WATERCOLOURIST’S
PAINTING BUILDINGSOB
Contents
Introduction
Cuarrer |
EQUIPMENT AND
‘TECHNIQUES
Outdoor Equipment
Indoor Equipment
Colour Values
Sketchbook Studies
Working Methods and Techniques
Construction and Perspective
CHAPTER 2
SHEDS, SHACKS AND
OUTBUILDINGS
Boatyard
Seaside Buildings
Sail Lofts
Project: Seafood Sheds
Wear and Tear
Corrugated Iron
Project: Australian Shack
Cuarrer 3
4
26
COURTYARDS, CLOISTERS
AND QUIET CORNERS
Mediterranean Steps
Courtyards
Sunlight and Shadows
Stone Arcades
Project: Sunbleached Cloisters
Shaded Spots
Stone Vaults
Project: Vaulted Passageway
44
46
48
50.
52
35
58
60
6l
CHAPTER 4
DOMESTIC BUILDINGS
Narrow Streets and Alleyways
Windows and Doors
Terraced Houses.
Project: Terraced Houses, London
Parisian Square
American Town Houses
Project: House and Garden, Colorado
Stucco Buildings
Project: Canalside, Venice
CHAPTER 5
FORMAL BUILDINGS
Classical Features.
Formal Designs
Doorways
Arches
Symmetry
Project: Classical Frontage
CHAPTER 6
STREET LIFE
City Steps
Marl
People and Buildings
Project: Indoor Market Stalls
Café Tables
sis
Project: Parisian Café
Final Thoughts
Glossary
Index
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7
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90
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9
102
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110
mW
116
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124
128OO .
Introduction
B: DINGS COME IN A WIDE VARIETY OF
AND EXIST FOR MANY DIVERSE PURPOSES.
SHAPES AND FORMS,
FROM THE
ARTIST'S PERSPECTIVE, THE FISHERMAN’S HUT ON THE FORESHORE
IS OFTEN EQUALLY AS ATTRACTIVE AS THE COLONNADED MANSION
— ALL HAVE THEIR PURPOSE, AND ALL
This book is written from an artist's point of
and
a fascination for textures and how to recreate
tect,
and have had no taining in architecture ~ 1
simply respond as an artist might, to the
environment within which I find myself and
view — an artist with a love of structure
them in watercolour, | am not an at
che visual stimulus that I seek is often to be
found tucked away in the streets of villages,
cowns and cities
The word ‘buildings’ embraces many
types of structure, and [ have attempted to
choose as wide a selection as possible to
olour painting
techniques. I often try to seek out the
illustrate a variety of water
unusual when on a painting or sketching trip
= flaking plaster around an old street or shop
ckety old barn door affording a view
actos the countryside through a few missing
ked
sign, a
white column str
planks, or a decorat
with rust stains from an attached bing
or
hook. Equally, I seek out the visual
formal symmetry of classical
inspiring - the
facades, courtyards and cloisters with warm
dappled summer shadows, and sail lofts along
the foreshore. All these structures [ find
ateractive, and all for different reasons that 1
shall elaborate upon in the following pages. |
have devoted a chapter to one other aspect of
painting in the built environment ~ street life
Even the smallest of towns, outback stations
or hamlets only exist because of the people
who have built them and who inhabit them.
Without people, there simply would be no
buildings, so I consider it essential to give
thought to the best way of including them in
paintings of the buile environment
6
HAVE VISUAL
APPEAL.
I choose to work in watercolour for
several reasons, not least the accessibility and
portability of the equipment required, My
main reason, however, is the translucent
watercolour
quality of the paints. In brief.
paints are tablets or tubes of pigment, bound
with gum arabic, and given more body with
\ litle filler, When they are made wee and
applied to paper, the water evaporates,
allowing the gum to dry, binding the