Author Archives: David Bellamy

Stopping environmental destruction

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They came from Ceredigion, they came from Carmarthenshire, Denbighshire, Radnorshire, Snowdonia, from Shropshire, Devon, Cornwall, Cheshire, and many more places; but most of all from Montgomeryshire. They descended on Cardiff to protest against the destruction and industrialisation of the beautiful Mid-Wales countryside by over 600 wind turbines, with their associated tall pylons, substations and other structures. To protest against the gridlock of main Powys roads every weekday for six years or more, with the associated works of building new roads, bridges, and moving road furniture to carry massive turbine structures and thousands of tons of concrete for their bases, concrete production being one of the most polluting processes known to man. At the same time destroying peat blankets that store CO2, thus releasing the very thing these turbines are supposed to be reducing.

Jenny and I travelled down with a coach-load of protesters. My first problem was when they handed out the song-sheet – no-one else on the bus appeared to be able to read Welsh, so Muggins had to blast away…..anyone who has witnessed my singing will recoil with the awful memory, and in the confines of the coach it must have sounded dreadful – I’m no Katherine Jenkins!  We’re deeply concerned that it is clear that most of Mid-Wales will become one vast windfarm if these plans go ahead. We certainly would not want to walk and sketch amongst these useless structures. They would devastate the local economy that relies so much on tourism.

This was the largest demonstration they had seen at the Welsh Assembly. All the political parties sent out a representative: Labour sent out a girl who had only been an AM for a couple of weeks, while her leader hid away in the Senedd; the Lib-Dem leader, an AM for Mid-Wales shamefully made no appearance; Plaid Cymru, the party whom one would expect to stand up for Wales, made it sound as though he’d fought on our side, which was patently not the case; only the local Conservative MP for Montgomery, the man who galvanised the growing protest movement, stood up for our glorious countryside. Most magnificent was Myfanwy from Meifod who tore into the Welsh Assembly with a ferocity and touch of humour that received a tremendous applause.

But then, not to be outdone, stepped forward that wonderful organisation that strikes terror into the heart of any British government, should they step out of line – the WI. The representative from the Womens’ Institute told the Welsh Ass in no uncertain terms that this wasn’t good enough – a rethink on their energy strategy was necessary. Then, finally, as is always fitting in Wales, we all sang, and sang……

Whether we are artists, walkers, riders, tourists seeking solitude and peace, or whatever, we need the countryside for our health, our sanity and to de-stress. Nothing works better than nature, but if we are not careful we have so much to lose now. If you feel you would like to sign the Welsh Assembly petition against these proposals please see http://www.assemblywales.org/gethome/e-petitions

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.