Maltese balconies

Maltese balconies, watercolor 23 x 30 cm

These enclosed wooden balconies are one of the very typical characteristics of the Maltese architecture. Some are painted in bright colors, others have been neglected for decades. Some have elaborate carvings and decorations. Most are the size of a small balcony yet some of them are large and curve around the corner of the buildings. They are everywhere, sometimes hundreds of them in just one view.

Street in Valletta, charcoal sketch

Maltese balconies, charcoal sketch

Valletta

Valletta from the sea 1, watercolor 54 x 30 cm

Valletta from the sea 4,  watercolor 30 x 23 cm

A poisonous atmosphere at work has been killing my desire to paint and draining my creative energy for a couple of years now. Painting makes me feel better, but like today, often I have to force myself to take the brush. I'm glad I did, as I feel much better now.
These are four attempts at a view of Valletta, from a photo I took last month when approaching the city from the sea. It was an early morning, when the sea was still very calm. There were beautiful reflections in the water. I tried slightly different techniques, although in the end they all look very similar. There is something I like in each one, but most importantly, I enjoyed painting them.

Valletta from the sea 2, watercolor 40 x 30 cm

Valletta from the sea 3, watercolor 30 x 23 cm

Scenes from Valletta

Between the world cup, gardening and catching up at work I finally found some time and energy to paint. The two value sketches, done during a couple of football matches, helped to get the motivation for the large paintings.
These two I did following Alvaro's technique, which is perfect for city scenes with stark contrasts of light and shade.

Valletta, Republic Square, watercolor 54 x 40 cm

Valletta, Republic Square, charcoal sketch

Valletta, the Library, watercolor 54 x 40 cm

Valletta, the Library, charcoal sketch

Sketching people

I'm back from a longish trip, but haven't got back to painting. So, here are a few more pages from my sketchbook of people who happened to sit in the same place long enough to finish a sketch.

From the sketchbook

A few sketches from Bulgaria.

Tsarevets is a fortified hill where the medieval capital of Bulgaria was located. Not much is left from the buildings and fortifications, but the sight is picturesque nevertheless.

The other two sketches I did very quickly trying to capture a beautiful mountain view, before the rain clouds had gathered.

Tsarevets 1

Tsarevets 2

Iundola

Belmeken

From the garden

Yellow daffodils, watercolor, 30 x 22 cm

Purple iris, watercolor sketch

Primulas, watercolor, 30 x 22 cm

More poppies

Poppies 3, watercolor, 22 x 43 cm

Poppies 4, watercolor, 12 x 43 cm

A couple of more attempts, but instead of the transparent colors from the previous post, I used cadmium red and yellow here. I like the spontanaety of the previous two much better

Poppies in the wind

Poppies in the wind 1, watercolor, 28 x 33

Poppies in the wind 2, watercolor, 28 x 33

I have been quite busy lately, and after a break it is sometimes hard to get back to painting. I decided to try to do poppies with the simplest possible brushstrokes. I like the result. Maybe I'll explore this some more...

Clay Water Pot - PADT challenge

Old Water Pot, watercolor, 22 x 28 cm

I love ceramics. A few years ago I even did a couple of pottery classes, which unfortunately showed me that I lack the required strength in the arms and hands for decent results on the pottery wheel. But I didn't stop being fascinated by the endless variety of rounded shapes of old ceramic vessels and the lovely natural colors that traditional glazes produce.

So when I saw the picture of an interesting clay pot in this month's challenge at Paint and Draw Together I had to give it a try. My focus were the colors of the glaze, so I painted only the pot for simplicity. Although, the carved wooden fragment and the shadow patterns on the floor are a composition each in itself too.

Daffodils

Daffodils, watercolor 28 x 38 cm

There was a pot of small daffodils on my table, waiting to be painted. I've always found it hard to paint yellow flowers. I had to exaggerate the orange of the little "trumpets" to give the flowers some dimension. I cannot wait for all the spring bulbs to start blooming in the yard...