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.