Roman Baths, Bath

This painting depicts tourists in front of the Roman Baths (after which Bath is named). You can see the statues in the back ground, these over look the one of the hot baths. The baths were originally built here as a hot mineral spring surfaces at this point. Translucent inks are great for creating lighting effects. The painting has a strong sense of the layers making up the fore, middle and background due to colour tints.

Tourist in front of the Roman Baths, Bath. Ink on paper (A3)

Bath Abbey with a blue sky.

Well after much deliberation, I painstakingly cut out the golden sky then stuck in on an additional piece of paper to the back of the original and painted it blue. So now the abbey sits against a blue sky. The final version of this picture has more work done in the sky with a little white moon but I forgot to photo it before taking it away, so this gives an impression. Over all I think the blue helps to define the shape of the abbey, lending contrast to the picture. Thanks for the comments Teresa and Paris. Tend to find if I can't stop fiddling with a picture then either I'm over tired and going circles or there is a big change that needs to take place (like cutting out the sky) but rather than biting the bullet I make small changes (like changing the shade of gold) which can and did go on for hours.

The Bath Abbey in colour with a blue sky ( this is not the final version, but gives an impression of how the blue sky looked.)

The original with sky of gold, which is heavy by comparison.

Bath Abbey People Colour

Bath Abbey People has been provided a morning of frustration. Trying to find a balance with the colour of sky. Initially it was blue but this seemed a little on the weak side as the drawing is heavy in terms of thick black outlines. So I have opted for this yellowy gold and can't decide if it works. Otherwise I think it looks fine.

Bath Abbey People (above) ink on paper A2.

The initial drawing. The ink was very thick which made some of the lines awkward to get down.

Pulteney Bridge Day, Bath

Here we have Bath's most famous bridge looking particularly cheery. Not to mention charmingly wonky. The medium is ink on paper. The water effect is created with pearlescent inks with washes of colour on top to create a shimmering effect. I'm not sure if the use of shiny inks looks a little kitsch, but I do enjoy the effect so will persevere with them.

Pulteney Bridge Day, Bath, (above) with shimmering river Avon.

Pulteney Bridge Day, the initial drawing.

The Circus, Bath

As a break from the big ink drawings here is a print called Number Three The Circus, Bath, At Nine Fifteen on a Sunday. I drew this on Illustrator in mid 2008. I plan to make a series this year.

A digital print that I drew on Illustrator (above)

Bath Abbey in Colour

Bath Abbey in full colour...

Bath Abbey drawn on A2 paper in inks (above)

The initial A2 drawing for Bath Abbey in colour.

Pulteney Bridge, Bath, Evening

Not blogged for a little while as the last week has been artistically uninspired. So yesterday was the first day in seven that being in the studio seemed like a happy idea. To get things underway I turned the large A2 drawing that has been lurking for some time, into a painting. Below we have the before and after of Pulteney Bridge, Bath, Evening.

Pulteney Bridge, Bath, ink on paper A2 (above)

Pulteney Bridge, Bath, the initial drawing.

Studio Building, Bath

This is a slightly washed out version on of the rear of my studio building in Bath. The tree is a magnolia in the garden below. My studio window is the one with the red curtain. This is painted on wood.

My studio window, Bath, (ink on wood).

Bath Abbey Drawing

Bath Abbey with Parade Gardens in the foreground. This is a large A2 size drawing made today. This one is now also awaiting painting. I seem to have a back log of large drawings with colour requirements.

A Bath Abbey seen from across the Avon with Parade Gardens in the foreground. Ink on paper, A2.

The Portrait Painters

In todays portrait class our model was a Polish girl called Mboushka (wild spelling guess). Since starting the course I have discovered that I do not possess a great aptitude for traditional portraiture. So for these pictures I decided to focus on the scene and not just the model.

Mboushka in mixed media (acyrlic paint, charcoal, pencil) on A3 watercolour paper (above)

The class of portrait painters (above) on A3.

Pultney Bridge, Bath

Here is the second of the Pultney Bridge drawings ready for painting. This one will be painted as an evening scene in purples and blues.

The second of the large Pultney Bridge, Bath, drawings.

Pultney Bridge, Bath

After making a point of working on wooden blocks to avoid the pains of framing. I now find myself making this drawing of Pultney Bridge on a large 59 by 42cm piece of paper. There can be and is only one reason for such a sudden reversal of technique. Commerce. It seems the world wants drawings on paper. I could do this on a wooden board but it would weigh more than me. So here we have the initial drawing of Bath's most beloved of bridges, which I will paint tomorrow.

A large 59 by 42cm drawing of Pultney Bridge, Bath, on paper (above)

Walking down a Bath hill at sunset complete

Here are the final two images in the Walking Down Bathwick Hill at Sunset series. You start with the image shown first in this post. I tried to give the impression of moving down the hill by making the distant houses bigger in each picture. The colours also get subtly darker in each frame to show time lapsing, as the sun goes down.

The first in the series of Walking Down Bathwick Hill at Sunset (above)

The second. This picture focuses on the slightly dysfunctional car rather than the view.

The final picture. I have made the shades deliberately darker in this picture to give the impression of the sun setting.

Walking down a Bath hill at sunset

Here is the first in a series of paintings, depicting the descent into Bath from a near by hill. I will post the other paintings as I finish them.

Another block painting as shown in previous posts. In this one I'm building up layers of ink to create the effect to of light at sunset.