Plockton

What a fuss...'not that good at'? It's very gentle, has the light of north west Scotland, and is evocative of the place and geography. Plockton is magical and this is fine.

Just beautiful Thea. So tranquil. I feel rather calm just looking at this. I like your colours and the touch of blue merging into the pinky red larger boat. Good composition and water as well. I likey!!!

Thank you very much, Roger. I know - but it just wouldn't be me if I wasn't denigrating some aspect of my painting skills - force of habit I think. I did sit with brush poised for a ridiculous length of time before committing to paint the water and I sort of closed my eyes and shoved the reflections in. I am such a wuss I'm afraid!

Just read your description properly, 'not that good at reflections'? Pull the other one..lol

Thank you, Louise, I think you know how much I doubted the success of this painting, but it is definitely growing on me now. I shall feel better equipped to tackle water in the future I think - you do learn a lot when you have a bit of a struggle.

Seriously, Louise, when I look at so many of the great artists on this site who paint amazing reflections, I can honestly say that compared to them I am an utter novice at it - but at least I am a novice who is very willing to learn.

Re your comment about sitting with the brush poised for ages. I have the opposite problem and wish sometimes that I didn't rush so much.

Oh, I hover for ages sometimes and then try out on a bit of spare paper. Not a bold painter like you are.

You shouldn't compare, we all paint differently and your way is good!!

This is like playing tennis, lol! Thank you for that and yes, we are all different, but I think it is probably normal to tend to rate other's people's work more highly than your own and I definitely do that.

It's a joy Thea, I learn so much by looking at your paintings, quite inspiring.

Thea your paintings are clear and pure as if the sun is always shinning!

That's a lovely compliment, Mark and I do appreciate your very kind words.

Thank you very much, Fiona. It felt quite different doing a normal painting rather than the pen and wash I have concentrated on lately. With this type of painting, you really get to enjoy and play with the interaction between the paint and the paper, which I always find gives me a buzz.

Hi Thea, the first words that spring to mind are, beautiful, delicate and light. You work is alway so refreshing. Your style is so distinctive, as soon as I see them I know thay are yours. I know the feeling though, what we produce is never quite right, or so we think. Lovely work.

Thank you very much, Peter, for such positive feedback. You are right - it is hard to feel satisfied with how a painting turns out as I suspect we fragile artists tend to concentrate more on what has gone wrong rather than what has gone right. I, personally, think I should learn to look at the bigger picture (no pun intended!) so as to evaluate overall rather than picking out details. However, I do think it helps for others to see that everyone has their struggles and difficulties to overcome and I don't mind sharing that.

Ah yes but you don't yet offer your work for sale. Anyone hoping to sell their artwork wouldn't really like to admit here what a struggle the painting had been or point out it's faults to a possible future buyer! Best to say, 'good innit?' lol

I agree with Louise - 'good innit!' lol

Lovely work Thea

Hmmm, the "not good at" part - I wish I could be "not good at" anything at your level, Thea! This is lovely, nothing wrong with the sea or the reflections - beautiful, clear and sparkling washes, everything a watercolor should be!

Thank you very much, Debs, Glennis and Seok - lovely kind comments - much appreciated. Louise, I think I am quite safe pointing out the shortcomings in my paintings as I don't ever envisage a time that I will want to sell any of them. I do refer back to my paintings all the time to see how I tackled a particular subject or to analyse what went right and what went wrong, so that I can learn. If I sold them, I would feel that I was parting with a valuable resource that helps me to try and improve.

You've brought your pen skills implicitly to this Thea, with acutely observed detail contrasting with placid expanses of lower definition. It has great depth (getting boats in perspective on such broad swathes of water is devlishly tricky and you can tell immediately if it doesn't come off; your's does). I also like the restrained tonal scheme and delicate contrasts, aided by your cunning use of subtle whites to delimit spaces and detail: that's nice!

Cool and clear colours Thea. So summery;)

Thank you very much Kim and Carole for interesting and informative comments.

It's all been said. Nothing wrong with this; everything right. I think I stayed in the house in the middle one New Year. Interesting! When we drove home whichever day it was there was a chap walking along the road, wobbling. He fell behind a hedge and when he re-emerged he was minus trousers.

Gudrun - what a great story. I am Scottish, although left the country when I was a toddler. However, my parents returned to their native land after my father came out of the RAF and then they bought some hotels, one of which was at Loch Rannoch. I used to spend a lot of holidays up there with them and got to know the locals in the village. Well - to say that all human life was there was putting is mildly - wonderfully eccentric lot of people and such fun. It sounds as if Plockton is the same. Perhaps if I paint Plockton again, I can include your chap minus his trews! Thank you for your comment as it gave me a good laugh.

You have a lovely style of watercolour painting ! this painting is fresh and atmospheric. Thanks also for commenting on my painting. Best Wishes, Mark.

Thank you very much, Mark - very kind of you.

One of my favourite scenes Thea. I love Plockton and you have depicted it so well in your inimitable style and colours.

I can only agree with all the comments above, I've spent a lot of time time in Plockton, and I've seen many paintings and photographs of it, but this has to be one of the better that I've seen, I like the wateriness of the paint but also the clear and cheerful colors. Its a place I've often thought of painting but I'd just make it driech and dreary.

love it Thea, always so delicate.

I love the delicate nature of the colours and whole portrayal of the scene.

Thank you very much Mark, Karyl, Kevin, Fiona and Annette for such interesting and lovely comments. I think you all know how much I appreciate your input.

I like it thea it has a nice soft quality and the water looks fine to me . You have not over worked the water but kept it simple its nice .I do some times put too many ripples or waves in my paintings and I don't think it works no I think you have got it just about right.

Hi Thea this is just a thought Thea . A lot of my pictures are digital in other words energy carrying information , I e electricity is the energy and a vibrating on off binary code is the information . Now the interesting twist , When you look at a painting maybe a watercolour the way you perceive it is through your eyes but it is essentially light waves which vibrate , light waves are the energy and the vibrating wave is the information . You see the picture in your mind information .This has implications for the whole of existence if this is boring ignore it if you find it interesting tell me and I will tell you more .

Wonderful Thea, I see you have busy of late, making up for lost time when you were out of action for a while, this lovely scene is very reminiscent of a lovely summer day and as the weather seem to be improving hopefully we wont have to wait too long before we can enjoy scenes just like this for ourselves, you really did make a lovely job of this view with the boats bobbing calmly on the lapping waves

Thea thank you for your recent comments on my Pinmill efforts. I see a bit of Judy Whitton in your work and I found her latest article in the 'Artist' on 'juicy paint' so useful as I never really thought of her as a tonal painter. She emphasised the importance of having enough water on the brush and it is something I need to keep reminding myself when painter water to make it look 'wet'. However I always think of you as a 'colourist' and this painting of Plockton which I know we'll is an exciting example of your style n

Thea what a lovely painting. I lost Max last November and was in hospital myself for three months I am now on the mend and hoping to get back to my scratch foils. Max would have loved this painting of yours. Bettyxxx

Betty, how lovely to hear from you! I am so sorry to hear about Max, he was such a lovely man and had real talent as an artist. What a difficult time it must be for you, especially as you have obviously been ill. I do hope you are a lot better now. Do go back to your scratch foils as we all enjoyed them very much on POL. You take care now and don't be a stranger - make sure you post your work on the gallery and then you can chat to old friends.

Thank you Thea for your kind words I will post my foils on here when I have finished one.

This is lovely Thea.