Last saturday i was feeling restless, it was sunny, clear skies and i felt the urge to get out in Vancouver to paint! I decided to visit Granville Island for an afternoon of plein air painting amongst the tourists. After some lunch i settled on the view looking north at the ferry dock facing the Burrard bridge, a very busy scene indeed. However, this blog post has nothing to do with that painting..it didnt turn out so well.... its to do with the painting attached, a view of my friends cabin in Osprey Lake, BC. I decided to take with me a stack of finished original watercolours to position around me whilst painting on the hope that it would draw in curious potential customers. After setting up, getting all my paraphenalia around me i stood up some paintings only for this one to promptly decide to fall through the cracks in the pier decking! With the utmost horror i heard a plop of the painting hitting the water below! I hurriedly stashed my valuables and ran down the gangplank to see what awaited me....my lovely watercolour painting happily floating in the water some 15 feet away from the pontoon. After a few moments of cursing and self bashing i proceeded to run around like the proverbial headless chicken trying to find a boating hook of considerable length to rescue my painting.
​One would only assume that being surrounded by water and boats of all manner the boating hook so desperately needed would just be lying in plain view, oh no of course not, that would have been far to easy... after some more cursing and hair pulling i spotted the pleasure boat rental office, of course they will have what i need...no, it wasnt to be, they offered me a broom and a yellow oar and a roll of masking tape that had exactly 4 inches of tape left on the roll! I revisted my setup..thankfully untouched and nothing pilfered...retrieved my own roll of copious amounts of tape and returned to hastily fasten together these unlikey pairings, needless to say the resulting 'thing; was utterly useless and 5 feet short of my languishing painting. More hilarity ensued as i ran around debating whether to strip to my undies to go for a dip or give up and return to my basecamp. Then the lightbulb moment hit me, i was seconds away from the wonderful BC False Creek Ferries, luckily with this day being so busy, a pop up help desk was on offer..i babbled to the girl about being an artist and losing a painting etc etc, she duly thought i was a nut job  but offered the loan of their 12 foot boating hook... HALLELUJAH! I could have kissed her ..but i didnt...needless to say the boating hook was exactly what i needed and after a few attempts i landed the hooked end on my painting...which then obviously completely submerged it... i pulled it in...under the surface i hasten to add and let me remind you of my dilemma ...this is  a WATERCOLOUR painting we are talking about here...i rescued the now flaccid object and to my utter astonishment and complete joy it was completely unscathed! I hurriedly returned all implements of rescue then laid the soggy article in the hot afternoon sun and i shit you not, you would never know the difference!  So the lucky person that hopefully one day buys this painting will have a great campfire story to tell about it. Long live Arches watercolour paper and Daniel Smith fine artist watercolour paints a true testament to quality materials. 

 Whilst walking along the road that surrounds Deep Cove in North Vancouver, in between the luxurious houses you get these wonderful views through the trees. I loved the way the sunlight illuminated the tree trunk colours in this one. ​ I used Daniel Smith Watercolours as usual, and the first colour was Quinacridone Gold, a really powerful pigment that washes down to a super luminous colour, this gave me the sunlight i needed on the trees. The rest was building up layers trying to get the background distant and loose and then painting the foreground bold, strong and loose as well. I added some blues and purples to the water to give the overall pallette more interest.

My latest painting offered some unique challenges.                                                                                                First was making sure my underdrawing of the boat and the flow of the planks in the hull were correct and that i got the perspective right. Next was my gut feeling that i needed more than just this beautiful boat, my original photograph that i took ages ago had no sleeping workmen on the boat ( that would have been ideal!)  so i always push myself to attempt figures, sometimes they come out good often it's hit or miss...these two didn't come out half bad, i can draw figures with ease but painting them is another story altogether.                                                                                                                                                               The big white tarpaulin covering the boat is basically white so i knew i had to make it work with some subtle blue shadows, i also resisted the urge to draw the shadows in...i realised they would show up so just used one of my trusty escoda brushes and started out with a very watery mixture of cerulean blue and ultramarine, towards the end of the painting they were feeling a bit weak so i mixed up a stronger batch and i feel this gave it a bit more punch. With a fine rigger i added the undulating lines that run horizontally along the folds and curves, this really helped give it a 3D feeling. I decided to save the hull for later rather like saving room for dessert!                                                                                                                      The background boatbuilders hut gave me a few problems, my intent was to keep it simple and light in value....that failed straightaway! I ended up wetting it and removing as much paint as i could, problem was i used a new addition to my arsenal of Daniel Smith paints..Quinacridone Gold, a beautiful colour but boy does it stain! Feeling incredibly disheartened that i had ruined my painting (i always feel this at some stage in almost every painting!) i decided to start enjoying myself and mixed up a big batch or Cobalt Teal along with some various blues and yellows. With my trusty travel hairdryer at hand i applied layer after layer of varying colour to build up the effect of peeling and fading painted wood being careful to leave lighter areas for the most faded and where i wanted some yellow to come through. Overall i spent a very enjoyable day painting this one...i can spot quite a few things i would do differently next time but i'm very happy with this one. I would love to hear your feedback on this painting, good or bad always welcome, as long as its constructive. All the best, Scott.

Here are some work in progress shots and the finished product of my latest watercolor. The water taxis along False Creek in Vancouver are a real joy to use, a great way to commute and also relax, plus they welcome dogs and even give them treats...bonus for us dog lovers! I really loved the bright sunny feel of this one with the dark shadowing exaggerating the bright sunlight. I paid a bit more attention to the main figures as i found myself getting a bit lazy with my figure painting recently...a sure sign to do more sketching and painting!

After 5 years of watercolour painting its high time i started a blog to add my growing list of paintings available. I plan to add work in progress shots of my paintings as they come into existence, photographs of things that capture my eye, sketches and plenty more. I'd love to hear your feedback and comments. Happy painting! 

​Here's me getting that paint to flow up that rock face, at Barricane beach in North Devon, UK.