Monday 16 July 2012

Dark as night

 

Dark as Night   watercolour 16x16cm ©2012 Lisa Le Quelenec


A view towards the Isle of Wight and the Needles from the beach at Hengistbury Head. At times with the heavy rain storms that we have been having it feels like twilight and it's the middle of the day. I've been enjoying painting dark watercolours again. There is something in me that likes to get out the blacks, sepia and indigo in watercolour, maybe it's a rebellious streak after being told for so long that you shouldn't use black.

Last week we had a day of sunshine so I headed out to Hengistbury and as I walked along the wooden walkway I saw lots of sand lizards lined up at the edges sunning themselves. It's been a miserable summer for them without much opportunity for a sunbathe so it was nice to see them taking advantage of it.

This painting is available in my Etsy store.

10 comments:

RH Carpenter said...

You do your darks so well and I really like the granulation in this one :)

Sharon Whitley said...

ditto to the last comment - love these colours too - indigo my favourite - use it all the time!

JANE MINTER said...

beautiful !

Unknown said...

Hi Lisa. This is a lovely atmospheric seascape - and a watercolour too! I think the weather down your way has been even more grotty than here in the East but it has given us some awesome skies :( Being a bit of a single pigment bore I haven't got any Indigo or Sepia ... off to the art shop soon I think :)

Lisa Le Quelenec said...

Thank you Rhonda. I love granulating pigments, it's my favorite quality of watercolour. I enjoy it in oils too, I just wish acrylic could.

Thank you Sharon and welcome. Indigo is just sooo luscious and exciting to use.

Thank you Jane :o)

Good morning Michael, sshhhhh.... the sky is blue as I type ;o) it has been grotty here. Give indigo and sepia a try, and ivory black if you are feeling brave. The way the pigments separate and granulate can be wonderfully subtle and give some interesting passages in a painting imho.

Off to the beach for a couple of hours, lucky me ! Are you coming to Swanage this year?

Unknown said...

Hi again Lisa. I've got W&N Ivory Black and Neutral Tint (used that on my last post), and I love DR Lamp Black. Will definitely give Indio and Sepia a try though.
No Swanage this year unfortunately and we will miss it, but we are off to see the Olympics tennis at Wimbledon and we will be going somewhere warm (i.e. not here in the UK!) for our anniversary in late August/early September :-) Enjoy the beach ... you are lucky to have that so close!

vivien said...

a lovely moody one - I really like this!

Lisa Le Quelenec said...

Somewhere warm...hmmmm....I think I remember that.... I think it was nice. Lucky you getting away somewhere warm and sunny! Shouldn't complain the sun is out again today kinda. Olympics tennis sounds good too!


Thank you Vivien!

Shelley Whiting's art said...

A beautiful and very haunting image. The values in this work are varied and incredible> A bold and dramatic picture.

Lisa Le Quelenec said...

Hi Shelley, welcome and thank you for stopping by and taking the time to comment. Much appreciated :o)