Category Archives: David Bellamy

Blog Posts by the artist David Bellamy

Creating space & distance in landscape paintings

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One aspect of landscape painting that causes a few problems for the less experienced artist is that of suggesting a sense of space and distance. This is especially a problem where the air is clear and you can see everything in outstanding detail for miles, thus tempting us to put everything into the composition, in quite strong detail. We usually need to create something of an atmospheric haze, sometimes within a short distance, in order to create a feeling of depth and space in a painting.

The key to creating a feeling of distance in a landscape painting is to ensure that the more distant feature has less detail, less colour strength and less tonal strength than that which it is in front of that feature. In this small part of a watercolour you can see that the left-hand mountain slope is quite a bit stronger in tone and detail than the ridge disappearing behind it, and this applies to trees, buildings and all manner of features. Make sure that there is very little detail in the more distant feature as it goes behind the closer one, otherwise this will confuse matters.

The above picture is part of my painting of Glen Feshie, in the Cairngorms of the Scottish Highlands, and is currently on display in my exhibition at Lincoln Joyce Fine Art, at 40 Church Road, Great Bookham, Surrey. Telephone 01372 458481, which continues until the 22nd October

Granulating Watercolours

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I’ve always loved colours that granulate – that is, create a varied speckling across the wash which had traditionally been present in certain pigments such as French ultramarine and cobalt blue, for instance. This summer, my attention was drawn to the Daniel Smith watercolours which are imported from America, as so many of the colours in an extraordinarily large range tend to granulate.

In this small section of a watercolour painting you can clearly see the strong granulating effect in the sky area. This colour is Zoisite Genuine, a grey-green that is especially useful for mixing subtle greens by adding one of the yellows to the mixture. It also has a slight tendency to intermittent sparkle when caught in a certain light, and is excellent for those areas you wish to play down, yet retain a little interest in the form of the granulations.

Moonglow is another colour that granulates well, a deep violet that would be ideal if you need a ‘mysterious dark’ with a little warmth. Whilst it may be an exciting addition to your halloween paintings, it could inject some lovely moody atmosphere into your landscapes, and I look forward to experimenting further with it.

Another exciting colour is Quinacridone Deep Gold which can impart a glorious rich glow to your skies, autumn scenes, or many other applications in a painting, and if you want intensely blue summer skies the Daniel Smith Manganese Blue is a knock-out. I should also point out to those who like Yellow Ochre, but not its opacity, that in this range the pigment is transparent!

I’ve only tried a few of the colours in this range, but from what I’ve seen they do give exciting possibilities. As artists we should always be on the look-out for new colours to try out. You can buy test sheets of the whole range and these contain a small blob of colour of each pigment that you can try out. Many of the colours are metallic, they shimmer and sparkle, so not all are suitable for traditional watercolour painting, but if you wish to look further see http://www.premiumartbrands.com

Exhibition of watercolour paintings

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Wednesday 5th October sees the start of my major 2011 exhibition, From Mountains to the Sea, at Lincoln Joyce Fine Art in Great Bookham, Surrey. The subjects range from coastal scenes, rural landscapes to the high mountains, with a number of overseas locations included. Naturally the mood of a place is a strong feature in each watercolour, as has always been one of my prime aims in depicting the landscape.

One of the paintings is this view of a farm in Upper Langdale in the Lake District, the tops dusted with a thin layer of snow which strongly contrasts the red of the dead bracken on the mountainside. This was painted from a sketch I carried out many years ago, for I have so many sketches and photographs that I can quite happily put many good ones aside for some time until I feel the moment is right. The only thing that was not actually present when I did the sketch is the group of chickens – these were taken from another source, and it pays to have secondary visual resources like this to beef up a composition, however good the original may be.

The exhibition runs until 22nd October and Lincoln Joyce Fine Art can be found at 40 Church Road, Great Bookham, Surrey, KT23 3PW, telephone 01372 458481 I shall be there on Wednesday 5th October to conduct the watercolour seminar in the hall opposite. We still have a few places left if you’d like to join us for the demonstration and talk on Skies, Light & Atmosphere, in which case it is advisable to ring the gallery (above) and ask for a ticket to be kept aside for you to pick up on the day. For details see http://www.davidbellamy.co.uk/

Painting view blocked by a mounted army

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How often have you been out sketching or painting a favourite view, when just after you’ve put brush to paper a dirty great truck comes along and parks right in the way of your view? It’s pretty frustrating, though up in the mountains I’m normally spared that sort of thing, apart from a very occasional helicopter making a nuisance of itself.

It’s a right turn-up though when you find your subject blocked by an army of mounted knights, all in full armour with shields, swords, spears and helmets gleaming in the sunshine. The best weapon I was carrying was a number ten round sable, not much use against that crowd! Luckily, Marloes Beach is huge and when the tide is out there is plenty of room even for several hundred knights together with several hundred artists, if it came to the push, so Jenny and I drifted off to the south end of the beach and found a superb subject set against a delightful, shimmering sea.

Painting holiday in Iceland

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Next June I shall be taking a group of painters to Iceland to paint and sketch the amazing landscapes there, ranging from the most spectacular waterfalls that take your breath away, to violently-coloured mountainscapes that will challenge your palette, sublime ice and glacier scenery, the blackest of lava and so much more. Truly “Lord of the Rings” stuff that promises to be a visual feast.

When I was last exploring Iceland I camped much of the time, and of course, always take every opportunity to sketch people as well as the landscape and wildlife. At one site this lady Viking passed our tent carrying an armful of lager cans, so I couldn’t resist a quick rendering in my sketchbook. My companions sometimes get rather concerned when I do this, as they know full well that the result is not always complimentary, but not many people realise they are being studied in this way.

Next year we will not be camping, as it’s quite a luxurious trip as far as accommodation is concerned, and I can’t guarantee we’ll bump into any lady Vikings, but I’m sure there will be plenty of interesting characters around. Many Icelandic artists themselves include odd characters in their landscape paintings, some quite mythical. If you are interested in the painting holiday do get in touch with Liz Drake at http://www.spencerscott.co.uk  telephone 01825 714310  or  info@spencerscott.co.uk