George Room Paintings
[Image ID] Three watercolour paintings, of a room’s interior, with only part of each one being visible, as they overlap. [description end]
Last month I went to a watercolour class at Burghley House and this week I am sharing the three paintings I did during that day. The three paintings are different sizes, the one with the bed is a full A4 sheet whilst the one with the fireplace is A5 and the final painting is A6.
[Image ID] Watercolour painting (portrait orientation) of some of the furnishings in one of the George Rooms at Burghley House. There are three paintings on the wall on the left. The main focus of the watercolour is part of a four poster bed and a chaise longue in front of it. The fabric on both the bed and the chaise longue are a blush pink. [description end]
This was my main painting of the day, which is why I did it full size. For all three of these paintings I directly referenced a photograph I had taken. In this case the subject is a large canopy bed, with a chaise lounge in front, which was in one of the ‘George Rooms’ inside Burghley House. The striking pink colour with a subtle stripe pattern was what first drew my attention to the bed, and then I noticed the interesting composition with the chaise lounge – where the footboard of the bed gives the impression of being a back to the seat.
[Image ID] Watercolour painting (portrait orientation) of a corner of a different George Room at Burghley. On the left wall is a fireplace and two paintings. Standing on the floor to the right of the fireplace are two fire screens. On the back wall is a large painting. On the floor is a gold framed chair with floral upholstery. [description end]
This scene was in a different one of the George rooms. I chose to paint this corner of the room because of the interesting layering with the pair of fire screens. When I am painting for an extended period of time I find it is best to have several pieces on the go as I can rotate which one I work on whilst others dry. This helps to avoid acting on impatience and continuing to paint, when I should be letting it dry.
As is typical for watercolour paintings, all of these pieces were worked on in layers. The first layer was a rough but colourful wash to establish both the rough placement of the colours in each piece, and a general atmosphere. Once the initial wash dried I add more layers of paint to slowly refine the details of the scene. The final layer of each painting was to add some details with coloured fineliner pens. I use the Steadtler Triplus fineliners as the water-based ink in them can be easily blended out if the line seems too stark.
On the two smaller pieces I also added a few strokes of my Gansai Tambi Starry Colours (metallic watercolour) as its more opaque quality helped to bring out the shape of the gilding on the metal. I haven’t photographed these paintings at an angle that shows the metallic affect as my intention was to improve the shape of the metal areas rather than to make them shiny.
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Watercolours: Windsor & Newton Cotman
Coloured fineliners: Steadtler Triplus
Metallic watercolours: Gansai Tambi Starry Colours
Watercolour paper: Daler Rowny Aquafine Texture
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Artwork ©Dragonsflyatsunset 2023, all rights reserved.