I was recently asked do a watercolour demonstration for Hartlepool Art Club. They have a fabulous venue in an old church which holds art exhibitions. I had been invited before around 2015 when I did a painting of Newcastle’s Theatre Royal in the rain. The theme this time was still cityscapes so I prepared three paintings for the evening. One of the watercolours was this one above of the Sandhill, Newcastle.
It’s a scene I first painted in the spring of 2007. It was released as a limited edition print titled Quayside Morning Mist which sold out. I really only had time to do the preliminary wash of Cadmium Lemon which helped to take away the witness of the paper and set the mood for the rest of the colours. I managed to finish it off and I’ve decided to reproduce it as a limited edition print in several sizes. This time I’ve only painted one figure making his way along the Sandhill, Newcastle. Rays of early morning sunlight are breaking through the structure of the Tyne Bridge which is shrouded in mist.
The main watercolour I did for the demonstration was a view of Newcastle’s Quayside looking towards the Millennium Bridge on a summer evening. It’s a scene I’ve painted several times before including a step by step version for the Creative Art Packs for folk in UK prisons. The aim was to do the sky over four stages which I managed to do over the two hours.
Grey Street is always a firm favourite, so again I made a start on a scene looking down towards the Theatre Royal. I’ll hopefully write about the Grey Street painting and the Quayside one on future blog posts.