The Lighthouse in Aldeburgh

Wow Thea.....this positively sings! Beautiful colour blending in your washes. Gorgeous!

Absolutely gorgeous, Thea! Love the blend of washes and the super palette!

Beautiful Thea.

Considering you do not use a limited pallette e g three colours. This looks very like it? It is beautifully done, but in my book more of a still life/building than a landscape !. Super duper sky.

Lovely painting

Thank you very much Fiona, Seok, Denise and Sylvia for being so kind as to say such encouraging things. Sylvia, I'm afraid I am incapable of using a limited palette (have tried - always dodgy results) because I love all the different colours too much. In this painting I used Perlyene Maroon, Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre, Cerulean, Cobalt, Cobalt Turquoise, Viridian, Alizarin Crimson and Mineral Violet - 10 in total. I decided to do the scene in a vignette format as I wanted to concentrate on the lighthouse and it's relationship to the immediately surrounding buildings, so it is perhaps not the traditional interpretation of a landscape.

Thank you, Glennis!

Such a good composition here Thea. It sits well on the paper. I especially like the colours that you've used and good for you for remembering which colours they were! I tend to use so many sometimes that I forget which ones! If anyone asks, I haven't a clue. there are no rules in my opinion, whatever works is good and your choice works.. It's a lovely fresh, clean image, just enough information. You have a talent for just putting in enough detail and never overworking a painting. Well done.

This is such a delightful painting Thea, I love it!

I have not posted or visited this site this site for ages so it is nice to catch up with some of my favourites again,This is charming Thea, love the colours,

I agree with the others - this is a beautiful painting. It makes you feel good to look at it. I can imagine it illustrating a children's story about the family who live in it.

Colours, composition, interest, - all top notch Thea

Very nice Thea, glad you are back painting.

Catching up after a very busy weekend, so glad you've been able to get back into your painting stride - this is lovely work, very fresh, with a super atmosphere, well done indeed!

Thank you all so very much. You are doing such a lot to build my confidence with landscapes (or should I say building-scapes). It's not a subject I find at all easy so I need all the encouragement I can get to keep trying to get better, so your support is much appreciated.

stunning painting Thea, great composición and colours, beautifully painted

Thank you so much, Petra, for your very lovely comment.

A lovely characterful painting. I know this place. Great copper cladding too Thea (turquoise on its own?). I usually try Winsor Blue (or Prussian) plus b.siena, but sometimes it's too acid. Thanks for your feedback on 'Elia' . Sadly the sitter wasn't best pleased!

This is just great, Thea. I love the vignette-shape and your beautiful, rich use of colours. Stunning as always.

I hate doing buildings but you do them soooo well!!:)linda

Thank you Kim, Mia and Linda for your super comments. Linda, I struggle with buildings but this tight little group of them was lovely to paint, so it overcame my worries about the subject. Kim, for the top of the lighthouse I used cerulean with some cobalt turquoise dropped in, plus some pretty thick burnt sienna for the rust which I just let run in the blues. On the shadow side I used the same colours, but added some prussian to it and a tiny touch of viridian - just dropping the colours in and letting them do their thing. I don't paint in layers or washes, so I have to react quite quickly when I am painting an area and be prepared to drop in other colours doing it all in one hit, so to speak. It's a bit hit and miss, but occasionally it works.

Clean and crisp painting Thea.

Thank you so much, Carole, for your very nice comment.

A great painting and sense of deja vu Thea, I painted this myself last year, I never got the result you have though, really fine.

Lovely vista of these buildings, so glad I caught it in the top tens. Congratulations!

Well this certainly worked well Thea as it's in the Top Ten. I didn't see it when you posted it as I too have been having lean time !! I can only agree with all that been said..... the palette and composition.... I love the fat, round tower and just a suggestion of the clouds. One of my favourites I think! (ps thanks for liking my latest and enjoy your holiday. There's a quarterly magazine called 'L'Art de l'Aquarelle", 7 euros! but worth every cent; features artists from the world over!)

Many congratulatuions Thea, this painting really deserve it. I love it!

I missed this one, Thea .. only caught it browsing the top ten. This is a really excellent painting and deserves the attention it has got. I know the subject really well, and can only marvel at the facility you have with watercolour. I see this as a portrait of a building, and its demonstrates all of your accumulated skills in portraiture, and your subtle mastery of the mysterious ways of watercolour. Last weekend I tried a watercolour at Snape Maltings and decided that I'd stick with pastels and portraits for a bit longer, and enrol on some basic course on watercolour technique before trying again! In the meantime I shall continue to enjoy the work of those who really know what they are doing! Well done.

Thank you so much Steve, Lesley, Avril, Petra and Duncan. You are all very kind and thank you for stopping by to comment.