The drawing of the harbour buildings, the mill and outbuildings is done, and lights and darks filled in. I have used ink, as this makes sketching very quick. The cartridge paper has cockled, as I knew it would, but is adequate for the task ahead.

I will transfer the drawing to watercolour paper, and do some experimentation with the sky. The first thing to do, will be to give the whole picture a coat of burnt sienna, not too strong, just enough to give a good base coat. I will mask out two buildings which have white walls in the photograph, and they will give extra reflected light.

That will then have to dry overnight, as there are further washes to go on sky and sea. The second wash must not pick up any colour from the first one, as the effect will be muddy. This is the sketch so far:

The annual exhibition in Pirbright went collectively well. I didn’t sell any framed paintings this time, but I did sell six greeting cards, so better than nothing. Two of the designs sold were ” Lock Gates/Basingstoke Canal” and the other four were “Cotswold Winter-Snow”, which are both on the web site

I am pleased to say that I have arranged two solo exhibitions for next year. I have booked space at The Guildford Institute from 3rd to 20th May and at the Royal Surrey Hospital from 27th May to 24th June. Both of these are popular galleries, where I have sold well in the past. Let’s see how we get on this time!

I will post again when I have started on the actual painting, which is going to be into next week now. I hope you find it useful, and as I always say, if there is a different method that has worked for you, please tell me about it