Waverley Abbey Bridge

A superb painting of a subject that many find difficult to tackle Shaun - perhaps along with Terry Roberts et al we should form the Guild of Bridge Artists

The bridge and its reflections look fine to me Shaun, a nice piece of work.

A beautiful painting the reflection is truly exquisite! I love the bold and precise brush strokes that you use that are so tactile to look at!

Welcome to the Bridge Club! This is excellent - you've handled the reflections very well and I particularly like the shadows under the arches and the hint of movement in he water.

I echo all that has been said above Shaun........super painting.

Thanks everyone. I've never been a member of an unofficial club before...so feeling quite chuffed!

Hi Shaun, I love the way you use bold, larger brush strokes. I was wondering if you could pass on a little advice on how to achieve without over complicating. I start of and end up going into to much detail. I have ruined a couple of paintings by doing this. I dont seem to know when to quit

Hi Debbie. I so understand what you are saying as I suffer from the same problem with every piece that I do. It's a constant struggle not to become too intricate and detailed too soon. I try to use all the tricks in the book, such as; choosing simple compositions, blocking-in large areas of colour, using bigger brushes through to the final stages, squinting my eyes to delete details, moving around the whole canvas instead of concentrating on one area, stepping back frequently from the easel to view the piece from a distance, or, seeing the subject in terms of geometrical shapes of tone and colour and hoping they create definition for me. It's never easy and I always feel as though I'm pulling back on the reins to stop myself from galloping ahead. To me it's like a boardgame where you get to the end in as fewer, simpler moves as possible by using a set sequence of techniques. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but it should always be fluid and interesting even in absolute frustration or failure. If I start getting too detailed, I tend to down tools and go and do something completely different for a while to shake me out of that mindset. Occasionally, I've deliberately ruined a piece to stop myself from becoming too detailed, which takes some nerve. I'm also learning to accept that many pieces will ultimately fail...but that's ok because it's all about the creative process. When I feel that I've done all I can to a painting, I hide it away or turn it around to stop myself from looking at it and prevent the urge to touch-up or tamper...I have to break that connection I've built up with it. Oh blimey...I sound like one of those self-help books!