The Sunday Art Show - En Plein Air Sharpie Pen Drawings

Beautiful weather in Exeter over the last few days, so with a sketch pad (mixed media paper), biro and sharpie marker pen in hand, I grabbed a few minutes each day to draw: a man, a cat, some houses, some hills, a mill and some grand buildings. Also, created some business cards and put up a poster for my next art class. Great fun being out in the sun! See the business cards here, sketch from Cathedral green, and the sketch of the guy at library.

The Sunday Art Show - Back in the land of the giants - watercolour beach painting

Back at Bedruthan steps for this week's video. Some of you may remember the previous Bedruthan sketch that was a black & white watercolour study from the cliff top. This time, I venture down the steep steps onto the sand, walk among the huge rocks and take in the view looking south out across the ocean. Then, back home, I paint a 20 minute watercolour study of this view, this time in colour. I'm planning a series of studies of different aspects of this beach, each time, refining my technique and using different media. You can see the hi resolution image of the painting here: or a different framing of the same pic, that I think works better here Materials used: Winsor and Newton watercolour paints, Daler-Rowney mixed media board A3, synthetic round and flat brushes, water spray. See you next week for the next episode of the Sunday Art Show.

Exeter Art Class - Free Parking - Free Biscuits - Free Expression!

Following on from last month's workshop, I'm holding another art class in Exeter on Friday 5th April (1pm to 4pm) at Exwick Parish Hall, Exwick, Exeter, EX4 2AA. Cost is £25. All welcome!

The Sunday Art Show - Belted Galloway Cow Dartmoor Landscape Watercolour painting

Inspired by the rugged and colourful landscape of Dartmoor in Devon, in this video I paint a grazing belted galloway cow against a back drop of grass, heather, gorse and rolling hills. Just a quick study but using watercolor allows expressive washes and mark-making in a relatively short time. Also used a little bit of ball-point pen for the fluffy bits on the cow. You can see the high resolution version here: Materials used: Winsor and Newton watercolours, prussian blue watercolor marker, large and medium synthetic pointed round brushes, smooth A4 mixed media paper, paper towel, blue biro

The Sunday Art Show - Exeter Art Class - Sheep Painting

This week I thought I'd show you a little behind the scenes footage of an art class that I ran in Exeter last week. The finished sheep painting is called "It's a strange world" and you can see the full version here, or a close-up of the sheep here

En Plein Air Beach Watercolor Painting - Sharks, Seawater and Wave-Splashed Sketches

This week, I play a game of hit and run at the beach. Taking a walk / run along Exmouth beach round the headland to Sandy Bay in Devon, I stop at 5 different locations to create a quick monochrome watercolour study of the scene.

The beach was amazing today as the tide was further out than I'd ever seen it at this location.

For a couple of the sketches, I even place the paper in the sea to try and achieve interesting effects.

 Great fun, an amazing day drawing and painting in watercolor at the beach, working en plein air, on a day with a particularly low tide.

Materials: Mixed media paper, smooth finish, A4 size, Winsor and Newton watercolour marker, burnt umber.
Here's a link to the paddle boarder cartoon inspired by the same location
and the colourful sky painting inspired by the same location
Check out hi-res versions of
Sketch 1: https://mike-jory.pixels.com/featured/exmouth-beach-watercolour-sketch-mike-jory.html
Sketch 2: https://mike-jory.pixels.com/featured/exmouth-beach-monochrome-watercolor-study-mike-jory.html
Sketch 4: https://mike-jory.pixels.com/featured/sandy-bay-beach-in-devon-sketch-mike-jory.html

Here are all the drawings from the day:

Starting at Exmouth beach, this pool in the sand caught my eye.

Standing on some rock that jutted out into the sea, I was able to capture this view looking back to the beach.

This little experiment didn't really work, put down a few lines then swiped the paper across the surface of the sea, the watercolour didn't move in the way I was hoping.

Simple sketch but it captures a nice sense of light.

Second experiment with the sea, put down more squiggly lines and then let a small wave hit the paper producing much more interesting marks.