other area that niggles me a bit is the sand in the foreground. Whilst I like the sense of light falling on it, I think it’s a little ‘flat’ and could have done with a little more variation in tone to suggest the lie of the land a little better. In the grand scheme of things however, these are relatively minor concerns and, of all the paintings that I’ve done of late – this is one of those that I’m most pleased with.

Its now five months since I discovered that, for my birthday,  I was going to be embarking on my first proper watercolour course. Since then, I’ve managed to spend some time every week painting, and I feel that the dividends are plain to see. Hopefully I can continue along a similar trajectory over the next couple of months so that I begin the course in the best watercolour painting condition of my life!

The post Only two months to go!! appeared first on John Haywood Watercolours.

Timely in many ways as I’ve been trying to focus a little more on my sketching – of which more to come soon – as a means of improving my observation and confidence with a pencil but I just really liked the simplicity, energy and feeling of depth created in this sketch. Hopefully you can get a little more sense of the pencil-work from this image gallery:

As for the pizza, I had one of my favourites – a capricciosa – and mightily delicious it was too! Should you ever be in the vicinity, I can highly recommend it, and you can find out more by visiting the Fabbrica Pizzeria website – buon appetito!

Now then, where did I put that pencil?

The post Pizza and Pencil appeared first on John Haywood Watercolours.

After having watched and thoroughly enjoyed the Joseph Zbukvic masterclass on ‘Colour in your life’ I decided to take the plunge and invest in one of his DVDs. I was keen to pick up the DVD entitled ‘Atmosphere and Mood in Watercolour’ as it shares a similar title to his book Mastering Atmosphere and Mood in Watercolor.

The book is out of print and, whilst I’ve always kept an eye out for it, copies usually change hands at ridiculous prices – often in excess of £200 – on ebay. I have however read a copy of the book and it is without doubt one of the best instruction manuals on the art of watercolour that I’ve read to date. The book goes into great detail about the approach that he has developed over many many years of practice and is explained through the use of he refers to as ‘the watercolour clock’. This analogy takes into account how wet the paper is (dry, damp, moist, wet) and what’s the consistency of paint (tea, coffee, milk, cream, butter). By mastering all the possible combinations of these elements, you will be armed with the necessary skills to control every ‘edge’ and effect needed to give your paintings a true sense of atmosphere and mood.

The book really is worthy of close study, and an entire review separate to this article, but suffice to say that I thought because the book and DVD shared similar titles, that they would cover similar ground.

Whilst this isn’t the case­, the DVD is still a great investment and a joy to watch. I’ve read lots of  instruction manuals and whilst I’ve enjoyed many, I find it particularly valuable to hear the live commentary alongside seeing the artist at work. I’m fascinated by everything from how the brush is held, to the colour mixing, the confidence of the brushwork and, in particular, how scenes are simplified to focus attention and tell the story. The DVD follows the artist as he creates 3 paintings of very different scenes and does a single sketch. The sketch and one of the paintings are in and around the fish market in Venice and, whilst this first image isn’t either of them – it does I hope give a flavour of the amazing location and the vibrancy of Zbukvic’s treatment. The second image is an actual still from the DVD.

If I were to have any criticism of the film, it’s that I’d also like to see a work developed from a completely blank sheet of paper. In the case of the three painting demonstrations, the action begins at the point he starts to paint, with the composition already decided and the planned painted sketched out in some detail. I think I’d also find it really valuable to see and hear about the process right from the outset. That said, I’ve already stored up a whole host of comments and phrases that I’m hoping I’ll be able to summon up as and when I need them –but I won’t know until I’m deep in the heat of the moment of my next painting.

I’ve also, since buying this DVD, received another Joseph Zbukvic DVD as a present, Watercolour on Location which I’ve yet to watch but am already looking forward to spending some time with! I’ll post another review up in due course.

The post Joseph Zbukvic’s Atmosphere and Mood in Watercolour DVD appeared first on John Haywood Watercolours.

Came across this video on You Tube some time ago and have subsequently watched it a number of times. I’ve never been much of one for buying DVDs of watercolour demonstrations but watching this has made me alter my stance quite considerably. I gained so much from watching Joseph Zbukvic at work and found these 24 minutes quite inspirational. There’s such pleasure to be had in watching someone so skilled in their craft and who obviously loves what they do. It’s hard to single out any one thing that I’m going to try to take away from this video but, if pushed, I think that I’d like to approach my work with much more joy and a lot less fear – it’s only painting after all!

You can find out more about Joseph Zbukvic by visiting his website, and I’ve started to collect together some of my favourite paintings by him on a dedicated Josesph Zbukvic pinboard on Pinterest.

The post A great watercolour demonstration from the wonderful Joseph Zbukvic appeared first on John Haywood Watercolours.

While I prefer the looseness and immediacy of the Edwards Seago and Wesson, what I love about Roland Hilder’s work is the layering of washes. In trying to emulate these, it may also help instill in me some of the necessary discipline to wait for one passage to dry before applying the next as my own impatience has ruined many an effort.

For this exercise I’ve photographed my work at each of the same stages as does Hilder in the book. From the outset, it wasn’t my intention to make an exact replica but to create a similar feeling of atmosphere.

Stages 1 and 2

After doing an approximate sketch, in which I omitted a couple of details for the sake of simplicity, I was ready to apply the first wash, which was primarily made of raw sienna with touch of burnt sienna, although I replaced the burnt sienna with some light red. Hilder then lifted some of the wash out in the sky to the left of centre, and charged the sky to the right of centre with some more intense burnt sienna/light red.

Unfortunately I allowed my wash to dry out too much so when I tried to intensify the raw sienna/light red I ended up with some hard edges. After a couple of attempts to rectify this, by wetting and lifting off, in an ever larger area, I was almost ready to give up and start again! Following a couple of deep breathes, and standing back a little, I decided that the whole wash was too intense. With nothing to lose, I soaked the paper and wiped it over with some kitchen towel to lift off much of the colour and quickly charged the area right of centre with some light red. It wasn’t as I’d wanted it, (or I’m sure as Hilder would have wanted it!) but at least I felt that I’d retrieved it sufficiently to carry on.

The second wash called for an overall treatment of cobalt blue with monestial blue (which I’m neither familiar with nor in possession of, so I substituted a touch of payne’s grey for good measure).

The post Rowland Hilder watercolour exercise appeared first on John Haywood Watercolours.