Post YOUR artwork here, cmon !!

[Roobarb]

With the exception of the first one, all the pictures I'd painted so far had been based on an imaginary scene.

I'd quickly realised that I lacked much in the way of imagination.

What I needed was a subject matter that was both going to keep me interested long enough to finish it and also allow me to have a crack at painting a decent sky.

Being a West Country lad and growing up around boats I reckoned a nice picture of a boat might do the trick. The only issue was that I had no idea how to paint water so preferably a nice scene with plenty of sky, lots of boat and not much water was what was needed.

A quick search of 'Cornish fishing boats' on Google Images and I came up trumps with this picture:



And so, about six or seven hours later, I'd produced this:

Attempt 6:



Though I say it myself I was pretty pleased with how this turned out.

OK, so it's a direct copy of a photograph, but it was a simple subject and had enough of a personal connection in it to keep me interested meaning that I didn't rush it. It was the first picture that I'd actually enjoyed doing.

I was happy with the sky as it looked a bit like a sky which is gratifying. The boats are recognisable as boats too however the rather odd lego-like village thing and strip of land in the background is a tad peculiar.

[Roobarb]

So buildings and land is something I needed practice with. I didn't want to try to draw my house again as it all seemed a bit difficult the last time. A simpler subject was what was needed...

A month or two ago I'd gone to Jordan and was lucky enough to have been able to fit in a day visiting Petra.

It's a pretty amazing place and if famous for its buildings that are carved out of the mountains. The best known of these is the Treasury building:



For those who feel an air of deja vu, it's been used as the backdrop in various tales through the years:

'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'



'Tintin'



Even the Transformers did some filming here (apparently):



Anyway, I digress a little and it's not what this thread is about, but I mention it as it would have made a great subject, apart from the fact that its a bit dull in that its all rock. There's no sky or plants to add some colour to the thing .

Up in the hills behind The Treasury though is another similar carved building called The Monastery. It's the same sort of deal as The Treasury, but on top of a hill so much lighter and less hemmed in:



The scale of the place is enormous - you can see the people standing in the doorway, the 'doorstep' is about six feet high.

OK, back to the thread - so having a crack at The Monastery in Petra seemed like a good idea for an attempt at painting a building.

Attempt 7:



I started playing around with painting shadows, which helped to bring the place to life a bit I thought. Shame I didn't paint the building properly vertical though but there we go, I guess I can trim the paper to straighten it.

[blue]

When you announced paintings to be uploading soon, I guessed wrongly, steam trains.

The Boats look great.

I got some acrylics to have a go with one day ,as i heard they are easier to paint over the mistakes, but you've shown the water colours whose the boss.,
Coming on in leaps and bounds.

[Roobarb]

So I was getting there with skies and buildings. Given I enjoy boats as a subject matter, the next thing was having a go at doing water.

Buoyed by what I felt was a bit of success at copying photos, it was back to Google images to look for something with a fair amount of sea in it. A bit of trawling brought me to this photo:



It looked a bit of a challenge. Lots of splashing sea and stuff however the boat bit wasn't too complicated and takes up a good chunk of the page so worth a try.

This is how it turned out:

[Roobarb]

When you announced paintings to be uploading soon, I guessed wrongly, steam trains.

The Boats look great.

I got some acrylics to have a go with one day ,as i heard they are easier to paint over the mistakes, but you've shown the water colours whose the boss.,
Coming on in leaps and bounds.

Thanks Blue, I doubt I'm actually using watercolours correctly but I'm enjoying what I'm doing with them. I did buy some oil paints but I've not worked out how I'll clean the brushes so haven't opened them as yet - to be honest though I've not dedicated a lot of thought this particular problem.

I found it all got much easier by finding a simple photograph with a subject I actually wanted to paint and then simply copying it as best I could. I'm not sure it's actually art per-se, but it works for me at the moment.

[charleyboy]

^^ Brilliant!

[Roobarb]

I then wanted to have a go at a picture with a less splashy sea. Again, something with not a lot of detail in it, and a big simple subject filling up the foreground...

... like this:



I'm not sure which yacht it is, but Google said it was 132 feet long and was taken at Les Voiles de St Tropez in 2013, so I'm rather hoping it was the J Class 'Velsheda', but in all honesty I don't know other than it's an enormous looking thing.

Anyway, this is my take on 'Velsheda' (or not):



And that's as far as I've got for now.

In terms of kit, what I've been using is below:



Basically it's:

1) Some cheapo supermarket watercolours.

2) Watercolour pencils, which are useless apart from I found the black one good to draw the stays (the wires) on the yachts.

3) A couple of supermarket paint brushes, and a foam thing which is useful for wetting the paper before putting the paint on.

4) The one expensive item, and worth the cost I think, is the watercolour paper pad. It's basically a pad that is bonded on all four sides (as opposed to one side like a normal A4 pad of paper). This means that the paper stays flat when it gets wet and you don't need to mess around with stretching it out or adjusting it. Once you've finished the picture then you cut the page out with a knife and can then paint on the one below.

Apologies all that it's been a bit of a long tale, but in case there's anyone out there wondering if they should give it a go then maybe some of this may help.

I'm overseas right now but heading home tomorrow and for some odd reason I can't seem to log in to TD from there, so it may be a while before I can post anything more. If I do get anything else done then I'll bung it up here the next time I next get the chance.

In the meantime therefore it just leaves me to say many thanks again Nigel. Truly, this thread was the inspiration behind me having a go. I'm really glad I did.

[Loy Toy]

this thread was the inspiration behind me having a go. I'm really glad I did.

I also am glad as you have produced some fine artwork there mate. Well fvcking done.

[Dillinger]

well done Roob, like a duck to water

[nigelandjan]

Fantastic !! Roob ,, you have made my day by the very fact you have had a go mate ,, and your last 2 paintings are an inspiration to me !

Brilliant mate well done !

I hope its given you as much pleasure as it has me viewing them .

You will build from your confidence now ,, its a great hobby I hope you peruse it , you obviously have dug out some talent inside you.

Watercolours are NOT easy , and your first paintings show exactly that , classic runbacks of paint caused by too wet , not wet enough etc ,, there is a hell of a lot to learn , a lot of people think its easy , but when they have a go hmmmmmm

If you can buy yourself a cheap set of gouache paints I would go for them mate ,, easy to clean up your brushes , does stink a bit , but its great stuff to work with ,, its a kinda blend of watercolour and acrylics so you can overpaint like acrylic so it makes it so much more forgiving . Watercolours only allow you one shot , you rarely can repair your mistakes .

Did you use masking fluid to get that white spray ? or is it gouache you already have ?

[Roobarb]

Gosh, thanks everyone for all the encouragement. I've enjoyed the process and it's gratifying to know that others have enjoyed the results.

Nigel, to your question on the spray, I didn't mask any of it but just kept the brush fairly lightly loaded so there wasn't a lot of paint going down on the paper. I then took a splodge of white watercolor paint, added a tiny bit of water, flayed out the bristles of the brush (a benefit of using cheap supermarket equipment) and then sort of dusted/dabbed the white paint to make the spray droplets (you can see them on the deck of the boat on the second last picture). I doubt it's a mainstream technique of watercolouring, but in my sort of bodge-it world it seems to have done the trick.

I'll give Gouache a go, but if it's a bit smelly I may have to wait until I move to somewhere a bit larger than a hotel room...

Again, thanks everyone for the encouragement.

[Bettyboo]

That's surprisingly good that is; very nice effort.

Not wishing to be too pleasant/kind:



Lowry would be proud of those figures... (and that landmass is terrible)


Some good efforts there Rhubarb; I suspect there's some talent lurking there which may show itself if you keep going.

[blue]

Lowery was a star, here he is at the stockport viaduct in 1961.

Who wouldn't want to walk down those steps looking at the steam trains and ladies with head scarves etc.
There's even a pre politically correct advert- announcing Guinness is good for you

[Looper]

^^^Good effort Roobarb

There's even a pre politically correct advert- announcing Guinness is good for you

I think you mean pre-medically/legally-correct

thanks everyone for the encouragement.

I suspect there's some talent lurking there which may show itself if you keep going.

Great words of encouragement there Betty!

[Luigi]

We did a family thing, with oils. It's a tradition, we did it when I and my siblings were young kids, so we repeated it here.

L-R, Top - Bottom: my mother, my sister, me, my wife, my niece (8) my daughter (2).



Photos of us doing it and a quick note about us stuck into the back, to be passed down through the next few generations.

[Luigi]

Not to highjack the thread, anyone know of a supplier of blank mounted canvas in BKK? I wouldn't mind developing my Spiral Galaxy Birth on one about 6 feet x 4 feet.

Cheers.

[El Gibbon]

B2B in central shopping malls

[Luigi]

Cheers.

B2B or B2S?

Never heard of the first one, never been in to the latter one.

[El Gibbon]

Could be either, which ever one is generally co-located with Central owned malls. Probably B2S. In a couple I have been in and purchased supplies from, you generally find the stuff in the back of the store.

B

[nigelandjan]

One of my efforts from my last trip to Thailand painting alongside my dear friend EG




Will post a pic of me < doing it > for you later Bluey

[Neverna]

Another nice painting, Nige. I specifically like the house in the background and the grass in the foreground.

[nigelandjan]

Yeah cheers mate ,, don't look too good on here but looks better in the real this one .

We sat under the shade of a nice big tree in front of the spent rice paddy , on the second day we were visited by a fair size group of local lads , I,m not quite sure what they made of us sitting there on the edge of a red dirt road painting away , but they seemed fascinated , at one time I reckon I had about 8 of them standing over my shoulder watching ,, they were very well behaved .

EG scared the crap out of em by turning round and giving them a big BOO !!! ,, they loved it , laughed for what seemed an age then disappeared of into the misty heat .

[nigelandjan]

BTW this one is painted in water soluble oils on acrylic paper .

Infact I should add EG,s paint and paper , very nice it is to for painting in the Thai climate .

[Luigi]

I have a photo of me standing on top of that. You need a decent magnifying glass to see me. And not because I suffer from CMNism.

[blue]

Next Nigel !

you must have knocked up a few more paintings on your holiday unless you were too busy testing noodle dishes .