Painting Watercolour Outdoors

CHAPTER 1

PAINTING OUTDOORS

Painting outdoors can be exciting and very rewarding - there is nothing to beat the feeling of bringing home a successful painting at the end of the day. Naturally there are many challenges in doing this without all the conveniences and comforts at hand in a studio, whether equipping yourself with the right kit, finding a subject, managing to paint without a handy work surface or table, or coping with the weather conditions - but this book covers all these challenges, and should provide you with at least a basis for your own ventures into the great outdoors.

Covent Garden colonnade

A very busy urban corner, but no one bothered me here, probably because there were so many more interesting things to look at. Just for once I had a clear view where no one proceeded to park a truck or van right across my line of sight.

Let's begin with what you might call the psychological challenge, the one which so many would-be painters find off-putting. This is the worry about being out there in public, on display, the target of curious or critical passers-by. Even some well-seasoned outdoor painters will often try to find hidden corners, tucked away from the prying gaze, and probably most of us, given the choice, would prefer to get on with our work without being bothered. One of my Wapping Group friends, for example, is notorious for hiding himself away in obscure corners because he hates to be watched while at work, so his subjects are often not the obvious ones. Others like to settle down in the most sheltered and comfortable spot they can find before then painting whatever happens to be visible from that point. But if you are out in the open, people generally are surprisingly courteous and non-confrontational, nor are they critical. They usually pause for quick look as they pass by. More often than not they will have a kind word for you, but no more than that; you rarely have to have long conversations if you don't want to. Having a sort of business card handy to give out, especially if it shows one or two of your pictures and maybe provides a website to look at, gets over your basic information and very much shortens these conversations. For myself, I enjoy chatting to people, and you get used to the repetition, since the questions and comments are mostly the same.

The Mill, Morden Hall

Painting outdoors does not always have to involve an elaborate, highly planned expedition, nor venturing into the unknown. You can get much enjoyment out of simply taking your painting kit along for a couple of hours to some corner of a local park.

Herbaceous riverside, Barnes

Painting by the river, I was tucked close under an overhanging embankment wall (mainly to take advantage of a patch of welcome shade) and painted in peace.

Above the River Wear, Durham

This is the painting I was working on in the previous photograph. I was there mainly for a family event so had only a very modest painting kit with me - for example, no easel except for the 'monopod' in the photograph - but it was still possible to produce a reasonably satisfactory piece of work, and the memory to go with it.

Painting from Framwellgate bridge, Durham
(photo: Trudy Hunt)

I was on location early in the morning while this very touristy bridge was still quiet - a good time of day to be out painting, if sketching amid crowds of people worries you. The painting is perched - not very well - on a 'monopod' support. Note, even in this simple setup, the bit of colour-testing paper clipped to the board.

Rarely - I cannot think offhand of more than three or four times in twenty years - you may get the boisterous drunk, or the disturbingly silent person who sits down beside you for the whole time you are painting; slightly more often you will get the gentlemen of the street who want the price of a cup of coffee (the price seems to have gone up recently - last time of asking it was the price of a burger). But these are few. The worst you're likely to suffer is the eternally repeated joke by the comedian who'll pose in front of you for five seconds and ask some variation on whether he (or his mate) is, or was, or can be in the picture (no, haven't heard that one, not above a couple of hundred times). Equally common is the dreaded confiding opening statement, after a few preliminary words, that 'I/my mother/my grandmother/my aunt/my sister/my friend is a bit of an artist too .' which can lead to an extended, if mostly one-sided, conversation. But for the most part people accept you as part of the scenery and are very little bother. Occasionally one of them may even offer to buy your painting!

THE NATURE OF THE EXPERIENCE

So don't let a fear of being seen put you off. As an artist working outdoors you are just another part of the scene, part of the location's life that day. For yourself, as I said in the Introduction, to go painting outdoors is good for you. Rejoice in this rich experience. You'll chat - as much or as little as you want - with people passing by, enjoy or suffer the weather, drop your best brushes in the dust or the mud, stop for a coffee, breathe the fresh air, take a walk, absorb the world around you. You'll soak up the atmosphere, and in time to come, when you open that sketchbook or pull that painting out of its folder, the whole day will come vividly rushing back to you. Try sometimes to forget the tyranny of coming home every time with a painting - get out there for its own sake and you'll have made some great memories instead.

HQS Wellington, after lockdown

A fine example of creating a memory rather than just a painting, for this was the first day I had been able to go out painting in London following the coronavirus lockdown. I worked with an enormous sense of liberation, and the very few people about looked as cheerful as I did.

The actual experience of painting outdoors varies widely depending on the location - and of course the weather, which we will consider in a later chapter. Far from worrying about passers-by, you may find yourself painting on a windswept hillside with no one else around, in which case you may possibly be taking an occasional wary glance over your shoulder for cattle approaching. Or you may be beside a river or on a seacoast, keeping an eye on the tide creeping up on you. If you are working in a city location, beware. Much of what looks like public paving or even green space in modern cities is in fact private property, owned by the adjacent buildings; there must presumably be some kind of public right of way over these areas for pedestrians, but if you set up an easel you will have about fifteen minutes before you are paid a visit by Security, who will have been watching you on CCTV. Some of these gentlemen will be more understanding than others, but in general they do not like easels, which they consider a trip hazard; they also object to you blocking the way if people start to gather to watch you working. Some locations, indeed, even if not on a pedestrian thoroughfare, require you to get in touch with their office beforehand and make arrangements before turning up. Naturally, similar considerations apply to busy and famous tourist hot spots abroad, such as Venice.

Waterloo Station steps

The viewpoint was from across the road. I was standing - albeit tucked away right against a pillar - on paving which, as it turned out, was not public property but belonged to the huge new centre there. I was promptly picked up on CCTV and visited by three characters from security at roughly half-hour intervals, two of them tolerant, but the middle one fairly unpleasant.

Down Villiers Street

A busy street with narrow pavements, but fortunately there was an unoccupied shop doorway which, though not very deep, enabled me to get me and my stuff mostly out of the way. This was my second painting of the day; the first, from the far side of the station, can be seen as the step-by-step that closes this chapter.

OUT IN THE OPEN

Unless you devote yourself exclusively to finding quiet corners tucked away from view, a fair amount of the time you will find yourself out in the open - after all, that is usually where you will find the most interesting views to paint. Quite apart from the consideration above - that you may effectively be trespassing on private land - as someone working in a public place you should try to be unselfish; you do indeed constitute a potential obstruction, and you have a duty to yourself and to other artists to make yourself as inconspicuous as possible. Please don't get us a bad name! If you are working in town, try to keep most of your stuff (and yourself) tucked out of the way - disused or closed shop doorways are very handy for this purpose. Being well tucked away in a doorway or against a wall has the additional advantage that no one can stand behind you to watch, if that kind of thing bothers you.

Brompton Road

It was a chilly but clear day in March when I found a sheltered spot - an architectural recess - which offered a fine prospect of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The passers-by were all either on the other side of the road, or too busy with business to bother about me. Five days later the weather was so similar that I returned and painted the view in...