Posted by Stephen Quirke on January 15, 2011 under Art, en plein air, figure, painting, seascape, Strand Pipe beach, watercolor, watercolour | 
I had a surf this morning and we all went down again this afternoon. The sea was quite messy, although the guys were out. The rest of my family went for a walk down the beach and I decided to sit on the dune at the entrance to the beach to do a painting. As I arrived Henrique, the surf coach, was there so I asked him if he would like to star in a watercolour. And he would. So here he is.
This is 380 x 560 mm on 185gm Arches Hot Pressed.
And he sat so nicely that I gave him the painting.
Posted by Stephen Quirke on January 12, 2011 under Art, figure, Kalk Bay, painting, watercolor, watercolour |
OK – this is the final version of Violet Glen docking to offload their catch of the day. I am using this as my main hand-in at the SASA merit exhibition next week.
This is a watercolour painted on Hot Pressed Arches – 185 gm 560x380mm
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Posted by Stephen Quirke on under Art, figure, Hout Bay, watercolor, watercolour |
While painting the previous version of this I was struck by the concentration and care the painter was taking over this work. So I tried to capture the mixture of tension and relaxed confidence in his hands.
This watercolour is on Fabriano and is 500 x 350 mm.
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Posted by Stephen Quirke on January 10, 2011 under Art, figure, watercolor, watercolour |
Today I went to Kalk Bay again. They are cleaning up the harbour area and I did this painting of a chap painting the road signs
This painting is 380 by 280 mm on 185gm Arches cold-pressed.
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Posted by Stephen Quirke on January 9, 2011 under Art, en plein air, Family, figure, landscape, Muizenberg, painting, seascape, watercolor, watercolour |
Yesterday we all went out to meet the cousins and Torill at Muizenberg. The waves were small but it was a beautiful day so we sat and chatted and I did this painting.
This is 280 x 380 mm on 185gm Arches Hot Pressed. (loving the hot-pressed).
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Posted by Stephen Quirke on January 7, 2011 under Art, figure, watercolor, watercolour |
So here is another take. After this it is time to complete the fishermen.
This is also on Arches Hot pressed (185gm) and is 280 x 380 mm.
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Posted by Stephen Quirke on under Art, figure, painting, seascape, Smitswinkel bay, watercolor, watercolour |
OK – so I needed a break from the fishermen. I will get back to the guys soon I hope. Hey! maybe they are asking to be done a sheet of Hot pressed. Mmm – there is a thought.
This painting is on Arches Hot Pressed – 185gm and is 280x560mm
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Posted by Stephen Quirke on January 4, 2011 under Art, en plein air, painting, seascape, Smitswinkel bay, watercolor, watercolour |
Today I took a trip around the peninsula to Smitswinkel bay. I have been working from photos I took on my silly little cell phone and wanted more material. It was a lovely still, hot day in false bay, although the water was icy cold. I took a few photos and then settled down to paint a watercolour of the bay. OK so I took on a big chunk, from the top of the mountain to the pool at my feet – it just kind of happened. I am keen to develop a less detailed way to paint scenes like this. But here it is.
This is on Hot Pressed Arches and is 380 x 280mm
I like this in places – the rocks in the left middle ground went well. But I think the fynbos around the houses is too busy and I could have saved time and attention by simplifying this drastically. Maybe I will try this in the studio to develop approaches to the different parts of the painting.
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Posted by Stephen Quirke on January 2, 2011 under Art, figure, painting, seascape, watercolor, watercolour |
I don’t know so much about these big epic pieces. It is quite a mission to keep it together for the duration. But I was so keen to do this painting with BIG rocks in the foreground. I planned this carefully and still had to redraw quite a bit – but I am quite pleased with how this is going. I have to put it aside for now but will come back to finish it off.
I wanted to make the foreground rocks lighter but then had to anchor them in the shadow so they got a bit heavier. I quite like the rocks behind the standing rasta-man dude.
This is on a full sheet of Arches 300gm cold pressed (560x760mm)
Posted by Stephen Quirke on January 1, 2011 under Art, Drawing, figure, painting, pencil sketch, portrait, watercolor, watercolour |
So we started closed out 2010 with the cousins in the Cape Town waterfront – throngs of people all peaceably enjoying company with friends to see in the new year. I returned to our table to find Margie and Tim drawing Torril – our friend from Norway so I sat next to her to do a quick sketch of Tim before he started moving.
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I had a surf this morning and we all went down again this afternoon. The sea was quite messy, although the guys were out. The rest of my family went for a walk down the beach and I decided to sit on the dune at the entrance to the beach to do a painting. As I arrived Henrique, the surf coach, was there so I asked him if he would like to star in a watercolour. And he would. So here he is.
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