#30x30DrectWatercolor2019 paintings 4-9

Here we are then: -

4) Horse racing - They're Off. I painted this at Artists' group on Wednesday. Sadly we've gone down to once a fortnight, but at least you can do a decent watercolor like this in about 90 minutes, unlike my acrylic 15 hour marathons. Not a fan of horse racing at all, if I'm totally honest with you, but I just love painting horse racing scenes, be it in acrylic or watercolor.

5) Port Talbot Docks. The scan has not picked out all of the colors, since I went very watery with this. Hence the ship looking as if it has a half white hull - the white part is actually a light rust red which for some reason just has not been picked up.

6) Rafael Nadal. This was inspired by the continuing French Open tennis, when earlier this week Rafa rolled back the years and easily dismissed Roger Federer.

7) Colin Baker as the 6th Doctor. Saturday 8th June was Colin Baker's birthday. I always felt that Colin got a very rough deal as the Doctor. Put simply, most of the scripts he was given weren't really good enough, and there's precious little that any actor can do about that.

8) D-Day Landing. Last week was the 75th anniversary of D Day. I was fortunate enough o accompany a party of school children to Normandy in 1994, which was the 50th anniversary of D Day.

9) Statue of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. I'm pretty pleased with this. Last year I loved the painting I made of one of Landseer's bronze lions in Trafalgar Square, so this year I decided I'd do another iconic London statue.

One Sketch 360) Weds 20th March - Burghers of Calais

In History, it seems, they have gone down
They sacrificed themselves to save their town.

These are Rodin's sculpture of the Burghers of Calais, which resides by the Houses of Parliament. The burghers of Calais were the leading citizens who surrendered themselves to King Edward III of England, so that he would spare the town of Calais from destruction.

One Sketch 355) Statue of Hans Christian Anderson

Hans Anderson would often write
Of mermaids, and of a duck
He didn't look like Danny Kaye
I couldn't give a hoot.

Now that's just rude, isn't it. Sorry, I think I'm getting a little demob happy - just 10 more days to go to complete the year. Today's prompt in Sketching Every Day was a choice of photo prompts - this one is based on a photo of a statue of famous Dane Hans Christian Anderson (and whenever I hear that name I seem to think of Danny Kaye singing it).

One Sketch 324) Fisherman Statue

The thought alone
Sets tingling my lips
A freshly battered fish
On a bed of chips

This was today's Sketching Every Day prompt - every month one of the days the prompt offers us a choice of 4 or 5 photographs to use as the basis for a sketch - this statue of a fisherman was what took my fancy this month.

One Sketch 290) (Wednesday 9th January) Cathays Cemetery

While all around
The dear departed sleep
Carved in stone above them
Angels weep

I rather like cemeteries. Didn't used to, but then that's hardly surprising is it? Cathays cemetery in Cardiff is a very good place to go if you're looking for a bit of peace and solitude, and some fine statuary to sketch as well.

One Sketch 287) Aeolus statue

What's he got on his head?
Must be often said

This gentleman here is Aeolus. Today's prompt on Sketching Every Day is Wind Chimes. Well, I gotta be honest, that left my boat unfloated and my candle unlit. Still, I did enjoy sketching the statues as part of my stamp design yesterday, so my imagination did start working on how I could combine sketching a statue with the general idea of wind. This was the best I could come up with.

Aeolus is an interesting character. At some times he is depicted as a man and at other times as a deity- at some times a personification of wind, and at others as the keeper of the winds. He's probably most well known for featuring in Homer's Odyssey. In this he is a man, the keeper of the winds. On his way home from the Trojan War, Odysseus stopped off on the isle of Aeolia (in the Lipari - or Aeolian - Islands off the coast of Italy), after his escape from Polyphemus the Cyclops. After being blinded, Polyphemus cursed Odysseus and begged his father Poseidon, the God of the Sea, for revenge. Poseidon was told by Zeus , King of the Gods, that he may not kill Odysseus, but decreed that Odysseus would not be able to return home until all of his companions were dead, and ten years had passed.

Odysseus stayed for a month in Aeolia, at the end of which Aeolus promised him a west wind to carry him home to Ithaca, and tied up all the other winds in a bag which he gave to Odysseus. This is presumably the bag that the statue is holding. After several days they come in sight of Ithaca. Odysseus, who has vigilantly guarded the bag night and day, falls asleep, and the inquisitive crew open the bag thinking it may contain gifts and valuables. The winds let loose blow the ship all the way back to Aeolia. Seeing that Odysseus was obviously not favoured by the Gods, Aeolus refused to provide any further help. Which is all to the good, since the Odyssey would have been a much shorter poem otherwise.

One Sketch 286) Llandaff Cathedral Postage Stamp

Cathedrals
Stone poetry
and
Music, frozen in time.

The challenge,as you might guess, from Sketching Every Day, was to design your own postage stamp. Well, I'll be honest, I wanted to go urban sketching again today, and so I took the opportunity, and just added the Queen's head, 1st, and perforations after making the sketch. I like Llandaff. It's a nice area to be anyway. Claim to fame? Well, apart from the Cathedral, it was also where Roald Dahl grew up, unless I'm very much mistaken. The green statue is actually outside the cathedral, but not in that position, and the Madonna and Child are in the interior.

One Sketch 278) Urban sketch Swansea Marina and Dylan Thomas Statue

Do not go gentle into that good night
- if the grim reaper wants you,
Then make the bugger fight.

Apologies to Dylan Thomas, there. Making the Ian Fennelly copy yesterday inspired me to get today and have another go at line and wash for myself. I mean, you'd never mistake this for the work of the great man himself, but I can at least point out a couple of things which show the influence at least. If you look at the buildings on the right, I've been playing with the geometric forms a bit, which is something I've noticed in Ian Fennelly's work. I've also been freer with the colour - and this really works on the statue, in as much as I'm actually happy with the way that I've used colour on it. Also I've accepted that I don't need to fill every inch of white space with colour - although I've still got a long way to go on this one, I think.

One Sketch 217) #inktober2018 prompt - Gift (Sunday 28th)

Personally, I think it's ace
Seeing it before twas put in place
Given  with such kindness and such grace
More, much more than just a pretty face

Yesterday, when I made this sketch, was a very busy day. I knew I was going to be driving for between 5 and 6 hours, since I was travelling to Birmingham and back for a national quiz competition. Luckily this idea presented itself. I found a wonderful photograph on the net of this, the face of the Statue of Liberty, just unpacked after it had been delivered from France, but before assembly. I'm sure that you know that the Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World was a gift to the people of the USA from France.

One Sketch #146) Saturday 18th August - Catral

A bleak memorial
Somehow it seems so fitting
For a bleak past.

Three sketches all made on Saturday. The middle sketch is the only one done in San Isidro. The right and left hand sketches were made in Catral, a larger town than San Isidro, where we made a quick visit to the market. The middle sketch though shows a rather neglected memorial which is just behind San Isidro railway station. What does it commemorate? Well, the town wasn't originally built until the 1950s. Prior to that the area was the site of a concentration campo where Franco put , well, anyone he felt like. It's a shame to say that the memorial used to have more chains than this - but has been vandalised and some of the chains have been taken.

Tuesday 7th August One Sketch #)135 - Madrid Cathedral De Almudena

I find that I like to take stock
Of Cathedrals so highly Baroque.
Their domes and their towers
Transfix me for hours
I'd never be tempted to mock.

This is right next door to the massive Palacio Real, and it is literally so huge that I couldn't get far away enough from the façade and the aspect on the main road to have been able to make a sketch without straining my neck. Then, on the Tuesday, I approached it from another direction and found a bench with this perfect vantage point.

Here's other sketches I made on the same day:-

Monday 6th August One Sketch #) 134 - Madrid Guitar player

I play for myself,
Most of the time,
But should you put your coins
In my hat,
I won't refuse.

This chap was playing his guitar sitting cross legged on the pavement right by the royal palace. I put a few coins into his hat, and asked if he minded me making this sketch. He didn't say that it was okay - but he didn't say that it wasn't either, and for me a nod's as good as a wink. Here are the other sketches I made on Monday:-

One Sketch #113) World Cup Trophy (Monday 16th July)

Croatia, Belgium, England
Must keep dreaming.
- France is where the World Cup Trophy's
Gleaming.

Yesterday France won the World Cup, in one of the best final games of one of the best World Cup tournaments I can remember.

One Sketch #95) Nefertiti's Bust

A cultural icon
Or a gross act of theft?
Or both?

I was reading an article today about what are allegedly the greatest examples of, and I quote, archaeological plunder, and this was one of them. t's the famous bust of Nefertiti. I was intrigued because - a) I actually saw it for real in the Neues Museum last year when I went to Berlin, and b) I've long been a supporter of the movement to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece, which is a similar and celebrated case.

One Sketch #77) Landseer Lion in Trafalgar Square #30x30directwatercolorchallenge2018

I guard the Admiral's Column
By day, and then by night
Not bad when you consider
I have neither bark nor bite.

This is my 16th direct watercolour for the 2018 30x30 challenge, and I have to say that of all the paintings I've made so far, it's probably my favourite. This was all sketched with the brush as I painted it, and I don't think it would have been any better if I'd sketched any of it out in pencil beforehand. The only trouble with it is that my scanner is funny about certain colours - mostly blues, and so while this photo shows that the lion itself is a combination of blues and greens, in the sacan it's mostly greys.

One Sketch #29) Julius Caesar

I did this because I bought a copy of Tom Holland's "Dynasty" abut the Julio-Claudian dynasty which provided a generation of the first Roman Emperors (although Julius was not, strictly speaking, one of them. Dictator, but not Emperor)

Caesar, a general
Quite automatically
Fell for the charms of the
Queen of the Nile
Caesar, to please her, most
Undemocratically
Took a dictatorship
To make her smile

Caesar, a general
Sources historical
Say that he came to be
Viewed as a God
I will say this, and not
Uncategorical-
Killed by his mates he's now
Under the sod.

One Sketch #11 - Chartist Commemorative Sculpture, Newport

I like Newport. There we are, I've said it. Sue me. Newport has only been a city for a few years, but it's a city I like, and so when I was at a bit of a loss where to go today, I thought I could do a lot worse.

Newport is rightly proud of its connection with the Chartists. Chartism was a very serious working class movement in Britain from the late 1830s, which called for, amongst other social improvements, universal male suffrage. Needless to say, the 'ruling classes' were a) scared witless by Chartism, and b) determined to oppose the Chartists at all costs.

In November 1839 up to ten thousand Chartists marched on Newport. Their purpose was to free fellow Chartists who were believed to have been imprisoned in the town. Troops were called, and opened fire, killing over 20 demonstrators.

Today I sketched a part of the Chartist Commemorative Sculpture by Christopher Kelly, which was erected in the early 1990s.

The law don't help poor working folk
But it taught us, if we rise
That the rich don't take no prisoners
And they don't apologise
It's blood of honest working men
That stained the gutters red
And the ruling classes slept more sound
For the twenty who lay dead.

One Sketch #8 "Mortal Coil"

On Saturday's sketching trip to Porthcawl I sketched a statue by Sebastien Boyesen called "Secret History". I knew this was the work of Sebastien Boyesen before because he has two fine pieces of sculpture on display in Port Talbot, and elements of "Secret History" are similar to one of these, called "Mortal Coil".

This reminded me that I've been meaning to have another go at "Mortal Coil" for some time now. If you know anything about Port Talbot, chances are that it is home to a huge steelworks, and owes what prosperity it has to its long term connection with the steel industry. The town's connection with the steel industry is the inspiration for "Mortal Coil".

Here's today's sketch: -

As before, I don't claim to be the finished article. But I do think that if you compare this to the sketch I made in 2016, which was one of my very first line and wash sketches, you may just have to admit that I've made progress. Here's the 2016 sketch: -

In my defence I want to make a few points about this one. Firstly, I was only just starting. I'd made maybe half a dozen sketches using HB pencil, and a couple with biro, which is what I used for the lines of this one. This was the first time that I applied watercolour to a sketch, and the paints I used were from a child's paintbox. Also my scanner doesn't pick out blue colours very well. For all of that special pleading, though, it isn't great. . . but . . . you have to start somewhere.

So, I'm feeling quite pleased with myself. As for verse - well, this is more generally about the relationship the town has with steel - inspired by the sculpture rather than specifically about it.

The rolling mills roll on,
Like incontinent dragons,
The furnaces
Belch forth rusty smoke
Iron ore and coke
Run deep in the veins of this town.
Where will we be
When all of this is gone?
Look down, look down
And hope that the rolling mills
Roll on and on.