Nude figure drawing in glacial streams

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Drawing from life is the best thing you can do to improve your drawing skills…..after all, if you can render a good likeness of the human figure where all the legs, arms and other paraphernalia should really all go in pretty specific places, then by comparison drawing a tree should be fairly problem-free. You only need to be vaguely accurate with the branches, for example, provided they are actually attached to the tree-trunk!

It is, however, rare that you get the opportunity to do some alfresco nude studies, especially at over 6,000 feet altitude as in this case where the model was bathing in water streaming off the Vignemale glacier! Whilst this has happened to me a few times, this is the only occasion that I’ve had the opportunity to carry out a nude study at such a high altitude.

The main lesson in this is not only that this sort of thing is excellent practice for you (drawing nude figures, I mean, not jumping naked into freezing lakes), but that it always pays to have your sketchbook with you and be prepared for all eventualities. You never know who or what is round the corner! You will find further advice on drawing the figure in my book David Bellamy’s Complete Guide to Watercolour Painting as seen on my website. One final piece of advice: wherever you are always ask permission before sketching or photographing anyone, especially when they are scantily clad or not clad at all.

Suggesting detail in watercolour landscapes

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Last month Watercolour Journey left a comment about my paintings “suggesting a lot of detail without actually cluttering up the painting,” and I wanted to follow this interesting point with an example to help you. Not just to prove that I read your comments, for they are invaluable in providing both feedback and ideas for further posts, even if my response time is rather long, but I was in Switzerland at the time enjoying the fantastic mountain scenery.

This is a small part of a watercolour of a scene in the Cairngorms mountains in Scotland and the point I wish to focus on is the mountainside in the background which I have tried to suggest as rough detail. Unlike the loch and trees, this is not one of the most picturesque aspects of the scene, so I wanted to play it down and not clutter up the area immediately behind the trees, yet still give a sense of place.

At the top of the mountain the detail stands out more strongly where I have deliberately painted in rock and crag shapes, then dragged dry-brush colour down behind the trees. This is an excellent method for suggesting detail without actually painting any in, and it still allows the trees to stand out strongly. Note that the direction of the brush-strokes is designed to enhance the direction of fall of the mountain-slopes. Before I painted in all this suggestion of distant detail I did lay a weak blue wash over the background and let it dry, and you can see it through the broken colour.

To see more of this painting of Loch Pityoulish see my book Painting Mountains & Moorlands in Watercolour and you can order a signed copy from my website.

Painting a waterfall in pastel

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Scwd Isaf Clyn Gwyn

Scwy Isaf Clyn Gwyn, Pastel by Jenny Keal

If you have tried painting water in watercolour you will know how difficult it is to work negatively around the white paper to create the highlights or how tricky it is to lay the wet in wet reflections at just the right time.

Painting water in pastel is much simpler because you can lay the light over the dark. This means you can create far more intricate and subtle effects in the falling water and reflections can be created by softening the pastel in a vertical direction with your fingers.

This painting is of Scwd Isaf Clyn Gwyn, just south of the Brecon Beacons in ‘waterfall country’ around Ystradfelte. It is a spectular series of falls in a Tolkeinesque gorge. The painting was built up in stages, keeping the background fall soft and misty to convey a sense of distance. The warmer colours, stronger tones and sharper detail in the foreground emphasise this effect.

You can see this painting, along with many others at The Wyeside Art Centre in Builth Wells. as David and I have an exhibition on there for the rest of the summer. Contact them for opening times

Please use the comments box if you have any specific questions about how the painting was created.

My first blog

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Barafundle Bay

Barafundle Bay, pastel by Jenny Keal

Blogging seems to be the new way to communicate and it offers many possibilities. I will be using this blog to offer hints and tips on painting and announcing news of events that David and myself are organising. Maybe the odd profound thought might creep in as well.

Visual Art tries to communicate without words and I hope the image above says something to you. This is Barafundle Bay in Pembrokeshire. I sketched this scene on a stormy February day and painted it in pastel later in my studio. I can still feel the salt on my skin when I look at it. I hope it says something to you.

Pastel is a superb medium for conveying atmosphere, and this allows you to put more emotion into your paintings. This painting is from my new book ‘Painting with Pastels’
Communication has changed so much in my lifetime and this new way of reaching people, including complete strangers, still seems like science fiction to me. However, it doesn’t really matter if you use two tin cans with string between them or zeros and ones clicking down a telephone line, the important thing is the interaction. Please leave your comments – I want to hear them.

Dirt, dust and watercolour: paintings of coal mines

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I have always been fascinated by industrial subjects and they make an excellent change from landscapes, especially if you feel yourself getting into a rut. Many years ago I wrote a book Images of the South Wales Mines, and did quite a lot of work in and around the mines at the time when they were being closed down as the government of the day wrought its vengeance on the mining industry. Now all deep mining has ended in Wales and I have been working on a few more paintings of this vanished era.

The painting is a watercolour and charcoal work of Marine Colliery, Cwm, showing a coal train getting up steam. When it comes to painting industrial subjects I am a great fan of dirt, dust and steam, as it not only can create instant atmosphere, but can hide the bits you don’t want people to see. This is especially useful where you are painting a scene that no longer exists, and are not sure about what exactly went where! While this was not true of the painting depicted, I have used the ploy in other situations, so if you are painting such scenes do make full use of the dirt and dust.

This is one of a collection of paintings that will be on display at the Corner House Gallery at 38 Quay Street, Ammanford in Carmarthenshire. Tel. 01269 594959  They will be exhibited from the afternoon of Thursday 4th August onwards, and I shall be there on that afternoon, so do come along and have a chat. To see some of the paintings in the collection click here.