water colour – Page 2 – The Consulting Artist

I Thought It Was Supposed To Be Summer?

I think this painting wins the longest title competition, in my current body of work at least. The image is intended to represent the currently underwhelming June weather we are experiencing here in London.

Painted on an A4 sheet of watercolour paper using Cadmium Yellow and Ultramarine Blue paint in varying strengths, and with varying amounts of water on the paper. I used an empty biro tube for the blown effects.

I will leave this piece of art (unframed) in Wallington as part of my ongoing art drop experiment.

Leaf – an exercise in patience

I was sitting on the New York City Highline last Sunday, enjoying the fine weather and the way the light fell through the birch trees.

I sketched a quick water colour postcard before moving on to a bar to eat pizza and watch the Giants get stuffed in the NFL.

Later in the day I got to thinking about the leaves on the trees and decided to draw one. The outline took just a minute and then I began to fill in the cell structure of the leaf. This small piece of work took me a long time, around three and a quarter hours in all. Some of the leaf was filled in at my desk in the teeny apartment I’m renting in NYC, the rest was inked in at various cafes and bars. After about an hour I confess I had a ‘wish I’d never started this’ moment, and I persisted. I’m pleased I did – the finished result has exceeded my expectations and will be a gift for Carole when I get home.

Here are a few work in progress photos

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Postcards From the Edge #5 and #6

Here are two more postcards to complete the series. The first is of an old street lamp I spotted high up on a wall in Nice. The second is a view of some very old trees in Cimiez, Nice. Both pictures were painted (perhaps unsurprisingly) on very hot sunny days. I hope the recipients enjoy their cards when they arrive in the post.

I am hugely grateful to Jay Kuhns, Sukh Pabial, David Goddin, Hazel Bedson, Alison Chisnell and Sarah Matthews for getting in touch and asking for a card. I’ve not tried something like this before and without the encouragement from others I’m not sure I would have kept this little idea going. As it turns out I’ve really enjoyed this painting experiment and I will continue it in some way later this year.