Mapping the Thames

This weekend has been an extremely busy one, not least because I've had confirmation of a really exciting commission!

I don't want to say too much about what it's for until I've made a bit more progress, but I've been asked to produce an illustrated map of the River Thames.

Now, I have ALWAYS wanted to draw maps. When I was at school I wanted to be a cartographer. The fact that maps can be both attractive and functional interests me and the detail really appeals to my love of intricacy.

So, when I got asked to submit a small sample for consideration, I jumped at the chance.

This is just an example of a tiny section of the map and it's going to be changed slightly, but you get the idea.

I decided to use watercolours because I love the way they highlight the texture of the paper (and they're so fun to paint with)!

I had a go at painting Windsor Castle, using some of the same techniques as I use in my doodles.

I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed doing these paintings and I'm so excited about getting stuck into this project.

It's the first time in a while that my drawing board has actually looked like there's some drawing going on! Today I've been sketching out the curves of the river, which is definitely easier said than done.

I've invested in some new Winsor & Newton watercolours as I used my old school set for these paintings and thought it was about time I get a 'grown up' set! I felt like a child in a sweet shop buying these!

Back to the drawing board now!

If you'd like to follow this project as it progresses, please follow my blog using one of the buttons on the right and pop over to my Facebook page where I'll be posting regular updates.

I'm sharing this post on the following blogs:  Handmade Harbour and Paint Party Friday.

Watercolour painting in Dartmouth and Babbacombe and some more cheeky seagulls (WOYWW and PPF)

I'll start this post by telling you how excited I was on Wednesday to learn that I had been randomly selected to win the Wicked Wednesday ATC Challenge! You can see my entry here. Thank you very much to the blog's author Jenn and to Funky Hand for the prize from their downloadable collection! I'm working on some ideas for next week's theme 'Christmas in July' already!

On a separate note, I love this amazing summer we're having down here in South Devon. Apart from a thunder-stormy blip a couple of nights ago, the sun has been shining every day! It's great to be able to get out and about to do a few paintings 'al fresco'. Here are some of my recent ones. They're about A6 size, no special paper or anything - just for fun!

This is Kingswear painted from Dartmouth. It took about an hour - of course, I had to treat myself to a portion of chips to keep my painting energy levels up! I'm linking this one up to Paint Party Friday.

I really struggle with painting water. I'm in awe of artists who manage to create beautiful, realistic paintings of sparkly, sunlit seas. If anyone out there has any tips on how to paint water with watercolours, they would be greatly appreciated! In this next painting I tried to add a little more texture with some grey wiggly brush strokes in the sea, but I'm still not completely happy with it. It's Babbacombe beach painted from the harbour wall.

The greenery is a little more vibrant in this one as I was sitting in the full sunshine and wearing sunglasses! Notice the house (well, half a house) in the top right of the painting? Earlier this year the cliff dropped away, taking half of the house with it!

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday

Here's what's on my workdesk at the moment for WOYWW! I've had a little bit of time to work on a few paintings which I hope to start selling in the very near future. If anyone is interested in putting in an order in advance, please let me know!

This little guy is nearly finished, just needs a bit of tidying up and a frame and he'll be ready to go. I hope these will 'fly' off the shelves!

I'm thinking of ideas for a few other challenge entries too. Haunted Design House are running a challenge to create a chunky ATC that fits a dark, gothic or halloween theme. I have in mind to use fimo or porcelain clay in some way. So much to do, so little time...

Today I'm linking up to A Creative Princess and Domessblissity.

A lovely day painting with Dad - watercolour landscapes, seascapes and boats (including mini watercolour tutorial and WOYWW)

I had a fantastic day painting in Lympstone and Topsham with my dad on Sunday! I inherited my love of drawing and painting from him so it is nice to spend some time together doing what we both enjoy.

So, armed with sketchpads of varying sizes and paper, pens, pencils, paints and fold up chairs we took to the beach to do our first paintings overlooking the river in Lympstone.

My dad sketching away.

I took photos as I painted so I've decided to make this into a mini tutorial about how to paint in watercolours (or rather how I paint in watercolours!)

How to Watercolour

First of all I sketch out the view in pencil and make any adjustments before painting. Then I pick out the areas such as the sky and sea which will need a wash of colour and dampen them with a wet paintbrush. They should be a little shiny when tilted to the light. Then, as can be seen in this photo, I add a gentle wash of colour using wide, fluid brush strokes horizontally from the top to the bottom.

Watercolour washes for the sky and sea.

Next I repeat the same process of dampening and applying paint evenly for the other block areas of the picture such as the trees and fields.

Trees and fields painted in.

I decided to zoom in one one section of the view to make the painting more interesting.

It is important to wait for each area to dry before painting the part adjacent to it as two wet areas together causes the paint to run and lines become blurred (which is great if this is the effect you're after!). I paint in all of the little details last and always work from light colours to dark colours. This is because watercolours are so translucent that putting light colours on dark colours can just result in a muddy mess.

Almost finished!

I didn't use masking fluid here but it can be handy to block out areas such as the boats which allows you to get a nice smooth wash without having to paint around obstacles! I didn't actually finish the painting as we decided to move on, but I'll add some finishing touches at home as the colours look a little weak at the moment.

We had cake and tea for elevenses at a lovely little café opposite the Swan Inn pub.

The Swan Inn, Lympstone

We sat there sketching the pub for a while and had two huge slices of cake between us!

It's making my mouth water just looking at the photo again!

Shears Cafe, Lympstone

Once full of cake and tea, we drove on to Topsham for a change of scenery. We gravitated towards the first pub we saw and spent a few hours painting and eating lunch (as if we hadn't eaten enough already!). I'm linking this photo up to What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday. As I wrote in my last post, my workdesk location is always changing and this time it was a in a very nice spot!

A table next to the river would have been better, but beggars can't be choosers!

Here is the painting halfway through. I sketched it out in pencil first, then added the pen roughly and used the same watercolour techniques as above to paint it.

Painting from Topsham

Finished!

Having painted a couple of landscapes I then turned my attention to something a bit smaller. I drew this lamp with ink pen, hatched in the shadowed areas and then 'painted' it with water.

Before painting

After painting

When we could finally move after our burgers for lunch, we walked a little further downstream (or upstream, who knows?) and sat in the sun to draw. We could only stand the heat for 20 minutes, so here's the result.

A teeny sketch of a sailing boat.

Our final sketching spot was by an old church in the shade of a tree. This one I did on watercolour board. It needs a lot more work (and obviously some colour)!

You may have noticed I turned the ramp into steps to make it more rustic!

So that was the end of our day, phew! Here are a few of Dad's drawing and paintings. I love that we've both interpreted things slightly differently - Dad was a lot quicker than me and ended up waiting for me to finish!

Well, after this whopper of a post I think I need a lie down! I'm working on some new seagull drawings to feature next time so keep an eye out. Please follow my blog if you'd like to keep updated with my creative endeavours! Thanks for popping by!

I'm partying at the following link up parties! Manon Popjes Illustrations, Hickory Trail and Savvy Southern Style, Cornerstone Confessions. Technorati Claim Code G4HY5XW7GAG4

Summer fun in Torquay - watercolour seagull painting for PPF and WOYWW

Hi folks! I've had a fantastic time this week with the students of Kaplan International English school in Torquay! We've been all over the place, doing lots of activities outside to make the most of the sunshine. An afternoon spent on the beach here, a game of crazy golf there, trips to Living Coasts (the local seaside zoo) and games of tennis and bowls at Torre Abbey - we've really been spoilt with such good weather! Some of the students at the school haven't even experienced one day of rain during their stay!

All this fun hasn't left a lot of time for creativity, but I found an hour or so one evening to finish this painting of seagulls which I started last week. Firstly I drew a grid to arrange the seagulls in, then sketched them out in pencil, taking care that each one was facing a different direction to the next. When I was happy with the combination I drew over them in a fine pen and painted them in watercolours. I had trouble getting the colour of the wings all the same as the paint kept separating once I'd mixed it (cheap paints maybe?!), but as Sam said, seagulls are all slightly different anyway! I'm linking this one up to Paint Party Friday. What do you think?

'Seagulls' - © Clare Willcocks

All it needs now is a frame! Can you spot the teeny line I forgot to draw? 

This afternoon, when I got home from work, the sun was shining and the decking in the back garden was calling! Armed with a juice, my pad and watercolours I spent a lovely hour painting al fresco! I wanted to paint my 'workdesk' for this week's What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW), so here it is! I don't have a set place that I work, so my workdesk always changes!

Watercolour painting in the garden.

Same view, with a few bits and bobs added/moved!

The painting in progress...

Just a quick post today as I'm off for a barbecue on the beach! I love summer! See you soon lovely readers :) Don't forget to follow my blog if you like what you see!

Today I'm linking up at Shabby Nest, Creative Princess and Rhinestone Beagle.

A peek into my sketchbook and an overdue comic strip journal page!

I've finally found the time to catch up on my comic strip diary! Today I bring you a whole week on one page. I used my very fine waterproof pen as I had in mind to paint it in watercolour for a special colour edition. Unfortunately I didn't get around to adding colour, so it remains in black and white. Hopefully I'll have a bit of time this week to paint it, but until then...

A whole week of sunshine

This is only a brief post today as I have been working on a painting to go on our wall. At the moment, having just moved in, we have plain white walls which are just begging to be filled with lovely paintings! I have a little obsession with painting seagulls at the moment and as they seem to be everywhere here in Torquay I thought they'd be the perfect subject. I drew it out today onto watercolour paper and outlined it in waterproof ink.

'Seagulls' - © Clare Willcocks

The chips in one square are to add a bit of interest, after all, they are a seagull's favourite food!

I took the ferry over to Brixham the other day with the students and took advantage of an hour while they had free time to do some drawing by the harbour. I sat on the slipway in the sunshine and had a lovely afternoon sketching the replica Golden Hind, Sir Francis Drake's ship, which has pride of place in Brixham harbour. This drawing needs painting really, to stop it looking so busy and make the boats easily distinguishable. I may get around to it one day!

Golden Hind, Brixham Harbour, Devon

I just had time left to sketch a little sailing boat.

Sailing Boat, Brixham Harbour, Devon

I also finished my greetings cards today, but I'll have to share them with you next time as I forgot to take photos of them! See you guys soon!

I'm linking this post to Handmade Harbour and Balzer Designs.

Watercolour paintings in progress (WOYWW and PPF)

Today I'm linking up for the first time to What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW)! I've been painting some little square pictures to make watercolour greetings cards. I've gone for a seaside theme as it's summer!

Working in the lounge, you can tell I live with two men can't you (see left hand side!)

I really enjoy working with watercolours at the moment. It's taken me a while to get the hang of applying a smooth wash but I think I've cracked it! It definitely helps to wet the paper first. I googled 'how to watercolour' which brought up a few good websites.

The amount of times I nearly dunked my paintbrush in my tea....

These paintings are very different to my usual 'realistic' style. I'm used to painting portraits so it's been a bit of a challenge for me to be creative and draw something that isn't in front of me!

Here are the designs I've painted so far, some of them need a little more work, particularly the Torquay one, but I'm happy overall. I'm linking these up to Paint Party Friday :)

Seagulls like pasties...fact.

I LOVE beach huts!

Little country cottage.

 I painted this one with the help of a few reference photos from Google.

I'm working with foreign students at the moment so the topic of good old British fish and chips is coming up a lot right now!

...And everybody knows that they are a seagull's favourite food!

Hopefully I'll find the time to put them together soon and I'll be able to show you the finished cards!

If any of you read my last post and are wondering about how my little peacock painting turned out, here it is, half-painted. I got a bit overenthusiastic with my paint mixing so it encroached on the square around it...oops!

If you've enjoyed this post please think about following my blog using one of the buttons on the right-hand-side! I love your comments too!

Tonight I'm linking up at the parties on the following blogs: A Creative Princess, Domesblissity, Hickory Trail, Cornerstone Confessions, Rhinestone Beagle and The Shabby Creek Cottage.