Mediterranean

Salt Mills at Trapani, Sicily

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When I last posted about the painting that I finished of Marzamemi in the south eastern corner of Sicily, I referred to the salt pans and the salt mills of Trapani near Marsala in the north western end of the Sicilian island

The mills aren’t used any more I am told, but stand as monuments to an industrial past. They are striking, as windmills always are. Something about them standing against the skyline, which makes you want to paint them, and these are no exception.

The design is somewhat different to the ones you see in Northern Europe. Six sails instead of the four we are used to. The sails themselves seem less sturdy too. Maybe that is why there are so many ropes strung from one sail to the next. I don’t know, and I could not find anyone to tell me either. The conical roof can be rotated manually with a lever behind, to turn the sails into the prevailing wind. English mills have something similar although not the same.

But whatever, they are impressive and very paintable although what surrounds them is not inspiring, so will have to be sorted somehow

The actual salt extraction continues as of old. The sea water floods the pans and is allowed to evaporate in the hot sun. The salt as it is exposed is turned by hand until it dries, and then piled on the dockside awaiting removal by truck and further processing later

I have got as far as making  a perspective drawing and transferring it onto watercolour paper, and I will include a shot of the drawing at the end. I have masked the edges of the mills and other buildings, to allow me to sweep across with my usual Mediterranean sky mix of phthalo and cobalt blue. You will see from the drawing that I have added one more mill to deepen the perspective. I have actually just added the blue and will let it harden for 24 hours before removing the mask

I would love to think that this will make a pair with the last Sicilian painting of Marzamemi. Probably too much to hope for, but we will remain optimistic

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As clear as I can get it for the moment, so hope that makes sense

Marzamemi in Sicily: the finished painting

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Marzamemi, the fishing village near Syracuse in Sicily, almost a study in blue. The painting itself is more striking, but the photograph is as good as I can get it.

There is very little that I can add from the last post. I have detailed the boats in the foreground and you can check back against the original photograph. The only difference , I think, is that I have added a brighter red to the hull along the waterline.

I like it and it will be going into my exhibition in March

Next, well, there is one more painting of Sicily that I would like to try, and that is of the salt mills at Trapani. Salt is still extracted from the sea, by evaporation in salt pans. The majestic windmills that stand there still against the skyline no longer work, but they look marvelous. You couldn’t imagine the horizon without them

We will see how they come up in a painting

Marzamemi, Sicily: the story so far

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The painting of Marzamemi, the fishing village in Sicily, which I have started and which is in its early stages.

Not much sky in this paicture which is useful, as I wanted the roof tops of the buildings to remain sharp if possible against the skyline. I used my old friend, the Mediterranean mix of Phthalo Blue and Cobalt for the sky, not wetting the paper beforehand, so that the colour didn’t run all over the place

I have tidied up the buildings to a certain extent and let the colour of the buildings bleed down into the sea. The sea colour is the same as the sky. I let that dry hard before going any further.

After a day or so, I picked up the painting again, and put some more colour into the sea. I avoided going over the reflections of the buildings, but just went over the rest with sweeps of sea colour, to give the effect of breeze ripples, I hope

I went right across the boats, risky I know but I think all the colours to be used on the boats will cover what I have done

Since taking this photograph I have introduced indigo into the foreground boats, for the detailing and deep shadow. I really want these two boats to come out at the viewer and command most of the attention.

Toying now which colours to use to be faithful to the original whilst at the same time, I want the combination to work as a painting. Winsor Blue perhaps which I haven’t used for some time, red along the waterline and white gouache. There will be some trial and error I think, so we shall see.

Every now and then I repeat that I am not an art teacher and have no qualification other than experience. I am very happy for people to watch, and if  what I do is helpful, then great. By the same token, I like to learn so alternative suggestions are always welcome

Marzamemi, Sicily : Composed Drawing

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Using the boat photograph and various other photographs which I took at the time, I have put together quite a simple composition, which I hope nonetheless will be effective

As a drawing, it is none too exciting, but when painted up, I am hoping that these bright, Mediterranean colours will provide the stimulus

With the exception of buildings on the far shore, nearly everything is blue or white. Different shades of blue, too, which will be challenging ( please excuse that overworked word) to do successfully as a watercolour

Textures will be interesting too. The boats in the foreground look as though their hulls have been reinforced with fibre glass, not too professionally, so that consequently the surface of them is quite rough. How to achieve that with a watercolour painting, I am not sure, probably with gouache applied thickly to give an impasto finish. Anyway we can play around with that.

We only had a short stop off here. Just enough time for a coffee, in one of the lovely little cafes in the main square, which was charming, and a walk round the harbour, which is a mix of boat repair workshops, restaurants and boutiques. That may sound an unlikely mix but seemed to work well.

Marzamemi is fairly close to Syracuse, the history of which is fascinating, and a chapter in itself. Around that eastern part of the island, we had spent quite a lot of time visiting spots used on location filming for the TV cop series Montalbano. If you are not familiar with the series it was broadcast from 1999 until now, something like 11 separate series, so very popular. Marzamemi was not one of those places, so something of a relief in a way. Don’t get me wrong, I have watched the series at home, and it is very good, and we knew what we were going to look at before we joined the tour, but there was a lot of it

As I say, I enjoyed watching Montalbano at home, except I would have preferred subtitles to a dubbed voice. Dubbing never works for me, always slightly out of sync, and you don’t have to be a lipreader to see the face doesn’t match the dialogue. I much prefer the Scandinavian crime dramas like “The Bridge” which we get which are subtitled.

But I am going off the point. Enough to say that Marzamemi was delightful and I look forward to doing this painting.

Paintings of Sicily

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I really need two more paintings for my exhibition in March. I love painting Italy, and am going to pick two locations from our trip to Sicily last year. One lovely little spot was the fishing village of Marzamemi, which is on the southern side of the island, not far from Syracuse. Actually it is more for the tourists than anything else now, but there are some nice little boats tied up in the harbour, obviously old but cared for. They are not pristine, but I don’t want that anyway. What I prefer are something like the boats in my photograph, painted by hand in these bright Mediterranean colours. How to get that bright blue will be challenging in itself and whether I can capture that thick hand-painted effect will be another matter

I took several pictures, and I will have to cull bits and pieces for the far distance, which is the far side of the harbour. I can generate something from these for the composition. There are buildings like cafes on the shore as well as other craft both on and out of the water

It could be an interesting task putting these together, but as I say, making something out of all that bright blue will be fun

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On the north west side of the island near the town of Marsala, is a quiet area where salt is evaporated from the sea-water in large pans. We watched the salt being piled high, and then being taken away for processing , with a constant shuttle of trucks. The mills are picturesque. I don’t think any of them work now, but they are still part of the scene

I thought I could make a painting from the pictures I took. I hope so, I will have juggle them about and see

I also bought two nice frames at a fair recently in a distressed finish, which look very Italian, so I hope that works out. I just have to get down to it

I received the brochure from the Tate the other day, and a new David Hockney exhibition starts next month, with special viewing times for members, which is me, which is a very welcome innovation. To be looked forward to

Flamingos in the Camargue: Finished Painting

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This follows on from the last post on flamingos which just showed the preparatory drawing. I think this is one occasion where I prefer the coloured version to the black and white. The colours are really vivid

We were in the Camargue region in the Rhone estuary watching the white horses which I have already painted, and also the flamingos which breed there. This is apparently the only place in Europe that flamingos breed, although I have subsequently seen them in Sicily. Matbe they were just stopping over.

Curiously these flamingos were more white than pink, which is the image we tend to have of these birds. I have probably used more pink wash than necessary in order to get some definition between the birds. In actual fact their heads were pale pink, whilst under their wings they were bright red/orange. I used cadmium red for these markings and that was spot-on accurate

The legs again were a very deep and bright pink. I read somewhere of someone using permanent rose with some cadmium orange to get a good flamingo colour. I tried that and got cadmium red !  Oh well, two routes to the same destination, which is not necessarily such a bad thing.

I started with a light pencil drawing taken from the original sketch. I used violet to put in the shadows on the birds and on the water, which gave me the form to base the painting on. Underneath the birds, and running down the paper, I laid a very dilute wash of Windsor Yellow, as an  experiment really, which I was glad of later, and I will explain why when I get there.

I then started to put in the red markings, and the birds started to take shape. I put in reflections of the legs in the water. I left this for 24 hours to harden off, and then laid a dilute wash of phthalo blue and cobalt mix, for the water. Over the yellow, this glaze turned a soft green, and I think, made a better water colour The red reflections showed through and looked convincing. So far so good

The shadows on the water made by the birds, I deepened with Indigo. Likewise some of the deep shadows on the birds and especially on the legs, I put in with Indigo. The same colour worked well for the tips of the beaks

So there we have the finished painting. I keep looking at it and thinking it looks bright but then again it was a bright subject

Always pleased to hear from anyone else who has experience of painting these colourful birds

Flamingos in the Camargue: first sketch drawing

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I took a number of photographs of the flamingos when I was in the Camargue. None of them were usable, so I took this group from someone else’s picture as the birds had formed a natural composition which, I thought, would make an interesting painting.

This is just the sketch done in my favourite Payne’s Grey. What is it about black and white, that I often prefer the sketch to the finished painting

They breed here apparently, the only place in Europe where they do that. I have seen them in Sicily as well, but perhaps they don’t have a breeding ground there

These birds are white, with bright pink flashes under the wings. Legs are a very bright deep pink. Always interesting trying to paint a white bird on white paper. I don’t really want any background against those long white necks, as I want them to stand out sharply. I will have to give that some thought

There will need to be colour around the undercarriages as reflections will be important and part of the composition, probably a blue of some sort. Phthalo with some Cobalt mixed in is a good Mediterranean colour, and could work with the deep pink legs. The pink will probably be Permanent Rose with a little Cadmium Orange.

Whether I shall have this finished for the Pirbright Art Club December exhibition remains to be seen. Let’s see how it turns out first!

The Contented Donkey: finished painting

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This is the finished donkey painting supplied to Egypt Equine Aid for their next auction which is early next month. Full details on their Facebook page, as well as news of the wonderful work that they do

I don’t think I deserved the build up they gave me. I didn’t really recognise myself. I was just happy enough to do something to help.

Let’s hope it sells after all that. Embarrassing otherwise

Flinging myself now into exhibition work for pre Christmas and into the new year, as am rather behind. Just starting a drawing of flamingos, as seen on our recent holiday in the south of France. Not drawn these birds before. I have to say that they are rather a strange shape

Just a short post this time, but wanted to mention the finished donkey painting

 

The Contented Donkey

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I was pleased to be asked to provide a painting for auction for a well-known charity involved in the rescue of horses and donkeys in Egypt

Many years ago I painted from the charming photograph inset, a watercolour study. I sold it subsequently and then forgot about it. Trying to remember what horse or donkey study I could paint, I remembered this one and finally found the photograph

We were coming back from the Cotswolds, and pulled off the highway at Minster Lovell in Oxfordshire A beautiful village in that lovely honey-coloured Cotswold stone which was the home of Francis Lovell, close confidante to Richard III, who limped home to Minster Lovel Hall to lick his wounds after the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. He continued to resist the Tudors and was killed at Stoke in 1487. The whole setting is delightful and the old dovecote is still there to see. The donkeys were part of the setting and I photographed one or two including the one inset. They are fun to draw but remember the long ears otherwise they will become a horse

The pencil study I did just now, and will transfer onto  watercolour paper. I actually have a commission on the easel at the moment which is a view of Bosham in Sussex, with a lovely sweep of the harbour with the Saxon Church in the background. Bosham Harbour is a delight to paint and I have done many times. When the painting is more complete, I will blog about it, as the history is fascinating.

For now, we are talking about the donkey. I am painting this alongside Bosham and also working up a picture of flamingos brought back from the Camargue. Very rarely do I do three easels at once, so let’s hope I don’t come unstuck

I attach a picture of the painting of Christmas Shopping in Guildford , now framed,which goes on sale at the end of this month for charity in St. Nicholas Church, Guildford with all the Christmas cards, one of which, of course, is from this painting.   I am attaching also the framed picture of the Wild Horses in the Camargue, which is now ready for the next exhibition

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The framed version of Christmas Shopping in Guildford High Street, which has been donated to Cards for Good Causes. Sorry about the reflections

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Wild Horses of the Camargue framed ready for exhibition. Again the reflections are annoying but I couldn’t get rid of them

Quite a bit to do, so hope to have something to show you next time

Wild Horses of the Camargue: the finished painting

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Well, this is the finished painting

Quite a lot of work building up the shadows on the horses. They have so much muscle which has to be shaded correctly. in order to look right. Having stared at this painting for so long, I just can’t tell any longer if it looks right or not

As well as showing horses, I also wanted to show speed and independence of spirit which these animals possess in the wild.

I wanted to paint the flamingos from the Camargue as well but commissions are backing up which is a happy problem, so sadly flamingos may have to wait for a while

I have been asked to paint something for Egypt Equine Aid which I am pleased to do, which may well be one of my donkey paintings which I have not done for years, so that should be interesting. They have a Christmas auction but paintings have to be in in November so not that much time