Stephen J Quirke watercolour blog and online gallery
Posted by Stephen Quirke on March 21, 2011 under Art, en plein air, painting, seascape, Strand beach, watercolor, watercolour | 
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Gordon’s Bay mountains from the Dog Beach in Strand
This is 560 x380mm on Arches 300gm Cold Pressed.
Posted by Stephen Quirke on August 29, 2010 under Art, en plein air, figure, landscape, painting, seascape, Strand beach, Strand Pipe beach, watercolor, watercolour | 5 Comments to Read
Ethan and I went down to the pipe this morning after church. He had a surf and I had a chance to stand in the sun and paint. There is not a breath of wind. The guys coming out of the water said the waves were fun although they were smaller than yesterday. People stopped to chat as usual. All in all a great morning.
Posted by Stephen Quirke on December 21, 2008 under Art, en plein air, landscape, painting, Strand beach, watercolor, watercolour | Be the First to Comment
I move my spot by about Two meters yesterday, where I had a view of Table Mountain in the distance. I was just settling down to paint when a wedding group arrived to take shots of the bridal party. I decided to include them in the picture but have to admit that I spun my wheels a bit and didn’t settle down till they had gone. And I had left my camera in the car, which was an added element of disorganisation. In any case here is the picture. I eventually added the group in from memory. When they left the groom smiled at me. There was a pregnant moment when I could have chatted to him but decided not to intrude in their day, which is not my usual thing. So we grow.
I also saw, over the back of the dune where I usually sit, there is a beautiful view of False Bay and Cape Hangklip which I will do next time I do not have to shelter from the South Easter. Strand is a great walking beach, especially at this time of the year, there are always people walking up the fence, just beyond the pipe and back. I tried to capture some of them too.
Posted by Stephen Quirke on December 18, 2008 under Art, en plein air, landscape, painting, Strand beach, watercolor, watercolour | Be the First to Comment
Today I sat at the path down to the Pipe, after a frustrating surfing session, and did a painting. I did two of the same scene – the second of which is not too bad.
I painted the first in a bit of a rush.
Then the wind dropped and I painted a second painting of the same scene.
I think the foreground is better. How do you like my figures? I sketched people as they walked up to the path and then painted them in.
I will put this one in my Beach Gallery where you can see a bigger version.
Posted by Stephen Quirke on December 7, 2008 under Art, figure, landscape, painting, Strand beach, watercolor, watercolour | Be the First to Comment
I have been reading Charles Reid again – The Natural Way to Paint and his latest book on Watercolour solutions. He has such a vibrant way of portraying scenes on site. This is definitely worth working towards. And his figures are so alive. this will need lots of practice. Yesterday I did my scene at Strand Beach again. It also got messy towards the end. The day was very hot, I must get a good umbrella. I photographed a couple and offered to put paintings of them on the this site. Here is my first attempt – I will put the final product on my gallery page – in fact I will create a page for this type of work.
OK – I have just read Charles’ approach again in “Watercolor solutions” and am following his instructions. It is interesting, he suggests doing the darks first to get the value range right. So I have redrawn the picture and have done the darks. Now I am going to have a quick swim then return to do more.
I also want to take this opportunity to thank Cecily in CJs Coffee shop for introducing me to Gypsey Music (Putamayo – Gypsey Groove – really cool stuff).
So here is painting so far…
Ok this is starting with the figure in the foreground. I think I have got into trouble with the hair – too much detail and I still have to do the sea
Now I have done the chap – OK so far. Those Gypsies…
And now I have put in the background – the sea worked OK around the woman’s head. Now I am listening to the Stones…
OK here is the final product. I may touch it up a little tomorrow but my son is pushing to go down to the beach for a last surf on this beautiful, hot summer day.
Leaving Pipe Beach
I have put a copy of this picture on my gallery so that you can click on it to see a larger view.
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