WATERCOLOURIST’S PAINTING BUILDINGSOB 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 o4 66 68 70 71 74 76 7 82 83 88 90 4 96 98 9 102 104 106 110 mW 116 117 122 124 128OO . 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