Stephen J Quirke watercolour blog and online gallery
Posted by Stephen Quirke on January 12, 2011 under Art, figure, Hout Bay, watercolor, watercolour | 
14 Comments to Read
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.
Posted by Stephen Quirke on December 27, 2010 under Art, Hout Bay, painting, seascape, watercolor, watercolour | 4 Comments to Read
Here is the statue of the leopard in Hout Bay.
The painting is on 300 gm Fabriano rough and is 560 x 760mm.
Posted by Stephen Quirke on December 14, 2010 under Art, Hout Bay, landscape, watercolor, watercolour | 6 Comments to Read
Here comes the second cut. This time I am getting smart and heck of technical!!! I did this last night after sending a proposal off to a client from the other world. I was yawning away but just wanted to get this going. I decided to use a cool blue for the sky – hem hem – Notice how the sky goes back and the sea comes forward. Golly – it really does! And I also used staining pigments like Windsor blue so the sky and the sea are not so grainy – neither here nor there cause I like grainy but there you are. And I made the shadows on the blocks a bit darker AND I put in the cast shadows – so lets see how this develops.
Posted by Stephen Quirke on December 11, 2010 under Art, Hout Bay, landscape, painting, watercolor, watercolour | 16 Comments to Read
OK here we go; the Thumbnail, just to show I do plan, from time to time.
I am busy with the sketch now. Listening to Stevie Ray Vaughn. What a player!!
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
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