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The Shard nearly finished, April 2012

I was very struck by the photos I’d seen of its construction recently and couldn’t resist depicting it just as it’s almost completed. Who would be the crane driver up there? I’m not even good up stepladders, it makes me ill to think of it. But the sight of the crane is so dramatic and the image fills me with wonder and questions. Once it’s finished how do they then get the crane down again? At the moment it looks as though it’s nailed to the side of the skyscraper.

Fortunately I had other things to worry about, like how to paint it? Well, it’s watercolour on smooth Arches watercolour paper, which produces that very silky look to the clouds at the bottom. If you look at the close-up image below you will see that I started by drawing the crane in with a fine masking fluid dispenser in a freehand sort of way, and then washed in the sky and building colour over the top. When all was dry I rubbed off the masking fluid to leave the crane white on the page.

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Last Friday was the most beautiful warm and sunny Spring day so I packed up my paints to seek pastures new, and do some painting ‘en plein air’. I had not been down the Duntisbourne valley before (just west of Cirencester) but with daffodils lining the lanes it was the place to be ‘far from the madding crowd’.

With mixed results I sat and daubed, but in the afternoon came across this obscure spot, not even signposted from the road. It is a tiny Saxon church with a ‘saddle back’ roof on the tower – it is a bit crooked, it’s not just my painting! It was the most peaceful spot in which to sit and paint, in the shade of an old ivy-clad wall. The valley dropped away to a babbling brook far below, and when the shadows had lengthened too far for me to follow, I found myself reluctant to return once again to the world.

It is well-known that many churches built on sacred pagan sites were dedicated to St. Michael (who legend has it fought with the angels against the devil). I wonder if this were the case here?

St Michael’s Church, Duntisbourne Rouse – An Original Watercolour Painting.

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Why do I like Malmesbury so much? The Abbey surely has much to do with it. I sang there with my choir (Wessex Male Choir) last year, and the atmosphere and acoustics were lovely. But in Spring weather such as we have had recently I decided to ‘get around’ to painting it, as I have intended to ever since we sang there.

A victim of the dissolution of the monasteries, if only there were more of it left, with its soaring spire, but I suppose we should be grateful that what is still there is so beautiful. The empty arches have a poetry and poignancy about them and speak to me of the temporary nature of our lives.

It is a busy architectural subject, so I have tried to keep the colours and shadows soft, as of a bright but hazy Spring morning. Turner painted it beautifully once, from afar, but I’ve not let that put me off!

Malmesbury Abbey – An Original Watercolour Painting

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This is an unusual subject for me – a bridge on Exmoor, (but do you know which one?) It’s a famous one, and very old. I was commissioned to paint this as a birthday present for someone. I used burnt sienna as a base wash behind much of it which gives it the reddish wintry look. The beech leaves on the ground and in the distant trees seemed to demand it.

The trees were entirely moss covered and green, so no burnt umber or real browns in the painting. Instead Paynes Grey to darken trees, and also to darken the water. So the ‘warmth’ of the colours come from warm blues and grays instead of browns and ochres.  This adds to the more wintry feel of the season than a summer view would give. Sorry about all that technical stuff – but unusual colour scheme for me, but I enjoyed painting it!

Now I’d like to go for a long walk there with my wife Gill & dog Truffle!

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