Stephen J Quirke watercolour blog and online gallery
Posted by Stephen Quirke on October 30, 2010 under Art, Drawing, figure, painting, watercolor, watercolour | 
6 Comments to Read
Yesterday afternoon I did some pencil sketches from photos of people on the beach. I really enjoy working with a pencil and this exercise was relaxing. Last night I drew up two of the figures on watercolour paper and did some painting.
These are both on Fabriano and are 360 x 260 mm.
Posted by Stephen Quirke on October 28, 2010 under Art, figure, watercolor, watercolour | 4 Comments to Read
Figures are a whole new thing. But at last I feel I am getting somewhere. I have been practicing with photos I took at the beach a while ago. I love what happens when it clicks and the pencil traces the curves and angles as they are. I guess that is the hop over to right side of the brain. Of course research shows that what happens is a lot more complex than what has been popularised. But there is definitely a change of state. Now I want this to happen when I paint from life. Ai – the journey continues…
I have just done this after practicing drawing. Well at least she did not have to stand there. Or not (o:
I am working smaller again:
340x250mm on Fabriano 300 gm
Posted by Stephen Quirke on October 24, 2010 under Art, en plein air, figure, painting, seascape, Strand Pipe beach, watercolor, watercolour | 5 Comments to Read
The Pipe was so beautiful yesterday morning with Cumulonimbus lifting high in the sky, underlined by mauve lenticular clouds. The waves were messy but the sun was warm. I just wanted to stay and paint but had a car full of people with other ideas so had to return to hit the job-jar. After fixing irrigation systems I had time to go down again.
I painted this on Arches 300gm 190x280mm (Cold Pressed)
Posted by Stephen Quirke on October 18, 2010 under Art, en plein air, figure, seascape, Strand Pipe beach, watercolor, watercolour | 4 Comments to Read
Saturday cooked here in the Helderberg basin. I was feeling tired and thought a good surf would be good, with sometime under the African Sun. mmm. The waves were good and there were not many people in the water so it was fun. Then I came out and sat in the sun to paint this watercolour. I want to get a smaller sketch book to draw the people as they walk up and down the beach. I met some friends of mine and as we stood chatting this charming little old couple stood in front of us watching and commenting on the surfers – it would have made such a cute painting.
Anyway – here we are this is on Arches 300gm cold pressed and is 280 x 380 mm
Posted by Stephen Quirke on October 17, 2010 under Art, en plein air, landscape, Route 62, watercolor, watercolour | 2 Comments to Read
Route 62 is a beautiful alternative journey through the Klein Karoo that is becoming more and more popular. Each rise in the road offers stunning vistas and each little town is picturesque. The artists are moving into these towns filling them with the idiosyncratic. Very funky! On the way back from George on Friday we had to pass through Montague and so took route 62. There was not a lot of time for dawdling but we stopped at Smitswinkel (Smit’s shop) 10kms short of Ladismith, for pancakes and apple pie. It was so cool sitting on the stoep watching a few passing cars and the distant rainclouds on the mountains. So I stole 5 minutes to do this painting. I sketched the tree and added it in later.
Posted by Stephen Quirke on October 16, 2010 under Art, en plein air, painting, pomodoro, Touw River, watercolor, watercolour | 2 Comments to Read
On Thursday I traveled up to George with a friend of mine who owns the business with whom I have been working there. He had a 09:00 meeting so we left Somerset West at 04:00 which is nice and early. Dick is a farmer and a hunter so the trip is always very different. While I am composing watercolours he is picking out all the game. The last time we saw a small herd of fallow deer. And this time, on the way up we saw elephant! How about that? There are not many people I know who can stop to view elephant on the way to work. They are in a reserve on the route.
Posted by Stephen Quirke on October 10, 2010 under Art, Kogelbaai, painting, seascape, watercolor, watercolour | 4 Comments to Read
Here is a studio version of the same scene I did last weekend.
Cold pressed Arches 300gm 560x380mm (a half-sheet)
I am pleased with this work. The rocks on the beach are covered in treacherous seaweed. It is good to walk on when it is dry but when just a little damp is very slippery. Throughout the summer the rocks are covered in sand – how does that weed survive? Anyway I think I captured it well. I would like the big rock to have tuned more at the edge
I feel though as if it is waiting for something else.
Someone to step into the picture, an entry…
Posted by Stephen Quirke on October 9, 2010 under Art, Exhibition, painting, watercolor, watercolour | 6 Comments to Read
How cool is this? I was late for the opening of the SASA exhibition because I was facilitating a conversation at my church. Aura, Sinead, Ethan and I drove through and got there an hour after the speeches and I saw that someone had bought one of my paintings. This was the painting of the guys heading home on the Shire River in Malawi.
I think that is so neat!
Posted by Stephen Quirke on October 6, 2010 under Art, en plein air, Hout Bay, landscape, Muizenberg, seascape, watercolour | 4 Comments to Read
On Monday night I did a talk to a group of people in Hout Bay about workshop facilitation. A fun event. Hout Bay is over the other side of the peninsula. Friends invited me to stay over in their guest cottage, to save me the trip back to Somerset West late at night. I thought how great it would be to have some time that side so I took them up on the idea. I painted a watercolour at Hout Bay beach the next morning. Painting on the beach was great and I had a nice chat with a sweet British lady who spends a few months of the year in Cape Town (we call them ‘swallows’). I was also accosted by swarms of vagrants who tried to sell me garish flowers made of glass beads and knotted leather keyrings. Fortunately the tide came in as I painted and the peddlers didn’t want to get their feet wet. Though one guy stood for ages watching me before moving off .
This painting is 260 x 380 mm on 300gm Arches Cold Pressed
Posted by Stephen Quirke on October 2, 2010 under Art, en plein air, Kogelbaai, painting, seascape, watercolor, watercolour | 8 Comments to Read
Eventually I made it down to the beach this afternoon, after fixing a toilet flush mechanism and waiting for other people to arrive. I took my son and his mates down to Kogelbaai. They dissapeared round to Caves Beach and I sat on the rocks, in a chilly, blustering South-Easter, and did this painting.
This is on 300gm Arches Cold Pressed and is 380 x 560 mm.
Read more of this article »
Follow Me!