One could also call it “Turner Colour Therapy” – again I very much enjoyed being guided by Turner’ s bold colours and loose style, the vage composition and the pure indulgence in getting all those wonderful shades of yellows, reds, purples, blues and darkish brown grey on the paper. I really do not know exactly why it feels so uplifting to paint like that, but it does and it gets me out of my head and away from focussing too much on tiny details.
So I´ve been in New Zealand in my thoughts this winter…here is one of the views I encountered in the lovely Abel Tasman NP when I was there many years ago but never forgotten. It is rather popular and therefore a bit overrun. There were some really stunning colours to see, and I´ve painted a similar view – well slightly different – in my small sketchbook a few years ago when I started my watercolour-journey. This one here is a bigger format. This almost moorish dark foliage caught my interest.
And this is the “mini-me” version. Lately, I enjoy revisiting photos I already used as a reference, and then paint them again in another version or / and format. Just like Turner did.
I wish you all a good and healthy new year!
This is a larger format painting in watercolour I just finished, inspired by some photos I say from the English countryside in winter. Really atmospheric they were, and I feel very drawn to the idea of travelling through the peak district and the lake district to enjoy the beautiful views for myself. Must be fabulous there to go hiking, taking photos, and in spring or summer even maybe do some plein air painting.
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas.
This is another painting I finished, picturing the view from my window last year in winter. I enjoyed the early morning view of the winter sunset with its colourful sparkles through the trees.
My reference photo
A work in progress pic
The final painting
This is a new tryout capturing sunbeams through foliage, a sunset I witnessed through my window in wintertime.
The photo is so nice (and I say so myself), it was a quick snapshot with my phone – all the sparkling and different layers of colours within the trees in the background, the reddishbrown leaves in the foreground, the yellowish-rose-bronze-hues, the frosty pond…. it was amazing to see. To put this on paper is quite challenging, and I am going for some more trials with different paper, this one was not ideal. The painting process as such was very captivating and kept me in a “flow”, enjoying the subtle colours especially.
I paint a lot using my own photos or free source photos as references. It´s not so easy resisting the urge to copy those photos in every detail …. and transport their oh so wonderful composition/colours/uniqueness tp the painting 1:1. Unfortunatly this does not work out. It leads to a very sobering experience. It is essential to just use the reference as – well a reference. Not a blueprint. It should be an anchor to paint something new and unique. And here – alas, alas – I find myself guilty of following that sneaky urge to copy . And hey presto not being really all that content with the result. Ah well so it goes.
My reference photo
Two work in progress pics:
So here we have the finished new misty mountains painting I mentioned, which took some time to complete and was captivating for me to work on. I do like the foggy misty shadowy effects and find it quite exhilerating to execute them, curiously anticipating their outcome. Watercolour is quite a temperamental medium. But then – when the effects turn out in an appealing way it really is rewarding. I am glad the paper held strong with my many layerings and colour liftings as it is a softer sort with which my experiences were not that exellent.
This painting is based on a reference pic from Pixabay which screamed at me: “Please paint me in watercolour!”. And so I did. With the rainy greyish skies we have here and all the other everyday hassles and worries, I am convinced some colourful artwork can be and often is THE antidote.
This is the free reference pic from Pixabay, a great photo I think:
So these are some paintings I finished recently, two of them based on pictures I posted in my last blogpost “November Skies”, with my own photos as references. These are again in watercolour, and I am at present painting another “misty mountains” scenery which I am really enjoying, somehow I really like the colours and slightly hidden landscape elements in these kinds of pictures.
I am learning how to create some atmospheric sunbeams through leafs and “shrubbery” with the help of an online-course which is really good. It is quite a challenge – but worth it. In any way, such paintings involve quite some more planning than I usualle do, and then some prepping-paperwetting-layering-waiting to dry and more layering layering layering… So the next blogpost will probably contain some examples of my endeavours.
see below two work in progress pics for this painting
here the masking fluid is off, I added some contrast and in some more salt in other areas, f.i. on the left between the trees on the slightly darkended blueish sky part
The Scottish castle painting here is a bigger version of a small sketchbook-painting I posted some time ago. I just very very much like the atmosphere and scenery of this (the reference pic is from Pixabay, by the way), and do not see any reason why not to revisit it (as Turner did, by the way, quite often with some of his paintings).
So now I stopped this painting at an interesting point… I had planned to (at the most) add one or two horses but not more, then decided to leave it at that for the moment. I do think I´ll paint it again at least once in a slightly different version. In my opinion, the composition works well without any horses & hounds. The view is so lovely and I wish I could have been there or to find something similar enchanting in nowaday Britain.
As a reminder – this is the wonderful oil painting by Turner, my reference.
I am content with the outcome of my first tryout. Next time I will use another type of paper.
I also completed another version of one of my favourite paintings by Turner, the view from Richmond Hill. In my version I left out the people just like in the other one and think – again – the composition works well without them. I enjoy especially painting the skies and edging as closely as I can towards his masterful mixture of glorious yellowish-vanilla-lightgreyish-blue.
This is his fabulous Original, pictured in the book “How to paint like Turner” (Tate Publication):
So this is a wonderfully atmospheric oil painting by Master Turner from 1812, size 119×180,6 cm “Raby Castle, Residence of the Earl of Darlington” I was drawn to, to use it as a reference for honing my skills & dreaming of some glorious British landscape I´d love to explore.
I really love the moody cloudy sky and the vast vast views on rolling hills in the distance with misty foggy edges, and the vivid colours of the compelling countryside, lush trees and dashing riders.
So these following pictures show some work in progress as I am not finished yet – adding layer on layer, letting the stormy weather we have lead me into the right “artistic sphere” for this scenery. Interesting that he painted this in oil as for me it looks quite watercolourish, one of the reasons I was attracted to it. And today I also raised my studio desk up to a standing desk position, I am sure this will enhance my brush momentum favorably 🙂
To be continued…
It reminds me of two small paintings I made some years ago in my sketchbook, both picturing Scotland:
So this is a fake urban sketch one could say as I used a reference photo rather that really sketching/painting the scene en plein air. Because that is not my thing, I discovered. Way too much distractions. I need quiet surrounding when painting. This is our old town hall in Oldenburg. I often enjoy looking at these buildings here where I live – they remind me a lot of Stockholm which I consider a beautiful city. SO very similar in colour and style. This sketch was done with ink and watercolour.
Cris´s blog of art & craft 
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