Stephen J Quirke watercolour blog and online gallery
Posted by Stephen Quirke on May 1, 2013 under Kogelbaai, landscape, seascape, watercolor, watercolour | 
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I am so keen to get this right – making each stroke count so as to keep the colours fresh.
Arches 300gm cold pressed 760 x 560 ( a full sheet) this is not finished but should almost be.
Posted by Stephen Quirke on December 28, 2012 under Art, en plein air, landscape, painting, watercolor, watercolour | 4 Comments to Read
At last have managed to make time to paint in my studio. This is a view from the top of the A-Ridge ( I think Mike called it) in the Du Toits Kloof pass:
This is painted on 300gm Arches Cold Pressed and is about 280 x 380mm.
Posted by Stephen Quirke on April 29, 2012 under Art, en plein air, landscape, painting, watercolor, watercolour | 5 Comments to Read
I have spent the last two nights sleeping in a pine forest in Grabow just over the Boland mountains from where we live. There is something very special about pine forests. Pines are not indigenous to Cape Town. However the Eastern Slopes of Table Mountain are apparently prime forestry area and there are large stands of pines in Newlands Forest, even though they are being replaced by indigenous forest as they are harvested.
Years ago, when I was studying at UCT, I lived in Fishhoek for a year, quite a distance from the campus. In that year I had a Friday morning hand-in for a computer course I was doing (in which I managed to learn nothing about computers or programming) and therefore worked in the computer center until it closed at midnight. It was quite a trek out to Fishhoek at that time so I took to parking a car in the residence parking lot and walking up, past the campus into Newlands Forest where I would sleep under the pines, looking out over the lights of Newlands and the Cape Flats. These were very special evenings. In the morning I would pack up and walk up the to river and make coffee, and on more organised days, pancakes, on my stove. Then I would wash up in the river and walk down through the forest to my lectures.
In those days there was still a zoo operating just off campus, Rhodes’ Zoo. And they had a lions enclosure. I remember waking in the forest one night to the sound of lions roaring. Even after I realised they were in the zoo it took some time for my heart to settle.
In that year I also started camping at the top of Table Mountain. I knew that if I left the geology lab at about three I could ascend Newlands Ravine, the knife edge and the Ledges route from where it was a 10 minute walk to the entrance to Carrel’s Ledge where I had a site to pitch a tent. Then I would sit drinking Milo, watching the traffic way down below and would crawl into my sleeping bag when all was dark. The next morning I would walk along Carrels Ledge, down Skeleton Gorge, back along the contour path to Campus.
These were some of the memories that came back as I lay listening to the wind in the pines – a lovely sound. And I painted the pines. This is looking down towards the dam, through the trees:
I painted this on the afternoon we arrived, having cycled from Sir Lowry’s pass to the site – which was really beautiful. This is 380x280mm and is painted on Arches 300gm Cold Pressed.
Here are some of the other paintings I created:
The dam level was really low after the long dry summer. Which made it fun for mud fights. And at one of the tributaries to the dam, the roots of the trees were exposed. The trees had been cut down when the dam was built and the stumps and roots created patterns like a memory of the glade lost to the dam. It was more heroic than sad I suppose.
Here is the first painting I did of the roots – trying to get done before the sun set:
And here is the second painting I did a day later:
And just before I left I did this painting of the the pine forest, from the lake shore:
And that was that. All of these were 280x380mm. the second roots painting was on Fabriano and both of the others were on Arches 300gm Cold Pressed.
Posted by Stephen Quirke on April 17, 2012 under Art, Demonstration, Kogelbaai, landscape, painting, seascape, watercolor, watercolour | Be the First to Comment
This morning I did my ‘Light and Colour’ presentation for the Helderberg Sunrise Rotary club. And it really was ‘Sunrise’. The venue was at the clubhouse of the Erinvale golf estate right under the Helderberg mountain. When I arrived the mountain was just starting to get light. What a stunningly beautiful venue. And what a friendly group of people. A great session. A guy called Jim told the group he had a donation of 10 000 shoes from TOMS who donate a pair of shoes for every pair they sell. Jim explained that he had discovered that wearing shoes is not about keeping feet warm as much as it is about being elevated from the dreadful sense that “I will never amount to anything – I can’t even have a pair of shoes” that pervades the poorer communities in the Helderberg Basin.
Anyway I was given 20 minutes to talk and do my painting so I had to motor. I think I went a little over time but they were gracious and allowed me to make my final point. Here is the painting I created this morning:
Taking my presentation from 50 minutes to 20 was a significant shift, and a good one. I refined my delivery. After my first try out I realised I only had time for the bare-essentials. Which is a good feeling. I spent the day yesterday practicing how it would fit together. Here are my versions, from last to first.
All of these are watercolour on Arches 300gm Cold Pressed and are 280×380 mm – except for the first which is 400x380mm.
I was keen to paint more sky. The idea being to show that in Watercolour you get the conditions right and then put the colour on and let it do its own thing, without fiddling. This I sought to compare with teams, where you need to put in place five conditions and then stand back and allow the teams to work out their own way within the framework these five conditions create. However the ‘portrait’ format did not fit the video screen well so I reduced the sky. Mmmm – gotto think of a better solution.
In any case I plan to finish some of these a little more and repost them.
Posted by Stephen Quirke on April 9, 2012 under landscape, Lesotho, watercolor | 2 Comments to Read
Here is a quick posting of the studio version of the plains at Thaba Nchu near Bloemfontein. There is a special zone in the middle distance where the right amount of detail can bring a painting to life. I want to give this another go soon:
mmmm – the colours were not that saturated – must be the flash. And the undulating landscape makes me feel a little seasick – heh heh – next time
This is on Arches 300gm Cold Pressed – 280x390mm
Posted by Stephen Quirke on January 9, 2011 under Art, en plein air, Family, figure, landscape, Muizenberg, painting, seascape, watercolor, watercolour | 6 Comments to Read
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).
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 November 27, 2010 under Art, en plein air, Kogelbaai, landscape, painting, seascape, watercolor, watercolour | 15 Comments to Read
This afternoon I went down to Kogelbaai to paint with my brother-in-law Tim and my nephew Ben. It was a beautiful afternoon. After wandering around a bit we settled at the bottom of the path off the Caves Beach. I found a nice big square rock and sat in a bunch of grass near the tap. And this is what I did.
Painted on Arches Hot Pressed (man I love that Hot Pressed) 380 x 280 mm.
Posted by Stephen Quirke on under Art, en plein air, landscape, river, watercolor, watercolour | 5 Comments to Read
After painting the nursery watercolour at Green With Envy I drove up to Pietermaritzburg to visit my sister Margie. The sleepy-hollow has grown. But it is still a pleasant town to be in. On Thursday we drove out to Hella Hella on the Umkomaas river, to a guest farm called Highover. Truly this place is a small slice of heaven.
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