meldrum art
For the life of me, I can’t remember the name of this fine harbour. It’s in the south of Dublin, Ireland. If you recognise where it is, please let me know. 🙂
This watercolour was painted in the studio using a photo that I had taken a while back. I find it very hard to paint at home. It’s much easier to paint when I’m outdoors. I wonder why this is?
Click the thumbnail below to see it in full size.
You can only laugh. I was just putting the last touch to the painting when I lost control of my brush. It jumped up in the air, spinning like a circus knife in front of my eyes. It hit the page, sable first. Splat!
I had just loaded the brush with Vandyke Brown moments before. The glimmering sea had lost its shine. Now there was a dark brown whale in my watercolour.
Later, I painted over the crime scene with opaque white. The sea sparkled again. It would never be perfect, but it’s finished.
The Coast Road, Malahide, Ireland 33 x 23 cm
It’s Monday today and like everybody else right now I spend most of my time indoors trying to avoid the Corona virus. This morning was the start of a new week but it was hard to know because I was still in my comfort clothes, you know, sweatpants and an old t-shirt type of thing. So I sat at my desk and luckily I have that wee hand-written sign on the wall in front of me which simply states, “Just Paint!”. It’s so damn useful sometimes to be told what to do.
I am still going through my photos of Ireland for inspiration. I might paint outdoors tomorrow. There is a rumour it might be getting warmer. I would like to visit the archipelago, but still on the mainland. I don’t want to take a ferry at the moment with the pandemic still very real. I wonder when we will be all safe again?
The featured painting is from a photograph I took in Donaghadee, Northern Ireland last year.
Title: Boat season 36 x 26 cm.
Click the thumbnail below for a full sized image.
I have painted this Groomsport scene before in one of my sketchbooks. Today I felt like playing around with lights and darks so I chose this to basically practice or play, I can’t remember my mood when I started. It’s a weird time with this Corona virus threatening us all. The most important thing for me was just to paint something. I didn’t want to just spend Monday reading the news and surfing on YouTube.
For the watercolour enthusiasts out there this watercolour was painted on Saunders Waterford 300g Fine grain and the size is 36 x 26 cm. Click the image below if you want to see the full sized watercolour.
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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I am preparing to film my latest watercolour demonstration which features the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. This watercolour ( is the third and final sketch that I have done. I have reference photographs but I need to translate those images into a watercolour that is emotive and therefore interesting. I think I am nearly there, I will be using a half sheet of Saunders Waterford paper for the final painting it will have a widescreen 16:9 format, wider in other words.
Keep an eye out for my new episode of Meldrum Watercolour Journeys on YouTube, it should be ready by the end of the week. Cheers!
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Click the thumbnail below for full-sized image.
I had an 11 hour journey home to Stockholm from Bangor, Northern Ireland so it was important to have something do. Luckily I had a good book (The Book Thief) and my watercolour sketching kit with me.
I finished this sketch of Donaghadee harbour today. I actually started the sketch while in Ireland a couple of weeks back.
My last sketch of 2017. I am so looking forward to the new year. Tomorrow I will be a full-time artist!
I have included a few earlier version of the sketch, I know some of you are interested in seeing how I paint. Saunders watercolour paper 38 x 28 sketchbook.
Happy New Year everyone! 😀
I visited my mother last week to celebrate her birthday and spend a few days with my sister too. Visiting Northern Ireland is always a little strange for me as I grew up south of the border so visiting my mother is not the same as coming home. Actually, where is home? I have lived in Sweden for 27 years so Stockholm is I guess. Ireland is where I come from and Northern Ireland is where my mother and sister lives. France is where my parents in law live and my oldest son lives in Japan. Between the age of 21 and 26 I lived in London. With this kind of background it is impossible to be a nationalist, I’m very happy to be a person who has to travel the world to meet his family. It saddens me that countries want to close their borders, what is the benefit of such a thing?
The watercolour and pencil sketch were done when I had two hours to myself during my visit, I drove to Donaghadee which is one of my favourite places that is close to my mother’s home. The pencil sketch is on A5 paper and the watercolour is painted on Arches and is A4ish in size.
