David Bellamy – Reserving whites in your watercolours
Many folk ask why I didn’t use masking fluid in a demonstration painting where I needed to reserve white areas, and this is a constant source of concern to artists. Often the decision depends on how...
View ArticleDavid Bellamy – Painting the river bank
So often with landscape painting it is those less significant features that trip us up – that clump of grass in the foreground, or awkward blob of a hill in the background. Dealing with these is often...
View ArticleDavid Bellamy – Wonderful Distractions from Painting
It’s been almost impossible to do much painting or writing lately, thanks to a very happy event. On 22nd February my daughter Catherine gave birth to an absolutely gorgeous little daughter, so for...
View ArticleDavid Bellamy – Obsessed with bottoms
As landscape painters why are so many of us obsessed with bottoms? Why do we feel the compulsion to describe everything in minute detail? It’s not necessary and in fact detracts from the overall effect...
View ArticleDavid Bellamy – Painting the moving composition
Have you ever painted outside when the landscape seems to be moving, jumping about or constantly changing in some way? These can be exciting, opportunistic times for the alfresco artist, but often...
View ArticleDavid Bellamy – Watercolours in The Arctic
The sun has just risen and Torben is already up, proclaiming loudly on the beauty of the intense colours in the sky. I fight my way out of the sleeping bag, automatically grasping my painting gear...
View ArticleDavid Bellamy – Skies as part of the composition
It is a sad fact that in many paintings skies are painted without much forethought, when in fact they should be considered as an intrinsic part of the composition. They not only set the mood and...
View ArticleDavid Bellamy – Painting in all weathers
After a week of absolutely atrocious weather in the Italian Dolomites it’s nice to be back in sunny Wales for a day or two. Although I managed a number of useful sketches, without any views because of...
View ArticleDavid Bellamy – Creating a wildlife montage
It was great to see so many familiar faces at Patchings Art Festival earlier this month, and exchange experiences with many of the artists and exhibitors. It’s a wonderful show that seems to get better...
View ArticleDavid Bellamy – Pen and wash with limited colours
One of the joys of going away on holiday is the anticipation of exciting things to come, and one of the joys of being a professional artist is that this sort of thing is classified as ‘work.’ Whether...
View ArticleDavid Bellamy – The Importance of shadows in a painting
In order to achieve that marvellous sense of strong light in a painting we need to give our shadow areas a lot of thought, for it is these that will imbue the scene with atmosphere. Today we are going...
View ArticleDavid Bellamy – Mischievous twinkle
It’s been an exhausting few weeks since the last blog, and unlike some I find it difficult to write blogs in the odd cafe, while waiting for the lights to turn green, or when sitting on the back of a …...
View ArticleDavid Bellamy – Painting autumn colours
Are you making the most of the stunning colours in the countryside at the moment? It’s a great time for getting out to capture one of nature’s most flamboyant periods with your camera, sketchbook or...
View ArticleDavid Bellamy – Creating a sense of sunlight in snow scenes
Injecting a little sunshine into your landscapes will give them a strong appeal, and the best way of achieving this is to lay cast shadows across a light surface. Nothing will give a more striking or...
View ArticleDavid Bellamy – Painting different sorts of snow
My snow theme continues from the last blog as we’ve had a considerable amount of snow in Mid-Wales in the last few days – about 12 to 15 inches and it is incredibly beautiful. Before the great...
View ArticleDavid Bellamy – Happy Christmas
A HAPPY CHRISTMAS & ALL BEST WISHES FOR THE NEW YEAR Whether you are spending Christmas stomping round some mountain-top in search of picturesque holes in the ice to paint, …...
View ArticlePainting misty ice-rimed trees
We have a lot of mud in Wales, and this winter it has excelled itself, making hiking something of a messy process, so it would be a pleasant change to see some good clean snow for a change. Then back …...
View ArticleDavid Bellamy – Creating an illustrated journal
One of my great enjoyments is keeping an illustrated journal, although because of a lack of time it tends to be rather intermittent – it’s just so stress-free to paint or sketch for yourself and add...
View ArticleDavid Bellamy – Ice on the Equator
For many years one of my ambitions has been to climb Mount Kenya to sketch those amazing peaks and the other-worldly plants that grow high on the mountain. Most people head for Kilimanjaro, as it’s the...
View ArticleDavid Bellamy – Lurking in the undergrowth
Patchings Art Centre is currently showing a marvellous exhibition of paintings entitled 30 Artists for 30 Years in the Barn Gallery at the centre. This celebrates their 30 years in existence which...
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