TALKING TECHNIQUES
I load a lot of water at the top
of a painting so it runs down
and forms dynamic effects
ABOVE Porthgain
Evening,
watercolour on
paper, 30x22cm
RIGHT Tenby
Church, Morning
Sun, watercolour
on paper, 30x40cm
watercolour can express the
architectural characteristics of
a building, that’s a joyous thing.”
Having achieved all the soft edges,
Simon then added the hard edges
with a dry brush. “The figure goes
on, the yellow lines, the details in the
architecture – so there’s a contrast
between soft flowing forms and
sharp edges,” he says.
Simon’s other paintings take shape
through a similar process. Sometimes
he will “attack” his initial wash with
one of his favourite tools: an old
decorator’s brush. “I use it in a really
cack-handed, un-thought-through way- it produces lots of accidents that
are sometimes disastrous and
sometimes magical,” he explains.
“It has jagged edges, producing
an unpredictable effect.”
The decorator’s brush will also be
used to drench windows with water to
give the feeling of light flooding out of
them. Calligraphic strokes using a mix
of Neutral Tine and Cobalt Blue can
then be applied over them to suggest
the gothic stylings of church windows
and other architectural details.
Simon used to favour Winsor &
Newton Professional Water Colours,
but he now uses a mixture of brands
after he began to find some colours
were too thick to use straight fromArtists & Illustrators 39