When painting in watercolour, you need to plan the painting in advance. There is a lot of white to be seen in the ocean, spray and foam. In watercolour the whitest white is the white of the paper itself. Regarding the paper itself, I find cold pressed best for what I am working on at the moment. We need to anticipate where we want the white to be, and not put any paint on these areas.  We can pencil them in and paint around them. The purist will do this, I have no doubt. However, I find masking fluid a great tool for the purpose. I am painting beach scenes at the moment, so I start on the blank sheet with the spray and foam, painting this with masking fluid/drawing gum. 

The Windsor and Newton product, most readily available is white.  It’s not easy to see a white line on a white sheet of paper.   To use the fluid, pour a little on a tray, don’t leave the bottle open, it will go off.  Here’s a tip, when you pour a bit of the fluid on a (disposable) tray to use, mix a little watercolour paint with it. This means that you will see the marks you make on the white paper. 

The product by Pebeo is better as it already has a blue tint. They, Pebeo, also have a drawing gum pen which is very useful for thin lines (rigging on a boat for instance). This pen I have found very useful for drawing the very delicate, lace-like, foam that we find on sandy beaches when the wave withdraws.  

This is how I draw the lacy foam.  I use a brush to paint a thin wavy line, to represent the closest part of the receding wave on the beach. Always dip the brush in soap first, and then wash it off immediately afterwards. The masking fluid is a rubbery gum, and will ruin any brush. It’s also wise to use a cheaper brush for this purpose.

I paint another line a little further back (there may be several).  Between these two we find very thin lacy foam. It will be different on different types of beach, it’s not really very noticeable on a stoney beach. On sand, it is intricate and magical. I use a nib pen to draw the lace-like rivulets. 

I have spent hours looking at the sea, how it moves, how the waves break and recede back to the ocean. As with anything you notice patterns. I have noticed how the rivulets link in with each other, and how the whole effect resembles a lace tablecloth, but with a less regular pattern.

This part of the process produces a white (or slightly tinted) drawing of all the spray and foam, on a white sheet of paper. It is kind of like a negative. If you angle the paper to the light, you can usually see it better. Creating this can be slow, but it is a good exercise in mindfulness.

Armed with this negative, we can now let loose with the paint.  I usually start with the shore. I will use a wet in wet approach, and usually start with a wet wash of raw umber. To this I might add raw sienna, on the drier (closer) part of the beach, and cerulean blue (or cobalt blue) to darken the colour of the wetter sand. I bring the wash over the lace-like foam as well, with a bit more blue as the sand is totally wet here (and so would your feet be if you were standing there). As the paper will be quite wet, it is important to lift the board (to which the paper will have been taped) and allow the paint to move around so that puddles are not formed. This is important always, when painting wet in wet. 

When nearly dry, I will let it sit at and angle (up-side down), the darker paint will run downwards (towards to foam), and help to create the faint shadow that we find in front of the foam. I let it dry, and will return to finish it off later.  

Once the paint is completely dry, we can peel off the drawing gum/ masking fluid. The pristine white of the paper will be revealed. Use your fingers, if these are sore as a result, use an eraser, or even kitchen paper.

Regarding shadows, I should point out that I live near the south coast. This means that the beaches I paint are south facing, and so the sun is on the horizon. This has only just occurred to me. Accordingly, the foam casts a shadow, in front of it, as the sun is behind it. I think I ought to make it my business  to travel, soon, to the north coast, to see how the waves look up there. 

Spring is a busy time in the garden, the garden is always my first priority. It is the greatest canvas of all.  (Me and Monet, best friends)!

It is also a busy time in the studio. So much to do! I’m taking stock at the moment. My first big exhibition is in Tramore, in May. I have quite a few suitable pieces framed, and a few more unframed, but I have some gaps. The title of the exhibition is Low Tide ,Green Grass, and it is a joint exhibition with Ann Brennan, who is an excellent oil painter. So there will be a mixture of oils and watercolours. Something for everyone. More on this later.

I am expecting a big order of replacement paints and watercolour paper any day now. This is the starting point for the new year. The gaps will be filled. Low tide being the theme, I am planning a series of beach scenes, featuring the Waterford coast. I started working on this theme last year, but I sold two (Annestown and Rathmoylan), during arts week and another (Stradbally) before it was even finished! The Waterford coast is popular. 

Also, as I’m just recently back from the sun, I have lots of great photos and memories of turquoise seas and crashing waves. I love painting waves, it’s very close to abstract art, very little drawing is required. Waves on the copper coast, the wild Atlantic way and Tenerife can look remarkably similar, it’s all the same ocean. But in Tenerife, the turquoise was almost luminous. I am looking forward to trying to capture this.

I have exhibitions in August also, I will be working on different themes for these, but I’ll get to that later, first things first.

So here’s to another year, may 2024 be a good one for you. 

Possibly the most striking feature of the countryside in winter, is the trees. For most of the year they blend into each other, dressed in their summer colours and blend with the greens of the hedgerows and fields, which is lovely of course. However, to really appreciate the beauty of their form you have to see them naked. In winter they are naked.  I find the shape of the deciduous tree in winter, intriguing. I look closely at them, study them. The heavy trunk, branches  out in in a random almost distorted way, each branch splitting into smaller ones, which also branch out, almost ad-finitum. Yet, the tree overall, will have an almost perfect spherical shape. This is especially true of the solitary tree. 

When painting a tree in winter, the greatest challenge is painting the tiny outermost twigs. Firstly being tiny, they require a very small brush, and because there are so many you need a lot of patience. You can fudge it, of course, and to be fair, in reality, we are only trying to create the illusion of twigs, that’s what art is about. For me though I find it amazing that what appears to be so random in growth becomes so graceful in the fullness of the whole tree. I think a naked tree is a bit like a woman. I’ll let you think about that.

I did a small watercolour last week, trying to capture these trees in the winter landscape. I wasn’t that happy with it, and wanted to try again. I chose to work in acrylics on canvas for the next attempt. This decision was probably influenced by the fact that I have a lots of canvas lying around. Im, not sure if I can easily explain, why, I as a watercolour painter, feel compelled to buy canvas sets any time I see them!

I was also influenced to use acrylic because I wasn’t to sure what I wanted to do, exactly, except that I wanted to take a more abstract approach. Acrylic allows me to work in a different way, a different mode and mindset. Acrylic paint is opaque, so that you can change direction during the painting process. This is something that’s not easy to do with watercolour. 

I am trying to determine what makes a good abstract painting. I am always drawn to paint detail. If I can paint less detail but still retain the essence of the thing, that’s the key (maybe). If you go too far you could lose it altogether. I want to spend some time trying to abstract the landscape/seascape. I don’t think this is an easy thing to do. 

Anyway, after prepping the canvas, I put on a layer of greeny/blue, which didn’t look too realistic, so I painted again using a lighter more realistic sky blue. Then I laid in a hazy suggestion of distant trees on the horizon, before starting on the bare trees that were to be the main feature. I spent a good deal of time on the trees and the painting was taking shape, but was not very loose or abstract. 

The next day, having slept on it, I returned to the canvas.  On impulse, I took my pallet knife and started buttering on thick layers of the paint I had been using (burnt umber/raw sienna/ ultramarine). I preserved the greeny/blue already dry, and using the knife created the furrows of a waterlogged ploughed field. The abstraction created itself. The finished product has now elements of realism and abstraction within it. It’s the best I can do for now.

Will I go one step further and abstract the scene further? I don’t know. I think I will leave this one as it is. Maybe tomorrow I’ll start another.

The sea is made of water, obviously. The sky is made of water also, but much less of it. Think about it, if there was no water in the sky, there would be no clouds, no mist or fog, no rainbows. Nothing of interest! Ok we all like a blue sky, but we rarely see one, not here anyway. 

Painting the sea (lake/river) and sky in watercolour is a joy. The two are part of the one. The sky is reflected in the water. For me, the best results are when they are painted together – wet in wet.

This painting (Eventide, Portland) was executed in this way. First the drawing (it took a while to get the boats looking right) then I painted the reflection of the hulls with masking fluid, I also painted a few ripples in the water. I then outlined the boats lightly with waterproof ink, so that what would come next, would not smudge them. 

For wet in wet to work the paper itself must be fairly wet to start with. This paper was Saunders Waterford 300gsm, and was stretched (I’ll describe this another time) and taped down, so that it would withstand a good deal of wetting. I did not wet the boats. 

Then I started to apply the paint. The trick here is to keep the paper damp throughout this stage of the process. The lower part of the evening sky was still fairly bright, I painted this with raw sienna and also its reflection in the water as one, using a large round brush.  I used a little crimson towards the upper part of this, and then some blue (cobalt I think) above and below this. All of this was wet and spilling across the page, which I encouraged by lifting the board (and paper) to different angles to get the colours to blend in a natural looking way. I think it is important to keep the paint moving until it dries.

The clouds were a mixture of crimson and blue mixed on the damp paper. I added more of the different colours, and more water where needed, and continued to move the paint around, as described, until I felt I had captured it. I then let it dry completely. (Image 1)

With the sky and water finished, I next turned to the detail. I painted the trees lightly, being careful to leave sky holes (where the light shines through the trees) and again their reflection in the water. I worked darker shades into the trees and some variation in colour (using the same blues and yellows as previously) as the trees got darker the boats got brighter (counterpoint). I removed the masking fluid covering the reflection of the boats themselves. I then worked to get these reflection looking right and added the detail to the boats (canopies etc)

Almost there, but I felt it was all a bit pale, so I mixed a light glaze of cadmium orange and laid it on and I felt it finally all came together. (Image 2). 

The painting (A4) was done over two days. I actually continued to tidy up bits and pieces (sky mostly) over the next week or so.

I write this blog every month as a reflection for myself, I hope it was of interest to you. Thanks for reading. Micheal.

Draw and paint  a cliff in watercolour.

A key element of the coastal landscape is the cliff. They contrast starkly with the sand on the beach and the blue of the sea. We also find them in the mountains and in quarries. I have painted many. How to go about it – to go straight for the paint or to draw them first? I’ve done both, it depends on my humour and it depends on the cliff in question.

To start – a drawing is needed in all cases. At the very least, the shape of the headland needs to be outlined, and the base of the cliff. We also need to draw the horizon and any other features. These can be done lightly. Then we can start to apply the paint.

I usually start with the sky, this brings me down to the top of the headland and to the horizon of the sea and sky. When we paint in watercolour we first lay down the very lightest colours in the scene. Accordingly, I search for the lightest shades in the cliff, and put down a light wash, perhaps raw sienna or raw umber, probably dropping some other shades (red, blue whatever) and let that dry. I might then use a dry brush approach to darken the areas in shadow. Finally I will ‘draw’ the crevices and rocks with a small brush using darker colours (burnt umber/ultramarine). I will have a reference photo, and I will try to keep my image true to this. 

There is a nice technique that can be used for rocks. Paint on a thick layer of different (dark) colours and let it dry for a bit. Before it is fully dry, use a piece of a broken (credit) card and scrape off round rock shapes. This works well for rocks in the foreground. However – I don’t use this approach much, as it gives a slightly abstract rendition of the rocks or cliff face. I prefer to draw the rocks and work light to dark as described above. 

I am a representational watercolour landscape artist. For me it is important to have the painting as close to reality as possible. I don’t worry about ending up with something that looks more like a photo than a painting. This doesn’t happen. Firstly – I use more than one reference photo, and secondly, I will tend to only have detail in parts but not all of the painting. Also, thanks to the ‘happy accidents’ phenomenon it’s always going to look like a painting. 

Sometimes the cliff is not the key part of the scene, but sometimes it is. If the cliff is a recognisable landmark, or the key feature of the scene, then I draw the cliff in great detail. 

How do I draw such a cliff. I approach it the same way as I draw anything. I draw what I see. 

Some will use a projector, and trace the image on the paper!   Many artists use a grid approach, ruling the paper into squares, and doing the same with the reference photo, and then they proceed one square at a time. This approach is widely used, and by many artists that I admire. 

I don’t use a grid, I find it tedious, more importantly the grid is difficult to eliminate. Let me explain. The system works well for oils and acrylics (maybe gauche) because these are opaque mediums, the paint covers the pencil marks. Watercolour doesn’t. It is important to erase all superfluous or unwanted pencil marks before applying watercolour paint. If you paint a watercolour wash over a pencil line you will not be able to erase it afterwards. You don’t want the grid to show through your painting.

I draw what I see, but I do need some tools to get the shapes and perspective right. My paintings represent places I have been and liked. I take photographs and do some sketching at the scene, and the work starts shortly afterwards in the studio. I generally crop the chosen photo on my laptop or iPad, so that the composition is as I want it. Having decided on the paper size (A4, A3 etc) I measure the size of the reference photo relative to the sheet of paper. I can contrive it to be an easy ratio to work with, by adjusting the size of the image.  My laptop screen is about A4 size, if the paper is A3 then the image needs to be twice as big on the paper, as on the screen. It can be worked out for any size of paper. 

I then look for the key points of the image. The highest point on the headland, it might be 12cm from the side of the reference and 6cm from the top. That translates to 24 and 12 on the A3 paper. I mark that point on the paper (using a ruler). And so I continue. I mark the location of the bottom of the cliff, boulders, the sea horizon, any offshore rocks etc. Using my eye I ‘join the dots’ (very lightly) and go through a process of reviewing and erasing until the scene matches the reference. I take care to ensure that any man-made objects (boathouse/pier etc) are correct in their proportions and position. 

Now the question arises – how much detail is needed in the drawing. If the focal point is a person walking a dog on the beach or if the cliff is in the distance, detail is not really required. If the cliff itself is the focal point then I do a detailed pencil drawing of the cliff. I draw the cliff in great detail in pencil first. I draw every crevice, boulder, overhang – I create a pencil drawing that would make the cliff recognisable to the viewer. I generally do this by eye, I already have the outline and key shapes. My iPad has a touch screen, this is a great asset as it allows me to zoom in to view the detail more closely, and zoom back out again, easily. 

At this point, sometimes, I will draw over the pencil with ink, especially any areas that will are very dark. I may then erase all the pencil, or I might not. Then I lay down the light wash, then shadows and finally go in over the pencil lines with a fine brush to paint in the detail. The paper makes a difference, ‘rough’ paper, nice for painting on, is difficult to draw detail on.

So, there you have it. I believe that drawing is very important in any kind of art. I was amazed to see Van Gogh’s early work – he was a great draughtsman, and again in Barcelona, Picasso’s early work amazed me. These guys, renowned for loose and abstract work, were well able to draw.  Great guys!

Its Arts Week. I have my exhibition, but I also have the opportunity to view many, many more exhibitions, all in Thomastown. Thomastown is very much the visual arts centre this week. There is huge variety, and lots to see. Actually, you won’t see better art in one location, anywhere else on this island. It’s just fab.

I won’t list it all. But…. It has me thinking. First of all – the future is BIG. There are some big pieces (in both mills, and the water garden). Not just big, but beautiful. I have been going bigger, especially with my waves, but the largest sheets of paper are imperial – 78cm by 58cm – or thereabouts, but these pieces Im talking about are 2×3 meters. Wow. (Oils and acrylics/ and mm) So it has me thinking! Space! How to go about starting a really big piece. The paintings Im talking about are representational, not abstract. I mean Wow.

But there is also abstract. How do I feel about abstract? I am a representational watercolour landscape artist. So, how do I feel about abstract. Well you know, splashes of paint, squares and triangles, garish colours….found items! Now Im looking more closely at it. I’ll be honest, I don’t have the benefit of an art education, and… I am not keen on the idea of art as a medium for social change (not all change is for the better!). Nevertheless Im looking more closely at abstract.

How do you judge a good abstract painting? I don’t know, I suppose I could google it. I could do an art appreciation course. For now, I am looking at abstract to find what I value in a landscape. I mean – perspective, depth, composition, colour, tone and contrast. Now Im beginning to see all of that in some abstract art, and I like it! So it has me thinking!

I like what I do, but sometimes I feel I need to experiment more – to push out the boundaries. Make a note in your diary to come to my exhibition in 2024, maybe I’ll surprise you (and myself).

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Plein air painting seems to be all the rage at the moment.  Im not one for crowds, I’d be slow to join with one of the many plain air travelling groups (though I might) I’d rather be on my own. For me painting is about peace and quiet, reflection and mindfulness, serenity …. Not easy to achieve if there are fifteen other artists about. Also, Im not very competitive in that way. 

I think I do better work in my studio, I have all my materials ready to hand (and a kettle, wood stove, bathroom etc) and I can take my time. 

Anyway, I decided to try it.  Sitting on my little boat (I have a kettle, shelter, toilet) in the peace and quiet of a secluded backwater I did manage to achieve a measure of serenity. 

June is well under way,  lots of fine dry weather kept me in the garden, the last few days of thunderstorms has me back in the studio! So what am I up to? Well, Im working on the final few paintings for my TCAF/Arts Week exhibition in August (Concert Hall, Thomastown). 

I have already sent a few to the framer, there is no point in leaving everything till the last minute, she is typically inundated with work in the lead up to this annual art frenzy. I will have the rest ready hopefully by the end of the week.

I will have my usual coastal landscapes, and a preview of my (WIP) Lough Derg series, but what has me busy this month is the mill at Kells, Co Kilkenny. Its just a few Km from here. The whole area, especially by the river, is very pretty. I will have a mini-exhibition, as part of the exhibition (TCAF) featuring five images of the mill, the mill wheel and the bridge at Kells. 

Visit my studio (by appointment) if you are looking for a painting as a gift, I have lots of watercolours, framed ready to hang.  Im in Stoneyford, Co Kilkenny.