DISCOVERING WATERCOLOUR

With spring around the corner I'm getting organised to do more painting outdoors. Trevor Chamberlain immediately comes to mind because he is an enthusiastic 'plein air' painter. It's interesting that his 'plein air' watercolours are mostly small; 7in x 10in or 14in x 10in. I've taken these dimensions from the illustrations in his book 'Light and Atmosphere in Watercolour'.

Largely self taught Trevor Chamberlain describes Jack Merriot as one of his heroes. Merriot wrote 'Discovering Watercolour' a manual on watercolour painting. Long out of print but worth buying second hand if you can find a copy.

I've discovered a very informative website:- Watercolour New Zealand Inc. which has articles about several watercolour painters including both Trevor Chamberlain and Jack Merriot. The website is worth a long look. The link should take you to a list of articles about Chamberlain and Merriot.


http://www.watercolournewzealand.nz/tutorials/resources_articles.htm

DAVID PRENTICE 1936 - 2014

David Prentice, after retiring as Artist in Residence at Nottingham University settled in Malvern to draw and paint on the Malvern Hills. He was a painter who deserves the attention of a wider audience.  The relevance of this post arises from a discussion I had with a friend on another Forum.  He commented, "Pretty much all of what I do now is landscape work.  But for me it’s all about being in the landscape and the starting point has to be a sketch or trial study rather than a photograph if the work is really to be convincing." He also expressed an aspiration to develop his work towards abstraction.   I suggested looking at David Prentice' paintings - he was a painter who followed a similar course. David Prentice' Gallery made a short video about him sketching on the Malvern Hills and his comments about his studio work. There is video on You Tube  showing David at work on the hills. .

MY LONG NEGLECTED BLOG RENEWED

It all came about because my daughter started painting in watercolours. She asked an artist friend Josephine Chisholm to give her 2-one off lessons to get her started and in passing revealed the web address of my Blog. Josephine apparently made some favourable comments so I feel duty bound to post a link to her website in return The link to her website is:-
http://www.josephinechisholm-artist.co.uk

My daughter has enrolled for a week-end course at West Dean College in Sussex. I think her interest leans towards Art Textiles rather than confining her creativity to painting. Bobby Britnell is a talented textile artist working in South Shropshire her website is:
-http://www.bobbybritnell.co.uk

She runs an impressive website which, in addition to details of her course and textiles, shows her drawings and paintings of the Shropshire hills. Some of these she transfers onto cotton fabric and develops with machine stitching.