I knew when I went to Winchester on holiday recently that I would want to do a painting of it since it was such an interesting place and the weather was ideal for photos. But which part could I paint to sum up just one aspect of it? The Cathedral was the obvious answer but I love painting water and had adored the Weirs walk by the river and I love painting water, so that was the one I chose. But I also knew I would have to use a bit of artistic licence in my painting from this photo as I didn’t want to put in the side rail in the left hand side of the painting, or the shadows on the wall of the right hand side foreground, or the steps on the building leading below the wall, and wanted to squeeze the middle part of the white building together so the eye would focus on the wall on the right hand side leading to the bridge, and the path and building on the left hand side also leading to the bridge as the focal point.
I did a quick thumbnail sketch of my photo to get the basic angles and tones in and then started on the painting. I had a canvas 16 x 11.5 inches to work on and only used Brilliant blue, French Ultramarine, Cadmium yellow, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Medium Magenta and Titanium white.I didn’t use any black at all, the darkest darks were a mix of Burnt Sienna and French Ultramarine, which makes the painting harmonious.
I drew out the image on the canvas and when I was happy with that I then painted blocks of colour to seal the canvas, the sky, bridge, buildings and river. When that was sealed I did a second coat to seal the painting. Then I did the sky which is a simple flat pale blue, then the buildings on the left hand side, then the old mill which is the triangular building behind the bridge, then the bridge, then the buildings on the right hand side. When they were done I then did the trees on the right hand side, the left hand side and infront of and behind the bridge. Then I painted the clump of grass on the left hand side of the painting, which is there to add interest to the left hand side of the picture. It was only when I was happy with all of that that I did the river itself, as it had to show that it was water, and fluid and also picking up the hints of colours from the buildings and sky above it. The last part I painted was the greenery growing by the side of the river on the right hand side leading towards the bridge as it had to show the side of the horizontal river and vertical buildings above it.
This painting has sky, slate roofs, tiled walls, brick walls, modern and old windows, old stone walls, trees, wooden fencing, tarmac path, trees, plants, shadows and water, so a lot of different textures within the painting, I’ve loved doing it as its been a challenge but I think I’ve done it all well.
The painting is in acrylics on canvas measuring 16 x 11.5 inches and called ‘Winchester weirs walk’. I love it, what do you think?
