Corfe II at sunset

Corfe Castle is such a special place. The first time I saw it, we traveled down from Bristol where I was living at the time, across part of Salisbury Plain, through Blandford Forum, “a delightful Georgian town”, to Lulworth Cove and then on to Durdle Door, a natural sea arch. We the drove across the army ranges to Corfe Castle. I would have liked to have seen it before the Roundheads destroyed it during the English Civil War.

About a week after I finished 'Corfe at Sunset' I decided to have a second go at this subject again. I almost managed to get the sunset I wanted. I may try again sometime.

Watercolour 22x15 inches on Saunders Waterford 200# rough paper

Corfe at Sunset

Corfe Castle, Dorset, England. The sky just kind of ran away from me. Someone commented that it looks a bit confused to which I replied, Corfe Castle, or the remains of, is a pile of Purbeck stone, piled on top of a pile of Purbeck stone. Never taken by force of arms...

My first painting for 2011. Watercolour 15x22 inches on Saunders Waterford 200# rough paper.

my good friend Rob commented:"... but was taken by treachery.

I'd step back and ask yourself wee you painting the sunset, or were you painting the castle, or the combination of both. The 50/50 split of the painting implies both, in which case I think the grey hills create the complication in a painting which is otherwise saying, look at the similarities between all that hard Purbeck stone and the sky.If you changed the perspective so that the grey hills created a much thinner line then it would work much better, allowing the castle to jutt into the sky ~ as a result the other painting works out better."

which I think is fair comment.

West Tanfield, Yorkshire, England

This photo was posted on WetCanvas.com as a monthly challenge.

I cropped it down to this.

and here is my watercolour painting of this lovely village.

Tuscan Sunset

This is one of my earliest half sheet paintings. My old tutor Les, keep encouraging me to paint large. 'It's liberating' and I agree with him. It is very liberating. Until I took his advice, the largest painting I had completed was 12x18. A slightly oversize quarter sheet. I had just purchased some 26x40 260# Saunders-Waterford thinking I was getting a heavy weight paper. When you consider the weight and run the numbers, it turns out to be equivalent of 156# 22x30 Imperial. Slightly heavier that the standard 140# Imperial size sheets, but no where near 200# rough that I currently use.

This is also one of my earliest cityscape-urban landscape paintings. Urban landscapes is starting to become a genre that I enjoy painting.

17x22 Saunders-Waterford rough

Blue and Gold Manhattan

I painted this Manhattan skyline from my imagination back in January. Only the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building, both in the background, actually exist. The Blue and Gold comes from the Ultramarine Blue and Raw Sienna, the only two pigments I used in it. Perhaps I flatter myself in thinking I tried to give the New York skyline a turneresque rendition. This is somewhat like I imagine that the great JMW might have painted if he were here and had visited New York.

My fan club tell me this is a love it or hate it painting. Neither Rob, another JMW fan, nor Susan, a native New Yorker like this one though Jill thinks it one of my better paintings.

half sheet 15x22 Saunders-Waterford 200# rough

Just for Jill

A while back, Jill was visiting 'R' in the hospital and she saw a similar painting and snap a pick on her cell phone. It's not a copy, but it's definitely an 'after...', but I don't know who created the original, so I don't know who to credit.

Watercolour 21x21 inches on Saunders Waterford 140# rough

Cherry Hill Village

Jill and I moved into an apartment in Cherry Hill Village about 18 months ago. Once the weather improved, I got on my bike, literally, and started to move around and started to paint 'en plein air'. Here is an unofficial village sign that amused me and yes, it looks like it might fall down.

15x11 on Saunders-Waterford 200# rough