Category Archives: watercolour techniques

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 HAPPY CHRISTMAS

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I don’t know about you, but I find December is always a mad and chaotic rush around trying to keep normal life and business functioning while coping with the extra tasks of Christmas. I’ve just returned from town whtere I found the toy shop far more interesting for buying presents than the adult ones!

This scene I came across while stumbling through the snow-bound woods near the Bachhowy River a short distance from home. That was a long time ago and the cottage was abandoned, but to give it a sense of life I added rising smoke. The sky is mainly quinacridone Sienna and moonglow, with some touches of French ultramarine. I used masking fluid to reserve the snow-laden branches. The scene was more or less as I have created it, complete with puddle in the foreground, although I have changed the sky considerably.

I shall be enjoying a far from relaxing Christmas in the company of my rather energetic little grand-daughters in Pembrokeshire, but I’m sure we’ll have a great time, and I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and good health and much success with your creative activities in the New Year.

David Bellamy – Creating Autumn Still Lifes

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Wandering through the woodlands at this time is a real pleasure for the artist, with the great variety of warm colours as the leaves turn. I can’t resist picking up a handful of leaves and taking them back to the studio to play with. There’s nothing like the process of experimenting with artistic ideas for stimulating our work, even if you have tried the particular process before.

    A branch of leaves – or perhaps I should say, a twig of leaves in case we get too carried away – can make a superlative still life subject, but here I have pushed the leaves into thick watercolour paint straight out of the tube, applying a few different colours for each leaf before placing them on the paper. With a sheet of tissue paper over the leaf I then rub it with fingers to create the image. It can be hit or miss, but when it works the result can be inspiring. You can work in two or three leaf images in this way and perhaps add some spatter and further detail, lettering, collage or whatever. The addition of a little thickener such as Winsor & Newton’s Aquapasta may help improve your results.

    You can get ideas on painting autumn scenes in my Landscapes Through the Seasons book, available through my website  

    We are now planning painting courses for 2022, and details of these should be released before long. At the moment I’m spending a lot of the time away from the studio, so these blogs have been in short supply. Anyway, enjoy your autumn painting and do have a go at recording those stunning leaf shapes in one form or another!