I can’t help thinking that ‘gallery’ is a bit of a grandiose title, so I feel I’d best dispel any pretensions and just say that this is where you can see a whole bunch of stuff that I’ve done.
In an effort to help me organise this page a little bit, I’ve decided to split the images up into recent work and older work. The images in each section will appear in random order and will change every time you visit or refresh your page – which is great for me as it removes any decision making about which came first or last or which I like most or least.
My hope is that over time, there’ll be a continual and discernible progression from the work displayed under ‘Lots of older stuff’ to the works under ‘Some recent stuff’.
I hope that this way of organising my adventures with watercolour is helpful but please do leave a comment and let me know if you think I could be displaying these in a better way.
Some recent stuff, mainly from 2018…
Rue du 19 Aout 1942, Dieppe, with Eglise St Remy in the backgroundRooftops of Kotor, Montenegro
After Camile Pissarro (1830-1903), Winter landscape, Eragny, c.1890A walk in the woods House on a hill, the Dordogne, France A square in the French town of Periguex, the Dordogne Boats at sunset The artist at work, The Mall, London Plein air watercolour painting from The Mall looking towards Buckingham Palace Plein air watercolour painting, St James’ Park, London Brighton train station With a sky…. View of the South Downs from near the Ram Inn, Firle Barcelona street scene Cafe al fresco, Pavilion Gardens, Brighton Crossing Pont Alexandre III, Paris Aperitifs, Dieppe La Placa Reial, Barcelona (III) Trafalgar Square, London Falmer village, Sussex Sunlit Cafe at the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, University of Sussex Sunlit Barcelona side street, near Las Ramblas Palmeira Square, Hove, looking East along Western Road towards Brighton A sunlit square, Barcelona
Lots of older stuff, mainly from 2017 and earlier
Sunlit cafe on a Barcelona side street off Las Ramblas A view of Place du Puits Salé and the bustling activity beneath the sunshades of the famous Café Des Tribunaux A lazy lunchtime on a summer’s day in the square of the Eglise Saint-Remy, Dieppe, Normandy SELECTED – Lunchtime on a summers’ day In the square of the Church St Remy, Dieppe An early morning on London’s Regent Street, before the crowds arrive! Shadows outside La Segrada Familia Version I A Barcelona side street next to La Boqueria Blue sky Barcelona Las Ramblas, Barcelona A Jem Bowden inspired big sky painting Barcelona street scene (1) La Placa Reial, Barcelona (II) Boat SM688, Shoreham harbour Sundown, Brighton seafront La Placa Reial, Barcelona (I) Red blankets, Paris Barcelona in the spring, street scene – demonstration Arriving at Brighton Pier in the sunshine Shadows on Le Pont Alexandre III, Paris Overcast day at the beach, St.Ives Crossing Le Pont Alexandre III
I hope that some of these may be of interest and it would be great to hear from you with any thoughts: any particular favourites? any artists out there whose work and approach you think I might like so I can have a little explore? any suggestions for how I might be able to organise or display this page differently? Or any other watercolour related topic that you’d like to get in touch about – just let me know.
Just came across your Blog on this cold and grey January morning. I must say I really like your style, structure, the texture of your brushwork – and spontaneously it came into my mind: The king of shadows! I really really like your shadows of people, buildings and other things and the way you color them. I’m saying this because many times I ruined a piece by trying to paint shadows 😀 I think it will be worthwhile to follow and learn from you!
Happy New Year by the way!
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Hi Marita and happy new year to you too! So pleased that stumbled across the blog and even more pleased by your kind words which are much appreciated. I’m also so pleased that you like my shadows but think I’m still someway from being the king of them – but I do love painting them (I think it’s the world’s way of telling me that I need to live somewhere where the sun shines more than it does in England!) – Really hope that you’re able to follow along!
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Looking good John!
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Thanks so much Al – so pleased you think so! I keep thinking that there’s got to be a better way to display this information or categorise it, but I haven’t come up with a better solution so far! Thanks for dropping by this part of the site – you’re always welcome! 🙏🏻
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John. After swotting like mad to find a style and artist I wish to relate to. And finally feeling I have the courage to start attempting the medium – after being a photographer for many years – finding your page has been a real joy. Please tell me you teach workshops or are at least toying with the idea? I hate using the cliched statements about artwork but your images are truly wonderful, inspiring and fascinating… but not ‘nice!’ 🙂 Less is really so much more! 🙂
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Hi Russell – thanks so much for visiting and for your wonderfully kind and generous comments. I’m afraid I still consider myself far to much of a novice to pass on advice via lessons or workshops but happy to answer any questions or queries! I started off by being inspired by an artist called Edward Seago and everything else has snowballed from there! P.S. your photographs are amazing! With your eye for light, composition and subject, you’re already more than halfway there! Hope you might follow my adventures and I wish you well with your painting – happy to help if I can!
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Thank you, John, in return for your much appreciated comments. I will definitely be following your blog with great interest. I have, dare I say, even saved several of your images to my Pinterest page as reference material! Hope that is ok? 🙂
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Interesting, John, that you consider yourself a novice when I would happily take a workshop or a days teaching from you, or travel to see an exhibition. I have looked at many sites to find inspiration and am baffled by some of the quality of work produced! Take this for instance – https://www.royalwatercoloursociety.co.uk/exhibitions/18/works/ – Is it just me or do I not find the work here almost, but not all, A level standard???
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Haha! I think the old saying that beauty is in the eye of the beholder may be appropriate! Whilst a lot of this isn’t necessarily to my taste either, I do admire some elements in some of them. I think that’s one of the wonderful things about watercolour – we’re all working with pretty much the same resources – yet the range of what’s being produced is so incredibly diverse. I seem to recall that the last exhibition I saw at the RWS was similarly diverse, and prided itself on bold or ‘new’ approaches to the medium. I suppose the key to these exhibits is in the overview: “Water, Paper, Paint, the Royal Watercolour Society’s Spring Exhibition, is a celebration of the three fundamental elements that create a watercolour painting. From these three elements come a vast range of outcomes and in this show you will see huge variations in style, technique and genre.” – put like this, you can’t really argue with the outcomes! Thanks so much for your kind comments about my work Russell, I really do appreciate them. There is an artist that I do much admire who I know does do workshops, Jem Bowden. I think he’s the modern day successor of Edward Wesson (one of my artistic heroes and inspirations). It might be worth you checking him out and, should I ever venture down that path myself, you’ll hear about it first on the blog! Thanks again Russell.
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These are beautiful! Thanks for sharing them!
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Thanks so much Chris – so pleased that you like them and really appreciate you taking the time to comment!
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Fabulous work, John! Such beautifully judged brushwork! Delighted to find another admirer of Hilder (love your sketches) and your Seagos are superb. All wonderful. Bravo!
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Many thanks for such kind words Orlando. I was delighted to find your site – great to find another Hilder admirer, especially such a talented one too! Think your work is outstanding and look forward to seeing much more of it!
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Really awesome watercolors, John! Atmospheric, reduced – a pleasure to view!
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Thanks so much for this – I really appreciate you taking the time to write such positive comments! I’ve been thinking that I might update this page to also show whatever my current ‘favourite’ painting is and whatever painting I’ve got on Instagram that has the most likes – what do you think?
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Yeah, John, you really should!
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Thanks – I’ll try to find a good way to do that!
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This is a wonderful gallery John. You are a master of the medium and it is a treat to see so many beautiful pieces together. It’s like a visit to the Tate 🙂
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Haha – I like that idea very much and, on the very day that their new extension opens to the public – they might even have some space to squeeze one or two in (although I fear I may not be sufficiently ‘modern’!)
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They are really beautiful!
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Thank you so much – you’ve just made my day!
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