BARCELONA

Posted on October 5, 2013 by splashingpaint

Everything is extreme in Barcelona – the food, the fashion, the bars, the music and the architecture.

Antoni Gaudi’s amazing buildings dot the city and have become some of the city’s major tourist attractions.

Sagrada Familia – still under construction after 120 years.

Barcelona balconies – making a medieval facade look like a Gaudi facade.

Some of the architecture prior to Gaudi was pretty wild and elaborate too.

9:30 at night and the city starts to come alive – bars and restaurants start to fill around 10 or 11 and crowds are heading home as the sun comes up.

Nail Polish pink Vesper.

Man with dog and sidecar.

The Barcelona Maritime Museum had an exhibition of giant puppets used for festival performances in the city. It’s a weird feeling standing next to these huge papier mâché figures, twice the height of an average human.

Sailing into Barcelona Harbour.

Tiring work selling candles.

Ham in Spain is an art form. Jamón de bellota, made from acorn-fed black-footed Spanish pigs fetches up around 200 Euro/kg for the best quality. The markets in Barcelona have hams ranging from thirty Euro/kg upwards and the vendors are happy to coax you into purchasing by slicing off tasty samples.

Barcelona’s Maritime museum is housed in beautiful old ship building warehouses near the waterfront.

This is a replica of the Royal Galley which was built in Barcelona in 1568 and was the dominant warship in the Mediterranean up until the 17th Century. The ship was 60 meters long and powered by 59 oarsmen.

Inside the galley is not near as impressive as outside.

Subtle Spanish sneakers.

Barcelona Beach architecture.

TUSCANY, CINQUE TERRE, CHIANTI

Posted on September 17, 2013 by splashingpaint

A few days in a villa outside San Gimignano exploring the countryside and villages is a great prelude to a painting workshop.

Amanda and Gordon, our tour guides for the workshop, chauffeured us through the vineyards and olive groves of Tuscany, exploring the countryside to discover the best painting destinations, vineyards and restaurants.

Early morning in the vineyards surrounding San Gimignano.

Cinque Terre Coastline from Montorosso

Painting in Riomaggiore

Regular critique sessions were a lot of fun in the Hotel Courtyard.

Dry flowers on a San Gimignano window sill.

Washing Day – San Gimignano

San Gimignano as the sun rises

Old lady carries flowers to one of the Saints in San Gimignano

Early morning mist in the valleys

Two Cats – San Gimignano

San Gimignano before bus loads of visitors arrive.

A rare event – these little things run for years on a tank of fuel.

A window in Castellina in Chianti.

Religious ceremony in Montorosso.

Spectacular mountains between Pisa and Cinque Terre.

Castello Di Meleto in Chianti – our home for the second week of the workshop.

Castello Di Meleto

Great views of the Chianti countryside from Castello Di Meleto.

Our one shower of rain for the entire workshop as we head to the castle cellars for a wine tasting and tour of the castle.

Strange leftovers from the 12th century still dangle from walls in the bowels of Castello Di Meleto

A happy man with a nice bottle of Chianti Classico from the castle vineyards.

Fine Dining at Castello Di Meleto

In Florence, a small yellow car the width of a refrigerator.

Leonardo da Vinci’s attempt to breathe under water.

Descendants of Michelangelo and Leonardo still decorate the walls of Florence.

Large flocks of Vespers gather in the back streets of Florence.

In Florence you can hold up your trousers with a Real Python for just 25 Euro

Pigeons fight for crumbs outside the Uffizi

Botticelli clouds drift over Florence

Two streets meet in the small town of Greve in Chianti

Castello Di Meleto vineyards

Castellina in Chianti

Castello Di Meleto’s pool disappears into the Chianti hills.

Souvenirs – Florence

Markets – Florence

NEW WEBSITE

Posted on August 21, 2013 by splashingpaint

After a lot of work my new Watercolor Workshop website has been launched. ( www.johnlovettwatercolorworkshop.com )

There is all sorts of information to help you with your painting – Mixing Color, Drawing, Using Brushes, Presenting Your Work, Articles on all aspects of painting.

There are also a number of new Instant Video Projects available.

For just $9.95 you get unlimited access to a 10 minute HD video, complete step by step instructions and a detailed PDF Printout to guide you through the whole project. Check out the overview below

Have a look at the Instant Video Projects

DOWN THE COAST

Posted on May 29, 2013 by splashingpaint

With the school holidays over and the weather starting to cool down, it seemed like a good idea to take a couple of weeks exploring all the little beaches and coastal villages to the south of us.

We left home with clear skies and blazing sun, but my wish was for threatening clouds and dramatic light along the beaches – I guess you can’t have everything.

Perfect camping spot on a sunny headland with kangaroos and sea eagles at Diggers Camp.

Sunrise on Redcliff Beach

Cool, clear mornings and deserted beaches

After a few days zigzagging in and out of all the southern beaches, rainclouds started moving up the coast and the swell picked up.

Looking towards Solitary Island under threatening skies. Great for photographs – not so good for painting watercolor.

Painted in haste with a cup of sea water between showers as the tide came in.

Back home in the studio, shuffling around ideas for a large wet and rainy painting.

WEEKEND STUDIO WORKSHOPS

Posted on February 15, 2013 by splashingpaint

Over the past two weekends I held a couple of 2 day workshops here in my studio. A lot of people, due to work commitments, find it hard to attend the 5 day workshops. We had an enthusiastic group both weekends and managed to do a lot of painting in between chatting, drinking coffee and eating cakes. The demonstration paintings below show a couple from each workshop.

This was the first painting we did in one of the workshops. A simple subject, but lots of interesting colors and textures. We used a mixture of watercolor, gouache, ink, charcoal and inktense pencil.

Here I chose a more complicated subject, but broke it down into simple shapes, then went to town with the different colors and textures. The first washes were watercolor over charcoal lines, then gouache, ink and pastel were added. the intense blue of the boat hulls is Ultramarine Gouache.

Another complicated subject treated in a simple way – playing around with washes while holding on to a clean, high contrast focal area.

This was the first demo in the second workshop. Again a simple subject with plenty of color and texture to play around with.

These workshops were a lot of fun and booked out very quickly, so we will run a couple more towards the end of the year. Mean time, there are still a few places left in the 5 day march workshops

John Lovett’s Textures, Techniques and Special Effects for Watercolor

Posted on January 31, 2013 by splashingpaint

Have a quick flick through my new book. They have finally arrived and are being shipped out now.

MALDON AND THE MOUNTAINS

Posted on December 9, 2012 by splashingpaint

With 5 days up our sleeve before the Maldon Workshop started we decided to slowly plod our way down to Victoria via backroads and out of the way places rather than race down the highway.

We camped behind the pub in the little town of Goolma, where the publican spun us a great tale about his favourite dog staring down a possum – neither would give in and they both died without ever moving.

This is the possum

…and this is the dog

Foggy morning behind the pub

We wound our way down onto the Murray River before heading across to Maldon. Great to see the river with so much water and the country in such good condition.