Watercolour Painting

Istanbul: Finished Drawing transferred to Watercolour Paper

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Not very often that I am moved to include a quotation, but this one in last week’s Painter magazine, seemed very appropriate for artists, no matter what standard they have reached.

” Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art”       Andy Warhol

The drawing has now been transferred onto watercolour paper, seemingly without mishap

DSCF2792

I have left the shading out, and just left the line work for guidance. The image has unfortunately cropped some of the drawing out to the left and right hand sides. I did actually achieve the length of 43 centimetres that I wanted.

I didn’t do very much masking out, just a few gulls hovering over the surface and two tiny windows on the Galata Tower which appear to be reflecting sunlight. The boats, I know are brilliant white, but I have chosen to go with the old adage” the darker the darks, the brighter the lights”. In other words if I can make the shaded sides of the boats dark enough, then the rest will appear white. That is the theory. I have done it before, but watch this one go wrong.

I have chosen the following palette, which if I include the mixes as one colour, then I will have a palette of six, which would be quite effective if I can stick to it

Base colour: Raw Sienna/ Naples Yellow blend which is my favourite hot colour for buildings

Shadows : Ultramarine Violet/ Transparent Brown blend

Burnt Sienna

French Ultramarine

Sap Green/Raw Sienna blend for trees

Cadmium Red for those foreground red spots like flags, life belts etc

Not that I am above changing my mind as I go along but that is the palette that I want to stick to. I shall get some detail done before posting again

Just changing the subject, the Frank Auerbach exhibition at Tate Britain finishes the end of this month, so I am hoping to go on Saturday, unless I get an urgent call from someone, wanting me to do something else

I don’t know anything much about him, other than he is Britain’s most celebrated living artist. He appears to paint unrecognisable portraits which seems to be a contradiction in terms. However, I am speaking without firsthand knowledge, so will go with an open mind and reserve judgement until after I have seen the exhibition. I am not very good at appreciating images that are not recognisable, which could be an indictment of me, of course. It will be interesting, whatever happens

Istanbul, Bosphorus: finished preparatory sketch

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I said that I would publish the finished preparatory sketch, which will be my tonal guide for the painting stage. That doesn’t mean that I won’t change things as I go along. Not thrilled with the way that boat in the bottom right has turned out, which seems to be lost amongst a clump of trees. Still, that is the benefit of the tonal sketch on cartridge paper, which means that you can make and correct your mistakes, without damaging the surface of the watercolour paper.

Galata Tower finished tonal sketch

Now comes the laborious task of moving the sketch across to the sheet of watercolour paper, which will not make for very interesting reading, so the next post, I think, will deal with starting the painting.

Choice of colours will be interesting. There seem to be plenty of reds and greens which is nice. Definitely my old favourite of raw sienna mixed with Naples yellow across the buildings for some reflected sunshine, and brown shadows to heighten the bright bits

If I get this right, could be a nice painting. We will see

Istanbul, Bosphorus Preparatory Drawing

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As today is the first day of the first month, I would like to wish anyone and everyone reading this post, a very happy new year. Perhaps I should wish you a fortunate new year, as inevitably this year will bring the usual mix of joy and sadness that we all share

Meanwhile back to the drawing board, quite literally….

I have made a start on the drawing using the photographs that I featured on the last post. It is not complete yet but is sufficiently in place, so that we can talk about it. This will be a tonal sketch, rather as I did for the Langstone painting, which means that the shadows will have been worked out well in advance of the painting stage.

On this occasion, I have used Derwent sketching pencils which are soluble. I have cross-hatched the dark side of buildings, and then washed over with clean water to give a shaded effect. These are much more convenient to use than ink. I had forgotten that I had them, so that was a nice find.

I will get the image up before we go any further.Galata Tower, Istanbul

The important building in the picture is the Galata Tower, which was a watch tower and which gives a panorama across the city. It was built by the Genoese in 1348, and replaced an earlier tower destroyed by crusaders in 1203. The Genoese were a merchant community in Constantinople at the time, and I guess this was their way of expressing gratitude for the hospitality shown them

I will only be able to use two of the three photographs, as I want to keep the finished painting within 40 centimetres. This is a pity, as I had hoped to include the splendid red Turkish flag shown between two buildings on the third photo. Not to worry, I still have dashes of red in the foreground with the life belts and the small flags on the boats. Maybe I can do a postcard study of the buildings holding this large flag, at a later date

In case you don’t know, and my apologies if you do, using some red in the foreground is a useful device for artists. It is an aid to perspective, as red comes towards you, just as blue recedes. Distant scenery turns blue, as you have probably noticed.

Let me repeat, that this drawing is not yet complete. I will post the completed drawing when I have finished it

I also have photographic references of the Blue Mosque, which should make a lovely study at some time. The last time we were in Istanbul, which was 2001, so a while ago, we went to the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia, which I believe is a museum now. We also went to the ancient cisterns of Constantinople, that masterpiece of Roman engineering, where the city’s water supply was stored. I try not to use the word “awesome” too lightly but that really was.

This time we went to the Topkapi Palace and of course cruised along the Bosphorus. Istanbul is still one of those places I would like to return to.

If you are following this demo, then thank you. I will complete the finished painting in stages and post as I go

Istanbul along the Bosphorus Waterfront

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We were here in October, and cruised in a small boat gently along the Bosphorus Strait for about an hour. There were any number of picture opportunities and ideas which I have brought back.

I have picked for now, three shots of the waterfront with its variety of buildings. These are consecutive frames which I hope to piece together to make an interesting composition, and finally a painting

Istanbul Bosphorus 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

Istanbul Bosphorus 2

Istanbul Bosphorus 3

Just not clever enough to get them in a line but the idea is there. I need to get a painting measuring about 45×30 centimetres out of these three frames, so will be fun sorting out the drawing in the New Year

Old Albury Church in Surrey

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This is a post that I had wanted to do earlier, but never found time for, so I’m catching up before the year end

Not far from where we live, in Surrey, flows the Tillingbourne river which is idyllic now, but in the 18th century was an industrial river, punctuated with mills producing everything from flour to gunpowder

One of the many villages along its length is Albury, and we went one day in late summer, with a friend who was staying with us to look at Albury Old Church. This is one of those mentioned by Simon Jenkins in his wonderful reference book “England’s 1000 best churches”

It is one of those places that has an interesting story. The church stands next to the old manor house, and until 1782 acted as the parish church for the village. The new incumbent of Albury House, one Captain William Finch RN decided to enclose the village green, annexe a large section of the churchyard, and then set about harassing the villagers, until they moved about a mile to the west. Where they settled became the village of Albury today.

In 1839 the then owner of Albury House,  Henry Drummond, the banker, built a new parish church for the villagers and Albury Old Church was closed . Today it is maintained by the Churches Conservation Trust, and is a redundant church

Before I talk about the church, let us have a look at an image, which is my painting done shortly after our visit.

Old Albury Church

The nave is Saxon and the tower is Norman. The dome was a later addition from the c18

A lot of interesting things associated with this church! One rector of Albury, William Oughtred, was also a famous mathematician. He invented the slide rule in 1622 and is also credited with the introduction of the x symbol in multiplication. He was also the tutor to the young Christopher Wren, who was later a mathematician and astronomer before becoming known as an architect.

Henry Drummond engaged Augustus Pugin in the 1840’s to build his mortuary chapel within the 13 th century walls of the existing transept. This is regarded as a remarkable example of the work of Pugin, perhaps better known for his collaboration with Sir Charles Barry on the then new Houses of Parliament.

The entrance is on the north side which is unusual. On the south wall interior is an amazingly well-preserved Medieval wall painting showing St.Christopher. It was customary during the Middle Ages for people to look in the main door at the saint, who was believed to give them good luck on their journey.

I took a picture of the wall painting, which I will show.St Christopher Wall Painting at Albury

Most of these paintings were washed over in the Reformation, but this one survived somehow

As regards the little painting I showed earlier, there is not too much to say about it. I would just mention, as you can probably see, that I have used brown for the shadows. This is my “hot-weather shadow” reflecting the temperature of the day. I quite like doing a painting as a reminder of a day’s excursion as sometimes it captures the mood better than a photograph. That doesn’t stop me sending it to exhibition and selling it if someone wants it, though

To anyone reading this post, thank you, and have a very good Christmas and a lucky new year