Tag: Watercolour

Portrait practice continues

Post author By meldrum
Post date 2018/12/12
No Comments on Portrait practice continues

Portrait practice

I don’t know how long I can keep this up? I want to paint a portrait every day for the foreseeable future so that I can improve in this area. The only problem is there are other projects that need to be taken care of too. I can juggle pretty good but dealing with my new art career is tricky.

I am happy enough with this portrait, I like the nose – that’s enough for me to like the painting. See, I am not too demanding on myself! I spent too much time fiddling with the shading so it’s not perfect but I know I will improve each time I do a portrait and that’s incentive enough for me.

Painted on Suanders Waterford CP 26 x 36 cm.

Click the image below if you would like to see the full- sized painting.

Tags akvarell, aquarelle, david meldrum, meldrum, meldrum art, painting watercolors, painting watercolours, practice, sktchy, sktchy app, training, watercolor, watercolor portrait, Watercolour, watercolour portrait, watercolour training

Uncategorized Watercolour

Life without a sailing boat

Post author By meldrum
Post date 2018/12/11
No Comments on Life without a sailing boat

Portrait by Meldrum Art

I have been trying really hard not to paint sail boats for a while now, it’s hard – I just love to paint them. The reason I am avoiding them is so that I can develop as a watercolour artist by painting other things that I am not used to and find difficult. Portraits are difficult, the one that’s featured here doesn’t resemble the original model very well. I wasn’t trying too get a perfect likeness, my goal is to master painting skin and building the facial form, I think creating a likeness will improve as I practice.

The model reference by the way was downloaded from the iPhone only Sktchy app. Why it’s only iPhone users who can use this service I do not know.
Click the thumbnail below to see the full-sized image

Tags akvarell, aquarelle, david meldrum, face, male model, meldrum, meldrum art, portrait, porträtt, watercolor, watercolor portrait, Watercolour, watercolour portrait

Watercolour

A winter watercolour of Grönalund in Stockholm

Post author By meldrum
Post date 2018/12/05
No Comments on A winter watercolour of Grönalund in Stockholm

November light. Grönalund in winter

The winter months before Christmas are so dark here in Stockholm. The clouds tend to get tired and seem to rest on the ground. It is nearly always grey in November.

I originally sketched this scene with Stockholm Urban Sketchers in August, I really liked it so I decided to paint a large version of it now. I was of course influenced by the time of year I was in.

Click the thumbnail below to see the full-sized image

Tags amusmentpark, amusments, art, dark sky, david meldrum, grönalund, meldrum, meldrum art, november light, painting, Stockholm, stormy, watercolor, watercolor painting, Watercolour, watercolour painting, winter, winter light

Watercolour

The final painting of the O-Torii Gate

Post author By meldrum
Post date 2018/12/04
No Comments on The final painting of the O-Torii Gate

O-Torri Gate, Mijayima, Japan

This is the final watercolour I will be painting from my experiences in Japan earlier this year. I suspect I will be visiting again soon as my son lives there and I miss him so. I look forward to finding more inspirational scenes to paint on my next visit.
If you haven’t already seen my latest YouTube video ( I paint the O-Torii Gate ) here is a link to it: https://youtu.be/yRRO36NAnU8
Click the thumbnail below to see the full-sized image

Tags akvarell, aquarelle, david meldrum, hiroshima, island, japan, meldrum, meldrum art, mijayima, o-torri gate, watercolor, watercolor painting, Watercolour, watercolour painting

Watercolour

Nice memories of Plubazlanec in Brittany

Post author By meldrum
Post date 2018/12/02
No Comments on Nice memories of Plubazlanec in Brittany

meldrumart-ploubazlanec brittany

I painted this watercolour of the beach that is front of my mother-in-law’s house in Ploubazlanec. I found a nice photo on my phone from my holidays in France earlier in the year and it inspired me to paint the scene.
I only have happy memories from my visits there.

Click the image below for full-sized image.

meldrumart- ploubazlanec brittany — meldrumart-ploubazlanec brittany

Tags bretagne, brittany, david meldrum, France, frankrike, meldrum, meldrum art, ploubazlanec, watercolor painting, Watercolour, watercolour painting

Watercolour

Working with values

Stadshuset / Town hall

Even though this composition is relatively simple the placement of the Stockholm town hall is very important to the success of the watercolour, it’s the rule of thirds. The tonal values are even more important as the sky wouldn’t pop if the building and bridge had a lighter tone.
Personally I am on a little crusade to improve my understanding of tonal values, I enjoyed painting this scene.

Click image below for full sized photo.

Tags akvarell, aquarelle, compostion, compostition, david meldrum, meldrum, meldrum art, stadshuset, Stockholm, tonal values, town hall, townhall, urban, usk, watercolor, watercolor painting, Watercolour, watercolour painting

Watercolour

Capturing light in Paris

Paris Street

I love Paris, with it’s museums, cafes and the sketching opportunities.
I am currently trying to improve capturing light. It is all about having the correct tonal values. It’s quite difficult and it is going to take me a while before I master it. I visited Paris a few years back, I would love to return and spend a week cramming French culture into my head – especially the Impressionists. It’s an expensive town though. If anyone has a bed for me in Paris I would be very interested!
26 x 36 cm

Full-sized image below:

Paris Street by meldrum art — Paris Street

Tags akvarell, aquarelle, david meldrum, meldrum, meldrum art, paris, urban painting, urban watercolor, urban watercolour, watercolor, watercolor of paris, Watercolour, watercolour of paris

Sketch Watercolour

Portrait tip

meldrum art portrait

If you want to practice doing portraits, download Sktchy app. Unfortunately it is only for iPhone users. Lots of people upload photos of themselves and artists, both amateur and professional sketch them.

For me, I just want to practice doing portraits and I don’t want to worry about copyright issues etc. So this is a great resource.

Click image below for full-sized photo.

Tags akvarell, aquarelle, david meldrum, face, female, meldrum, meldrum art, model, painting, portrait, sktchy, sktchy app, watercolor, Watercolour, watercolour painting

Watercolour

Not every painting is a success

Post author By meldrum
Post date 2018/11/18
4 Comments on Not every painting is a success

Fabriano on Fabriano

I was asked to submit a watercolour to an exhibition and I wasn’t accepted which of course is a bit of a bummer but at the same time I just found the experience to be quite positive. That may sound strange but what I mean is I spent a day working on this painting and I learned a lot because I was outside of my comfort zone. I am pushing my boundaries a lot at the moment which means I do have more failures, I know I can paint the archipelago here in Stockholm but I want to be better than that, that is why I am happy with this watercolour. I do not fear the unknown and what I know today was yesterday’s news.

The town of Fabriano painted on, …Farbriano watercolour paper.
Click the image below for full-sized photo

Tags akvarell, aquarelle, david meldrum, fabriano, meldrum, meldrum art, painting of fabriano, warercolor of fabriano, Watercolour, watercolour of fabriano