Here is my latest demonstration video on YouTube. I spent a whole month sailing around the Finnish and Åland archipelagos with my wife and two close friends. I spent lots of time sketching and taking reference photos for future use. While on the island of Ekskär in the Finnish archipelago I managed to do a demonstration painting which is featured here. The day was incredibly warm and the windbreaker I had behind me made it super hot because it stopped any breeze reaching me at all. It did protect me from the harmful sun rays though.
The painting was a real challenge in the end, I could not get into a comfortable position, I was sitting which I now realise isn’t ideal for doing demonstration paintings. Ah well, lesson learned – next time I will stand which will make filming so much easier.
I hope you enjoy the video, I am happy with it even if I seem to be moaning at bit. Ignore me and watch it, let me know what you think.
Cheers,
David
Category: Watercolouring
After weeks of illness it is so nice to be watercolouring again. I was very frustrated not being well enough to paint but I am recovering and I feel a lot better now.
I am very focused on improving myself these days so I throw myself into areas that are uncomfortable. Zones like portrait painting and urban scenes, I also feel I can improve a lot in the painting light. This what I am focused on this week.
The subject of this watercolour demonstration is The Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland.
Last May I arrived there at sunrise and was excited to use my drone to film for the very first time.
Later, back in Stockholm I really enjoyed painting the scene I chose and I hope you enjoy watching it too. As I paint I explain my thought process and how I approach each stage of the watercolour.
The film is longer than my previous videos, this is because I want to show the full process and not to be frustrated trying to squeeze it all into a typical 20 minute YouTube film. Let me know what you think, I always welcome critical feedback that helps to improve my watercolour demonstrations.
I hope you find this watercolour demonstration educational and a little inspiring.
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We are not having the best of summers here in Sweden this year. Last week was great though and I took full advantage of it at the weekend. I set up a hammock by the water’s edge and lay there looking at all the boats going by. I live quite close to the city centre so the traffic on the water is intense at this time of year. I later did this watercolour in my sketchbook, I’m happy with it although I wish I had access to better watercolour sketchbooks than Moleskin, I like Arches Rough and so I always find it disappointing when I use the Moleskin. Still, it’s a sketchbook and it will do fine until it’s finished, I will use small Arches blocks in future. If anyone knows of good watercolour sketchbook, please let me know.
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| Sketchbook painting of Waldermarsudde, Stockholm. |
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| Waldermarsudde |
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| First wash |
Categories
Vacation painting
I had planned to paint more but we travelled over 1000 kilometres in 5 days between Bergen and Trondheim, Norway. It was a wonderful holiday, such a beautiful country. Next trip, I will travel every second day only so that I have more time to paint.
This is a must see video if you enjoy the work of any of these watercolouring greats, Joseph Zbukvic, Herman Pekel and Alvaro Castagnet. I owe at lot of what I’ve learned to these artists and their wonderful DVDs.
My last watercolour for 2013. It’s been an interesting year. I’m excited about 2014 as I’ve promised myself to really start painting watercolours seriously.
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| Watercolour nude by David Meldrum 20131229 |
This is a great Christmas present! It seems I do not need to outline anymore. This is the second watercolour I have created without any initial pencil marks. I am happy enough with the result and I look forward now to 2014 and developing this new found skill. 🙂
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| Nude with no outlines. Saunders Waterford HP paper – 31 x 23 cm |
Do I need to use a pencil initially when painting a watercolour nude? I didn’t here and I like the result, I just started painting the nude directly onto paper. I will continue down this path and see what develops. Merry Christmas!
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| Pencil free nude. Saunders Waterford HP paper – 31 x 23 cm |