Moored Up

Unmistakably your unique style Thea. I Ike the way you have simplified what must be a very complicated scene. it would be a great illustration for a guidebook.

I like this very much Thea! Not psychedelic at all. Lovely fresh colours and a great drawing. As always!

This is delightful, Thea!

Your paintings are so fresh and appealing Thea, I used my watercolours today for the first time in ages but have to say I am way out of my comfort zone!

Another painting that does you credit Thea well done

Thank you very much Stephen, Satu, Shirley, Christine and Betty - it's always lovely to have nice comments, so I am very grateful for them. Boosts the confidence, which appears to be much needed in an aspiring artist!

I just love this lively, exciting work which I can tell you enjoyed painting!

Lovely painting Thea I think colours are great

You have managed to convey so very much in this. Lovely atmosphere to it Thea!

Thank you very much Louise, Cliff and Sarah - lovely comments and much appreciated.

Another little beauty Thea

Well, Thea, this is again a fantastic pen and wash. Love it!

Thea thank you for explaining Charles Reid's idea on the relationship between tone and hue - good idea. Interesting and have ordered his book on Watercolour. There is a lot in your own paintings that merit careful study in the use of colour which I find exciting e.g. warm and cool in the boat cabin portholes in this post. Gives vitality and keeps the viewer interested

Great cool greens to make the hills recede against the warm foreground rocks. I joyous little scene - well done Thea!

Thank you very much Michael, Mia, Alan and Kim for such nice comments. I do have to admit that I never view these little sketches as serious work as they always seem to be a bit of light relief to me. Perhaps I am wrong in thinking that as I know I really admire a lot of the other pen and wash works I see on the site, but never think that mine are in the same league. Alan, I think you might find CR's book (presume you have ordered his Watercolour Solutions?) really interesting as many of his ideas about watercolour painting fly in the face of the accepted way of using the medium. He started life as an oil painter, using the alla prima method of painting. When he fell, purely by accident,into painting in watercolour, he just transferred his working technique to this new medium. No glazes or layers of paint, just one hit to get the colour and tone right, and he is a master at this now. I started painting in watercolour using the more traditional way, but then I became fascinated by CR's one hit method and tried it out. Since then, I haven't looked back and I largely paint that way now. I don't think I could go back to the layering method ever again. Kim, me and greens - such a difficult relationship we have! I am glad if you think they worked ok in this little sketch. I think the reason I tend to spatter greens to suggest them is that I am scared stiff of the wretched colour - bit pathetic I know but there we are.

... a Thea gem.

Thank you very much, Gudrun.

Easily recognisable as yours Thea, lovely and fresh

Beautiful Thea - you have such a lovely approach to painting. What paper do you use for these ink and wash works?

Thank you very much Glennis and Frank - very kind of you to leave such nice comments. Frank, my pen and wash sketches are done in a variety of sizes of Moleskine sketchbooks. I find the paper wonderful for this medium. I have no idea what the paper actually is as it doesn't tell you and it isn't particularly thick either. It has a slight tooth, but I wouldn't say it was as much as a NOT paper. The only problem with the paper is that it is somewhat unforgiving in that you can't move paint around on it very well. Once the paint is on, it is on! I don't mind this as I use a very direct, 'one hit - get it right first time', technique for painting, but it may not suit others who paint differently.