It’s back up to Scotland for this morning's #art practice and another miniature #watercolour #painting, British Castles 10 - #Inverary #Castle, home of the Duke of Argyll and one-time filming location for the 2012 Christmas episode of Downton Abbey...

More #funwithart - making it up as I go along with #oilpastels, a little bit of charcoal pencil, some scratching and a lot of finger rubbing!

This is a view looking east across the #TamarEstuary from near #Cargreen in #Cornwall from a photo I took while out on a walk yesterday...

This morning's miniature #watercolour #painting is No.9 in my British Castles series - a view of part of #Warwick #Castle...
#art

This morning's new miniature #watercolour #painting is No.8 in my British Castles series - the satisfyingly ruined remnants of #Okehampton Castle in #Devon

#art #landscape #castle #watercolor

I bought a cheap pack of brightly coloured #oilpastels two days ago and just had my first go with them. At first I thought they were like kids' wax crayons, and there was nothing much I could do with them, but then as I let myself play this mini #landscape (4x6cm) emerged. I rather like it!
#art

I've just done another larger #watercolour #painting, loosely mimicking the style of 20th century Ligurian artist Angelo Maria Armao. It features the arched bridge and hillside castle in #Dolceacqua, #Liguria, #Italy.

I need to learn to slow down to avoid colours running into each other in places!

For this morning's miniature #watercolour #painting I've moved north to #Scotland for No. 7 in my British Castles series - #EileanDonan #Castle.

While I was painting this one I was convinced it was going to be a 'miss' but now it's finished I'm quite pleased with how it's turned out!

It’s back to the familiar territory of miniature #watercolour #painting for my morning #art practice this morning with No.6 in my #BritishCastles series - #Windsor #Castle...

Thanks. I like it too, although I can't decide how much. It's just not exactly the effect I had in mind as I was working on it. But I guess that serendipity is what it's all about really.

But I don't mind how it's turned out. It's fun to do the pastel drawings and something a bit different from most of my other art activity (although it is rather messy...)

'Better', I guess! It looks a bit like something I might have done in school 😂

I've a vision of a simpler, more impressionistic(?) form I'd like to produce, but always end up more detailed/realistic. I expect it's just a case of practice and continuing to play. I've no idea what I'm doing really!

Here's the result of what I might call a 'fun with pastels' session - a view of a #Dartmoor Tor with farm and moorland beyond. I can't make my mind up about this kind of picture. The end result doesn't quite seem to match the way I feel it will turn out as I am creating it!
#art #pastels #Devon

I've headed northeast this morning for my #art practice, to #Northumberland, and No.5 in my British #Castles series of miniature #watercolour paintings: a classic view of the mighty fortress of #Bamburgh Castle...

I had no time for #art this morning, but just managed to grab ~45 minutes for some rather messy and quite physical fun improvising this A4-sized #pastel #drawing of some #Devon farmland. As something of a perfectionist it's interesting to experience a kind of 'flowy', instinctual creative process

Something different for my #art practice this morning as I finished off a larger (32 x 24cm) #watercolour #painting of #Vernazza on the Ligurian Coast in #Italy that I started yesterday. I was playing with a very simple and boldly coloured style, loosely inspired by the work of Angelo Maria Armao...

I'm in Cymru again for today's #watercolour #painting: British #Castles No.4 - #Harlech. From a lofty perch it commands the coastal plain at the northern end of #CardiganBay.

Sometimes my trees are detailed, sometimes simple as here. I never know which way they'll 'grow' but I like both types! #art

Here's No.3 in my British #Castles series of miniature #watercolours. Situated at the eastern end of the Menai Straits in North Wales, even the vast remains of #Beaumaris Castle struggle to compete with the mountains of Eryri (Snowdonia) that tower on the southern horizon...
#art #painting

This morning my #art practice took me to #Dorset for the second in my #BritishCastles series of miniature #watercolour paintings - a view of the striking ruins of #CorfeCastle. I'm using a different brush and paper, and the results are a lot more 'watery' which I quite like...

This morning my #art practice has reverted to the familiar territory of #watercolour #painting for (probably) the first in a new series of miniature watercolours depicting British Castles, a view of the impressively moated #BodiamCastle in East #Sussex...

I've stayed with pastels again this morning for another coastal scene, trying to go minimalist on detail and just get the feel of the place right (but not quite succeeding I think...). I don't think the bumpy paper helps.

#art #drawing #pastel #coast #experimenting

After a pause of almost two weeks, I've finally managed to squeeze in my morning #art practice and produced this small #pastel drawing inspired by views of the #Cornish #coastline. I'm trying to be freer and more figurative.
#Cornwall #coast

More #pastel and #charcoal pencil #art play this morning, with this 14 x 21cm #Dartmoor scene the result of my efforts. It's okay, but I've not captured the details as well as I hoped, and didn't realise that the paper had such a textured surface which has given everything a mottled appearance...

When I was first drawn to making #art a couple of years ago it was by an urge to try out #pastels, but #watercolours soon took over. So it was fun this morning to indulge in a bit of messy play again... Here's the result, a quick 10.5 x 13.5cm pastel drawing of #Scorhill #StoneCircle on #Dartmoor...

Here's this morning's miniature watercolour, the last in my Somerset Landmarks series, No. 12 - Taunton Castle/Museum of Somerset

#art #watercolour #watercolor #painting #Somerset #Taunton #MuseumofSomerset #TauntonCastle

This morning's attempt at another Somerset Landmarks miniature #watercolour #painting failed miserably... so instead, here's a view of the #BrooklynBridge in #NewYork that I painted a few days ago as a birthday card for my younger daughter who had just returned from a trip there
#art

This morning's miniature #watercolour #painting is Somerset Landmark No. 11 - Burrow Mump at Sunset on the Somerset Levels. I've been really pleased with how these #Somerset pictures have been turning out.
#art #landscape

It's back to #Somerset this morning for the 10th picture in my Somerset Landmarks series of miniature #watercolour paintings. Here's Elizabethan #Montacute House, one of a number of @nationaltrust.org.uk properties in the county...
#art #painting

Here's the full framed set of miniature #watercolour pictures I painted as a gift for my elder daughter and son-in-law, featuring locations from their #USARoadTrip last September. I might do some more journey (or 'life journey') series like this one...
#art #painting #landmarks

After restarting running and getting to 5km in January my February goal was to reach 10km... and I achieved that this morning with a loop over to Devonport Park. I've a little soreness in my MCL, but I'm taking it carefully and it seems to be okay.

Now to aim for 10 miles in March...

I grew up in #Bridgwater, a town that was/is often talked down... but one thing it does have is some pretty spectacular buildings including, right at its heart, the #Cornhill - the subject for this morning's miniature #watercolour #painting, #Somerset Landmarks No. 9...