Category Archives: Saunders Waterford paper

DAVID BELLAMY: THE MAGIC OF WINTER TREES

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The sight of a beautiful mature winter tree can bring such joy, and spending a little time ensuring your trees bring out those magical feelings is well worthwhile. When I come across a fine example I sketch and photograph the tree from different angles, and in the studio I keep these in a support file which is a reservoir of landscape features that I can add to a scene I am working on, or substitute for some blasted and tattered beanpole of an excuse for a tree that might be present in a scene.

These trees are part of a composition, and as you can see the supporting tree on the left has been left almost as a monochrome, while fading it out at the bottom, two effective methods of pushing it into the background. More colour has been brought into the trunk of the main tree, and this is something important to observe in a mature winter tree. The green apatite genuine in the middle section of the trunk gives way to light red near the bottom, while higher up against the light background the trunk and branches become silhouettes. The dark background bushes define the lower trunk and some of the thin branches have been created by scratching with a scalpel when the paper had dried. Watch for the character of the branches in your trees, and here you see how they have been drawn with a sinuous downward looping, apart from the topmost branches. The finer ones were achieved with a no. 1 rigger brush. I used Daniel Smith watercolours and Saunders Waterford not high-white paper.

Seek out these lovely examples and study the trunks in particular. I sometimes work more detail into really exciting trunks, and in Radnorshire we have some fabulous trees, so deliciously twisted and gnarled that you expect some witch to fly out of the branches. There are many examples of trees in my books: my Complete Guide to Landscapes is packed with them, and you can easily obtain them from Search Press.

I shall be giving a demonstration of winter trees in watercolour at Erwood Station Craft Centre on Saturday 1st November. This will include showing how to use a tree as a focal point, adding in supporting trees, suggesting distant trees, enhancing trees with colour, avoiding the silhouette effect, and so much more. Tickets are available at www.evenbrite.co.uk and if you need further information Erwood Station can be contacted on 01982 560555 Proceeds from the event will be donated to MidWales Mind charity. Bring a notebook, camera and any questions you may have.

Another demonstration that is open to all will be at the International Watercolour Masters 2026 at Lilleshall Hall in Shropshire on 18th May 2026. You can book my session there now at www.iwm2026.com

DAVID BELLAMY: ADDING VARIETY INTO A LANDSCAPE

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Often, even in a stunning landscape subject, I feel the need to add something of myself into the composition to enhance it as a painting. Whilst this may involve introducing an extra tree, perhaps a more handsome specimen than is present, or enlarging a feature to give it more presence, or many other such alterations, here I will concentrate on adding a little variety to the existing features in a scene to breathe fresh life into it.

In this scene set in Mid-Wales the only feature I have added is the puddle below the right-hand gate which helps as a lead-in to the farmhouse. The main point I would like to put across, however, is the addition of colours into the outbuilding roof, and its exaggerated wonkiness at the top and bottom. I used cadmium red and cobalt blue on the corrugated iron roof, leaving some white untouched paper for highlights and a mixture of the two colours on the darker left-hand end. Energetic dry-brush strokes of the brush work well in this situation, and any slight mess at the bottom can be overpainted with a dark mixture of burnt umber and French ultramarine as in this structure.

Sometimes a chimney can benefit from being a different tonal value than the gable end of a building, and as you see here I have made it dark, then losing the dark tone as it merges into the wall below. It is better to let this gradually change in this way, rather than paint a strong and hard definition between chimney and main structure as you see in many buildings. These are just minor points but they can have a striking effect on your finished work.

I have been invited to demonstrate at the International Watercolour Masters exhibition in Lilleshall Hall in Shropshire on 13th May 2026. You can find details at: https://internationalwatercolourmasters.com/portfolio_page/david-bellamy-uk/?v=7885444af42e

I am looking forward to the event and hope to see you there. I’ll be happy to answer questions, and do bring along any of my books you would like signed – this is something many people bring up when they come along and have left the book behind! Enjoy your painting during the rest of this amazing summer…..or maybe you are longing for a bit of good old British autumn drizzle for a change?

DAVID BELLAMY ADDING SUPER-TEXTURE TO YOUR WATERCOLOURS

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Next month, my new book, Watercolour and Beyond is published by Search Press. It’s quite different from my earlier books in that although it begins with traditional techniques it is mainly concerned with introducing new methods to watercolour landscape painting. One example shows how to use masking fluid not just for masking out intricate details, but to employ it in a much more creative manner. Or producing delightful effects by stamping with cosmetic sponges and variegated colours. Super-granulating colours can achieve spectacular passages in your work, and by introducing non-art materials into your landscape compositions your can add a new dimension. There are also ideas for various projects, some of which don’t involve creating wall-hung art, but give you alternatives for your work.

The painting I have chosen as an example from the book shows how a foreground can be embellished with Daniel Smith Watercolour Ground, which is rather like gesso in consistency, but it will happily take your watercolour washes. I have cut out a large part of the composition so that it’s easier for you to see the amazing textural effects you can achieve with this method.

To suggest the rough foreground Daniel Smith Watercolour Ground was laid on with a painting knife a couple of days before beginning the painting, and in the final stages I laid washes of Naples yellow, potters pink and pthalo blue over the watercolour ground, merging them all in while they were still wet. The ground is especially effective in rendering rocks, cliffs, rough walls, mountainsides, river banks and many other landscape features.

One of the main aims in writing Watercolour and Beyond was to encourage experimentation and bring a sense of joy into painting. Whether you paint full-time or just now and then you will find the techniques and ideas crammed into its pages will give you plenty of inspiration and a wonderful feeling of trying something new in your painting. We no longer have a mail-order shop, but of course you can get the book direct from www.searchpress.com or from your local bookshop.

On Saturday 3rd May the Erwood Station Landscape Artist of the Year competition gets under way with the first heat. There will be one heat each month throughout the summer, and if you wish to participate you can get information at 01982 560555. It is a great place to spend the day painting with others, and is a great learning experience. I shall be one of the judges during the first heat, so maybe I’ll see you there.

David Bellamy – Painting with harmonious colours

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 One event in the year that I especially look forward to is the Patchings Art Festival, and I shall be demonstrating there once more on the fabulous Saunders Waterford  and Bockingford papers, in the St Cuthberts Mill marquee on the mornings of 13th, 14th and 15th July. If you’ve never been, do treat yourself this year as it is a terrific show in lovely surroundings, and overflowing with artists demonstrating their various styles. There’s no place quite like it for being supercharged with artistic inspiration! 

 This is just part of a small watercolour as I want to highlight more of the detail, and some of the techniques used I will be showing at Patchings. The moody background was created with the wet-into-wet method, with the whole of the background carried out with just burnt umber. Whilst the wash was still wet I suggested the trees with a rigger, the larger ones with a number 4 brush, and with hardly any water on the brush – almost pure paint so that it did not run. Naturally I test it on the side first to check if the timing is right.

 On this side of the bridge I introduced other colours: yellow ochre, cadmium red and French ultramarine. My aim was to keep the colours in harmony, all in the brown-ochre segment of the colour wheel. The ultramarine, of course is not in that category, but I’ve mixed it in such a way that it is simply darkening the effect with burnt umber, and not displaying any sign of its blueness. Adopting this approach will give your work a great feeling of unity.

I hope to see you at Patchings in July and for further information on the Patchings festival check out these links:

David Bellamy – Losing bits of the subject

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As landscape artists we often see far too much in a scene for the good of our painting, and slavishly copy as much of the detail as we can. It really does pay to think about your need to include even what may seem to be an important part of the subject, and ask yourself if it does help to include the whole feature, or can you make subtle changes before that brush touches your paper?

 In this view of Penyghent in Yorkshire, although I could see the entire mountain clearly, I felt that the profile was too stark: there was no mystery. So I introduced some lower cloud on the right to lose that strong curving edge of  the peak by bringing down the shadow part of the cloud with French ultramarine and cadmium red over the yellow ochre of the mountainside. Then, by emphasising the shadowy shape of the lower part of the fell as it came out of the cloud, the overall shape of Penyghent was retained. The work was done on Saunders Waterford 140lb NOT paper.

I will be demonstrating at Patchings Art Festival  on 14th, 15th and 16th July. The demonstrations will take place in the St Cuthberts Mill Marquee each morning. It will be great to return to Patchings after the two-year absence because of Covid. We will also have a small stand at the event, so do come along and see us.

Unfortunately my webinar with Painters On-line had to be cancelled because of my throat and chest infection which made it impossible for me to speak properly, but we are back on track now and the event is rescheduled for 11am on 4th August when I will be painting a Nile scene. I’m sorry for any inconvenience to anyone who booked. See details at Painters Online