Category Archives: David Bellamy

Blog Posts by the artist David Bellamy

Painting with Pastels

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Many people turn to pastel, that lovely rich, direct medium, after experiencing the horrors of watercolour, which seems to have a mind of its own, and sometimes it seems, a vindictive one. Pastellist Jenny Keal has just brought out a new book Painting With Pastels, a superb guide for both beginners and the more experienced artists. It is mainly concerned with landscapes, although she has included a number of flower paintings as well.

Barafundle Bay in Pembrokeshire has a gem of a beach and in this painting Jenny has done it proud. She turns a good subject into an outstanding composition with a number of devices. Firstly, the long background cliff-top can intrude, but see how she has softened it off in places, introducing mist here and there with a judicious smudge. She has not been tempted by the cold, featureless sky, but has warmed it up to echo the foreground sand colour. All the background has been achieved in tones of grey, but she emphasises the power and solidity of the rocks with bold, determined strokes of a dark pastel that bring them closer to the viewer and thus creating a marvellous sense of space and distance.

Pastel is a lovely medium for suggesting reflections in wet surfaces, and Jenny’s rendering here has a mouth-watering quality, with lovely soft edges all round. One of her outstanding techniques with pastels is that of flaking – scraping the pastel stick and letting the droppings fall onto a selected area on the painting, then pressed in with a painting knife. Here you see the method used on the white splash, which truly brings the painting to life!

I was with her when she did the original sketch on the beach, which is why I know how much she has tweaked the scene with the eye of the master painter. Her book is crammed with tips and techniques like this, and even if you do insist on sticking with the dreaded watercolour medium (as I do!), you will still learn a lot from this inspiring book, which includes a number of stage-by-stage paintings. Jenny will even sign it for you if you order it from our website http://www.davidbellamy.co.uk

Enlivening your landscapes

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There are a number of ways to enliven your landscapes, and in this watercolour of a farm in the English Lake District I have employed a few devices to add interest. A clothes line can be used to add colour and by not having the clothes hanging straight down you can give them a sense of being blown about – white, pink and red are excellent colours to use on the clothes. Just in front of the house I have emphasised blossom on the trees, and many of the trees around the house are bright green, adding to the feeling of spring and further drawing attention to the centre of interest, which is the house.

However, once you include figures the centre of interest will then transfer to them, unless they are extremely small. The cyclists were not present, but I added them to bring life into the work. Always try and get your figures to be doing something, rather than standing around with their hands in their pockets, and for this try introducing some prop like a wheel-barrow, bucket, or as in this case, bikes. Finally, remember that sunshine will always liven up a painting.

This watercolour is featured in my book David Bellamy’s Mountains & Moorlands in Watercolour where I show the original sketch and photograph of the scene. For details of the book see:  http://www.davidbellamy.co.uk/

Blog followers and drawing figures

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Some followers have told me they are not receiving automatic notification when I post a new blog. Hardly surprising if you are following a blogospheric idiot who doesn’t know the difference between a geek and a slashdotter, however much he may know about watercolours. I’m sorry if you have had no joy with this, but I believe the problem is now sorted: on the top right of the blog page you will see a ‘Follow by Email’ slot. If you enter your email address there and click ‘submit’ that should hopefully ensure you are kept informed.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have become followers, left comments and sent emails about the blog, and I encourage you to leave comments as it helps me to find out what you like, or don’t like. As I live a rather varied life, from the rip-roaring exciting bits to the boring ones, there will be a wide range of subjects and approach. Some may be completely mad, while others will cover serious topics, and of course a considerable amount of painting ideas, tips and information. It will be covering areas that often do not appear in my books and films.

This time I’ve included a sketch done many years ago of the Bedouin singer Abd Disardeq. I love figure work of all sorts and this was a delightful evening in Bahariah Oasis in the Western Desert of Egypt. In the sketch it may look as though Abd is playing music on an old chair-leg, but in fact it is a Bedouin musical instrument called a simsemeia. He is accompanied here by one of his sons. I painted a full watercolour from this, and kept it as it so reminds me of a wonderful evening in the company of many extremely kind and hospitable local people. So the lesson is: don’t go anywhere without your sketchbook!

Shock & Draw

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I followed the major across the rough, pathless mountainside, often stumbling in the pitch blackness of the winter night. Eventually we stopped close to a Ghurka machine-gun post and waited. Using my headtorch was out of the question – it would alert the enemy to our position. I would have to start sketching in absolute darkness.

Suddenly an all-mighty explosion erupted behind us, followed by more, causing the ground to vibrate: not good for the jolly old pencil. With more explosions the scene became lit up to a degree, the flashes illuminating conifers and the dying smoke of the previous explosions. Although still not able to use my torch, at least I could draw vaguely accurate impressions of the rather lively barrage with a water-soluble pencil. Still no sign of the attackers, so my drawing was devoid of figures.

Then, with an almighty whoosh something nasty flew through the air, rose high and then illuminated the whole scene. Parachute flares began dropping as the enemy located our position and turned night into day. Machine-guns opened up on the flank and the Ghurkas began firing from their bunker as shadowy figures advanced on their lines. My pencil worked overtime, and now I could turn on my torch and illuminate my sketchbook. What a mess! Still, I managed to turn it into something reasonable. The atmosphere was incredible, with flares, bangs, automatic gunfire, figures hurtling by and smoke grenades going off. In less than half an hour it was all over.

This all took place in the wilds of Mid-Wales at an infantry battle course. My objective was to produce a large watercolour to donate to the Help for Heroes charity which supports our wounded soldiers. The army were absolutely brilliant in helping me record this amazing spectacle. In all I did three sessions, one with live ammunition, complete with bullet-proof vest and armour-plated watercolour box. I can’t thank them enough.

Painting and mountaineering in Holland

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So what can Holland offer the mountain painter? Well, not many mountains, but there are marvellous opportunities for other subjects. I’ve not long returned from a few days in the Netherlands where I wanted to visit the Arnhem battlefield site and also sketch some Dutch maritime subjects, which I’ve always admired. But there was so much more: Amsterdam offered great opportunities for sketching those lovely traditional Dutch barges, the picturesque waterways, which at this time of year are fresh with new foliage on the trees, the incredible canal houses with their hugely varied gables, and bikes, bikes, bikes!

There was a sketch everywhere and not enough time to do it justice, and even sitting at an outdoor cafe sipping a cappuccino brought no relief, for the figures walking, cycling, hopping and shuffling past demanded so much attention from my pencil. What intrigued me was the number of blokes who came up and photographed me painting and sketching, though not one took the slightest interest in the work being done. Many artists shy away from working outdoors because of onlookers, but there are many ways to counter this.

Wear a large, wide-brimmed hat. This will isolate you from all but the most persistent onlooker, especially if you are sitting down. Have a second hat with some coins in placed upside down in front of your position – this will distance many, but at least if they approach closer you may be rewarded. When asked a question reply in a foreign language – Welsh is excellent for this, as even Berber children in Morocco, the true afficionados of artist-baiters, are hard pushed to counter this. If you are truly desperate then take along a disreputable-looking friend to stand beside you. My friend Michiel finds that when he is out walking with his friend Griswallt most people will immediately cross to the other side of the road when they see old Grissie approaching. So don’t be too alarmed if you find some wierd characters staring at your painting and making the most awfully nice comments about it…….

I’ll be showing some of the work from Holland in a future blog, but do enjoy it when you’re out there sketching – it can be great fun!