Chris Fothergill’s BLOG
Recent commissions, urban sketching and creative projects
Architectural Sketch of the Week
These two ‘cottages’ are not actually within the Cotswolds, so it’s brick and brown tiled roofs, but they’re rather smart, and sit in nice sized plots. The development is still only just past the planning stage, so the building hasn’t yet started, but I’m pretty... read more
St. Andrew’s Church Chedworth
At last a sunny day that is warm enough to lure me out into the open air with my paints! I don’t mind a bit of outdoor sketching with a pencil when it’s freezing cold in the winter, but sitting on a painting stool for a couple of hours trying to abstract my mind is... read more
Summer’s Morning in Northleach
Monday April 19th…. Summer’s morning at Northleach – a watercolour painting by Chris Fothergill This is surely the finest view in Northleach, showing the southern aspect of the Church which its magnificent porch and windows. The setting from the top... read more
The Joys of Outdoor Painting
Hills Near Gretton, Winchcombe, Glos. It was a bright, brisk March morning first thing, and the sun streaming through the kitchen window lured me out to paint ‘en plein air’ as they say. I packed the thermos and paints, and headed for Hailes Abbey – somewhere local,... read more
Architectural Impression of the Week
It’s a row of three cottages in Oxfordshire, being tastefully converted, which presently is a building site. My job is to paint it for the brochure, so in go the hollyhocks, and spring flowers! Rather cheerful painting this in a cold mid-March. I hope they like... read more
Early light, Santa Maria della Salute, Venice
Busy with artist’s impressions last week, but I managed to get going on this oil painting, which is as yet unfinished. I love the freedom of oils, and the subtlety of tone and colour, but I’m not very experienced with them. A mysterious subject such as this is perfect... read more
The Oldest Clock in Venice
I finished this little painting on my 50th birthday, last week; appropriately enough as it is very much to do with the passage of time. The clock is reputedly one of the oldest in Venice, on the church of San Giacomo de Rialto, which is just behind the Rialto market.... read more
8 Patio des Naranjos
As soon I walked through the 14th century Moorish arch into the Patio de los Naranjos (Court of Orange Trees), a feeling of peace descended upon me. I’m not prone to these things, but water from a sculptural stone fountain played in the middle of a walled garden, set... read more
San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice
I finished painting this watercolour today; there’s a bit more fiddling about with the gondolas in the foreground, but it’s finished in the sense that it’s now best left alone! Am I pleased with it? As much as I ever am with a painting. It’s... read more
Use of masking fluid in watercolour
I’ve started a painting this week in my ‘classic’ watercolour style! By that I suppose I mean that the painting is carefully composed, with a preliminary pencil sketch (not shown here) to work out tonal values, composition and atmosphere. I love this... read more
7 La Mesquita
Showered and refreshed, I emerged back on to the street, bordering on to the railway sidings that my modest hotel overlooked, in what was clearly an unfashionable quarter of the city. Just as when you bang your head for long enough against a wall, it’s lovely when you... read more
6 Cordoba
From an early age, the sound of the Classical or Spanish guitar has had a profound effect upon me, evoking moods or even memories, of places to which I have never been. I am not talking of the rhythms of Flamenco, but rather the more restrained music of the classical... read more
5 Plaza d’Espana
The first day had been a great success by my standards. My first painting was not a disaster, and I had two other drawings under my belt, which I liked, and could later paint from, in the studio. Giddy with my success I hopped out of bed the following morning, and... read more
4 Torre del Oro
Endless souvenir shops, outdoor cafes and warmly inviting streets provided displacement activities that carried me to that time of day when its too early to go home, but its too late to start much new. My ramblings had taken me to the banks of the Guadalquivir river,... read more
3 Seville Cathedral
Seville Cathedral is big. Reputedly the third biggest in the world, topped only by St. Pauls in London, and that other big one in Rome. Visiting any such tourist hot-spot one has to fight off the sense of being a processed pea, amongst throngs of other visitors,... read more
2 La Giralda
I slept like a baby. I don’t know why people use that expression to describe deep, refreshing and uninterrupted slumber; my experience of babies calls to mind continual waking in the night accompanied by crying, chewing of blankets and uncontrolled pooing.... read more
Canal View of Venice
Today, after a recent experimentation with acrylic paints and more adventurous brushstrokes, I have returned to my traditional watercolour style, to paint a view of Venice; the canal (Rio dei Mendicanti) by the Campo SS.Giovanni e Paulo. I have drawn the view on the... read moreIntroduction to Spain 2001
An Artist in Andalucia Introduction At the age of thirteen, my first encounter with the Mediterranean climate was unexpected and wonderful. Stepping off the BEA Vanguard passenger jet on to the shimmering tarmac of Valetta airport, Malta, in July 1970, I was... read more
1 Seville
Apart from the flights I didn’t book anything in advance. It seemed a far more romantic notion to just arrive in Andalucia; me with a backpack, and a whole new world to be discovered. Inevitably, reality turns out to be a little more bracing than the sunny... read more