Categories: figure, Light is Sweet

Author

Stephen Quirke

Share

Categories: figure, Light is Sweet

Author

Stephen Quirke

Share

March has been suitably crazy in the studio.  OK I know that is a Northern Hemisphere reference but anyway.  Its been a rip and a roar.

Here is my newsletter which is scraping in before the end of March.

Of the Board

The project for this has been a commission to paint a watercolour of the local apple harvest.  Here is the latest version:
picture of a man picking apples

I wanted to show the process and particularly the strength in putting down the load.  Here are some of the studies I did to prepare for this work:

Here are the guys picking to fill up the bag slung over their shoulder.

When the bag is full the picker releases the straps holding the bottom flap.  He lifts the bag over the apples already in the bin.

He then releases the straps and allows the apples to roll gently out of the bottom chute.

The women then sort the apples in the bin, removing any remaining leaves and putting the smaller apples into a separate bin.

And here is the first draft of the painting:

I wanted to capture the intense concentration of the chap as he deposited the apples.

Light is Sweet

The SJQ Watercolour Newsletter opens a window for fresh air.  Just a glimpse of the view through the eyes and hands of the watercolourist.

If you sign up you will receive the give-away of the month – similar to the poster shown below:

I recognise the trust required for you to share your email address with me.
But I want to assure you.
All I want to do is to paint and share with the world the best watercolours I possibly can.
If find the idea of sharing subscriber contact information for income quite revolting

 Previous work – Lamps and Stoves

In the month I also reworked an older blog posting.  Here are some of the watercolours in the post.

Anything designed for effective functioning has a special kind of beauty.  From the humble candle to the gas-powered lamp. Each item with its own brand of cool.

I wanted to capture the intense concentration of the chap as he deposited the apples.

 Previous work – Lamps and Stoves

In the month I also reworked an older blog posting.  Here are some of the watercolours in the post.

Anything designed for effective functioning has a special kind of beauty.  From the humble candle to the gas-powered lamp. Each item with its own brand of cool.

Stoves

The Alpine Age of rock-climbing stimulated massive innovation in cooking technology.
You can see the posting on my blog
For a limited time I am giving away a poster of some of my lamps and stoves watercolours.  You can download your copy from this blog-posting.  Only please leave me a comment on the site.

Building the gallery space

Last month I really enjoyed meeting the people who came past on the First Saturdays art route.  The idea of hanging my boards on our stoep worked well.

However March turned out to be a rather windy month so I wanted to put up some shelter.  I trolled (or is it trawled) the second hand shops and bought 10 cottage pane windows. 

DIY is not really my forté (to say the least).  Once while trying to hit a masonry nail into a cornice moulding I took a wild swing with the hammer and gouged a long gash in the ceiling.  I heard sniggering behind me and looking around, there was the whole family standing behind me.  They call me “Nuutsman” after a TV programme about guy to makes DIY look really easy.  What’s a nuutsman?  Oh Ja – “Handyman”.

Anyway…

Those doors are heavy.  In my puny, post-lockdown state I sukkeled to lift them.  And I dropped a door at the yard when we were loading them – twice!  Fortunately they fell flat both times.  No glass was broken – saving me at least a little embarrassment. 

I engaged the services of Nelson and Patrick to do most of the set-up.  And now I have a rough prototype which has withstood the usual late March rains.  So far anyway.  And I have just begun the set-up for Saturday.

This blog posting is a copy of the SJQ Watercolour news letter I sent out for March

If you would like to subscribe to this newsletter, the details are as follows:

      Leave A Comment