In one of my recent blog posts I talked about a commission I received when I first went full time as an artist. This was back in 1984 at the age of 22. It was to do two watercolours of the River Tyne near North Shields for a leading North East businessman. He wanted me to depict the industry on the River Tyne, in particular the cranes, docks and ships. I felt as though a Tyne Sunset would really appeal to him.
Last year I decided to re-visit the reference I gathered over 27 years ago to do a fresh take on the scene. I stretched a massive sheet of Arches watercolour paper around 40″ x 30″ and drew out the basic composition in pencil. Then the real fun began!
First I wet the paper and flooded specific areas of the sky and all of the river with a mix of Cadmium Lemon and orange. This was to create the effect of low winter sun catching the clouds. Once that first wash dried (about one to two hours) I wet the paper again around the yellow parts. However this time I brushed in some subtle washes of Rose Madder, intensifying the colour nearer the horizon.
An hour or so later, when that wash had dried, I wet the paper once again. I carefully planned out shapes around the yellow parts to indicate where the next application of colour was going to go. This time some nicely painted in Manganese Blue for the sky. Finally, when the blue wash dried, I completed the sky. I used some much darker cloud shapes with a mix of Paynes Grey, Rose Madder and Manganese Blue.
Next came the fun of painting in the main subject of the boats, cranes and docks. I used a wet on dry technique with all of the colours mentioned previously and some Raw Sienna, Vandyke Brown and Lamp Black. All the colours are Winsor and Newton Artists quality. The entire painting was done with a Stratford and York size 20 synthetic brush. Sadly, this particular brush is no longer available. SAA do a large wash brush with a decent point which is just as good.
The painting titled River Tyne Sunset is currently on view at my Studio & Gallery in Ponteland.