Rip-Roaring Tales from the drawing board

    One of the after-dinner features of many of my painting courses has been Bellamy's Bedtime Stories which developed after requests from students, and I've been asked if I can include some of these into the blogs. Robert, one of my students who is sadly no longer with us, had a delightful mischievous streak and asked me to literally tear into his painting at the final critique. He'd painted it especially for the purpose and he was a good painter. With the group gathered I began with Robert's work, explaining what a marvellous rendition of the subject he'd made, but I didn't like the right-hand side, so to everyone's horror I tore a 3-inch vertical strip off the paper and declared that that was much better. However, I then pointed out that it was slightly unbalanced and that we needed to remove the top part of the sky, and so tore another strip off. By now many in the group were eyeing their own paintings piled up on the table and wondering whether they should rescue them.

    I continued with a denigration of the over-worked foreground (which was actually well done!), and with a severe frown announced that much of that would have to go as well. By now the painting was less than half its original size. I found a particularly "revolting" passage and tore that off, continuing in that way until the whole thing was reduced to the size of a large postage stamp, at which point I declared it was a truly outstanding work of art. Many of the students were in the know and the non-painting partners found it rather entertaining. I no longer do such severe appraisals, but while Robert was with us anything could happen. We do miss him greatly.

    How did you get on with the scene of Carn Llidi? I promised in an earlier blog I would show you my version which you can see on the right. I decided to work mainly in greys with spots of colour here and there, darkening the sky to highlight the peak. The buildings were pushed nearer to the peak and stand out against the strong darks immediately behind. The telegraph pole was achieved with white gouache which I have also used to scrub in to add interest in places. The foreground is almost abstract with stony shapes and splashes of reds and ochres. The painting was done on Saunders Waterford rough paper which I find superb for creating textural effects. The original photograph shows how much I have altered the scene. Of course there are an infinite number of ways to respond to a subject - there is no one 'right' way, but my aim here was to stimulate a different way of looking at a scene and also to encourage you to look at your sketches and photographs with a view to trying all sorts of approaches, perhaps even trying five or six completely different ways to paint a scene.

Keep painting and stay safe.......

Making still life more interesting

    The weather continues to be glorious sunshine every day, as though mocking us in our state of lockdown, though even a brief sojourn into the garden can lift our spirits immensely. One genre of painting that is so pertinent in our current situation is, of course, still life. Did I hear a groan? Yes, I'm afraid the thought of painting apples and oranges in a bowl doesn't exactly set me alight, so when I had to include still life in my Complete Guide to Watercolour Painting many years ago, I really had to rack my brains. My answer was to look for still life subjects based on my hobbies and interests. Ice climbing was one of my interests and when I came across an ancient ice axe and snow shoes in a French refuge I made a sketch of them hanging on a wall.

    As you can see, I've lost parts of the snow-shoe rims in order to emphasise other parts. For the book I'd painted a snowy mountain background, but here I wanted to show up the ice-axe much larger. When doing the original sketch I didn't have much control over the lighting, but if you have the object before you then you can adjust the lighting to create highlights in the right places. If you are a gardener you may like to depict a spade or trowel, or maybe a wheelbarrow. Balls of wool make colourful subjects, perhaps accompanied by knitting apparatus, while fishing reels, old worn-out boots, favourite hats, model ships and the like, and so much more can make challenging objects to paint or draw.

    Many thanks for all your best wishes and comments. Try to keep painting and being creative. Check out the online community of The Artist and Leisure Painter magazines at www.painters-online.co.uk where you'll get a host of help and ideas. Please note that if you order anything from us at the moment there might be a slight delay owing to the current situation. The next blog will feature my painting of the subject I set on the previous blog. Stay safe!

Travelling the world during Coronavirus

    I've just returned from wonderful times in Egypt and Yemen this week, immersing myself in fabulous scenery, although I'm afraid it's all in the mind, as they are places that I've been painting, not actually visiting! That's one of the marvellous advantages of being an artist - you can transport yourself to anywhere for a while, and I'm especially glad that at the moment I'm working on a book on the Middle East, and enjoying every moment, with so many memories flooding back.

    Given our unremitting lockdown I thought you might like a little exercise to do over the Easter holiday. This is where I show you a photograph of a landscape scene and invite you to paint it. In about a week's time I will then show you how I tackled it. Don't worry, you're not expected to get the result like mine as we all have different ways of working and even hundreds of ways of producing a different painting of the scene can still all be right. The idea is to stimulate innovation and inspire you to put your own slant on the composition.

    The scene is Carn Llidi in North Pembrokeshire with the foreground in strong sunshine, but with a dull band behind the buildings to two-thirds up the peak. That dark band is extremely useful as it highlights the buildings. It covers a slope covered mainly in bracken, with some grass showing in places. In summer it is very green and in autumn the bracken becomes a definite light red colour. Move elements around to suit yourself, and for this it would be good to start with a small thumbnail sketch to ascertain where you want to place these elements. Then think about the sky treatment and the sort of mood you wish to convey: sunny, stormy, tranquil, warm evening light, or whatever appeals. Will you leave out some of the features? What will you do with the foreground hedgerow? Most importantly what will be your centre of interest? I'm afraid the small scale of this photo will not show much detail, but this can be an advantage, stopping any fiddling.

    Have a go at this composition if you wish and I'll show my version in a week's time. In the meantime I wish you a happy and peaceful Easter. Stay safe and enjoy any worldwide travels you do in the next few days..........in your paintings, of course!

Subjects to paint in self-isolation: flowers

    Spring is always a great pleasure in Mid-Wales: buds are springing out, daffodils caught in the spring sunshine invoke a joyous feeling as they are set against the sparkling water of the garden pond, while the birdsong is especially uplifting at the moment. The frogs have come and gone after their annual orgy in the pond, their massed croaking drifting into the house in waves of communal ecstasy. The sparrows are forever darting about, but with the mating season in full swing they are pretty aggressive: at times the undergrowth is waving about madly with their exertions! All this I see from my studio window, as well as the new-born lambs gambolling around in the field next door.

    All this seems utterly surreal given our present predicament with this nasty virus, but as artists we are lucky to have an occupation or hobby that transports us to other worlds, if only for a brief period. Your response to my last blog post was so rewarding and I'm glad so many of you found it helpful. I've just completed a deadline for my book on Landscapes Through the Seasons, so while I am still working on another book, I now have more time to push out blogs that will hopefully give you some ideas during this difficult period when we have to self-isolate. Although I am mainly a landscape artist I will try to cover a number of genres to provide as much variety as I can, including imaginary subjects and maybe even fantasy - we all need a little fantasy now and then. I know many of you are flower painters, for example, so why not start there?

    Flowers and still life are obvious subjects to fall back on when we are house-bound. My work on flowers is almost exclusively on wild flowers as part of a landscape, but I did touch on cut flowers in my book Complete Guide to Watercolour Painting. If you are painting a vase of flowers pick out one or two blooms that stand out and play the others down slightly by losing edges and running colours into one another. Suggesting background shapes with a plain, shadowy wash can accentuate a sense of depth in the composition, and introducing some spatter effect as I've done round some of the edges in this watercolour, gives a sense of spontaneity and life. You don't always need a background but if you do include one then play it down so that the flowers take pride of place. A simple suggestion of perhaps the edge of a table can also set it up well. Saunders Waterford high white is an excellent paper for flowers as its white is so brilliant, and Bockingford is a good alternative.

    Those without a garden may find it difficult at the moment, unless you have a window-box. Now, of course is the time to set seeds so if you are bereft of window-boxes or flower baskets try to get one, even if you have to rely on a rusty old bucket - sometimes these decrepit old things can have far more character than the latest gleamingly spotless container. Plant a few seeds and before very long you will have new subjects to work on, but don't ask me what to plant - unlike my late namesake Professor David Bellamy or my brother Malcolm, I'm not a horticultural expert! Also consider getting miniature trees and exotic plants.

    More tips and ideas soon, and maybe I should shortly do one especially for the lads, perhaps on how to paint the Cold War era Soviet T-64 main battle tank in action, although I doubt that many of you will have one of those in your garden.......  Keep safe and keep painting!

Fun techniques during Coronavirus

    It has been a chaotic year so far, making it difficult to find time to write even though there is so much to say. Coronavirus has made things even more difficult, of course, but we persevere. Thankfully, as artists we can beaver away at home on our paintings, but what can we do if we feel inspirationally challenged?

    One way is to get out all those old paintings that have not worked. I have loads and sometimes go through them to see if I can use them in some way, or find just a part of the overall composition that might offer some hope. Overpainting with a weak glaze is a favourite technique, sometimes over part of the painting, sometimes over everything, and this can subdue parts you don't like and at the same time highlight those parts you don't touch.

    I'm always looking for ways to improve paintings and often it can be fun working on old paintings, perhaps not taking it too seriously. One technique you might like to try is brightening up dull colours with Derwent Inktense pencils. Because they are so intense I work over colours such as a dull green with an Inktense light green or yellow as I have done in this small watercolour of a rustic cottage, and this has resulted in a much more pleasant scene with a sunnier accent than previously. Note also the sky - a very simple one, but because I used sodalite genuine, a strongly-granulating colour from Daniel Smith it still has impact even without any cloud detail. The painting was done on Saunders Waterford high white NOT paper which is absolutely great when you want to rough it about a little with extra rubbing with the Derwent pencils, for example. The paper can take quite a lot of punishment and I love working on it.

    I'll get back with more ideas shortly, so try to keep up the painting. Sadly all my workshops and demos have had to be cancelled until the end of July, including our great favourite, the Patchings Art Festival. The course in St Davids may well now be rescheduled for late August or early September, Coronavirus permitting, and I hope that the one at D'Alvaro in Spain in October will still be able to go ahead.  Keep safe, and keep painting!