Gareth Naylor

Atmospheric paintings of Japan

Tag: woman

  • Watercolor painting of a woman sitting in a chair

    Watercolor painting of a woman sitting in a chair

    For a long time I haven’t drawn my family.

    But in the past I would often draw them.

    And occasionally I would do a painting of one of my family members.

    I especially enjoyed drawing my wife because she looks so feminine and elegant.

    I sometimes like to look at her fingers and toes which are particularly nice in shape and length. 

    My fingers and toes are short and stubby.

    And I am very happy with the painting of her above.

    This painting was done in 2012.

    I did several paintings of her in front of these net curtains. 

    I noticed that the folds in the net curtains made an interesting and beautiful background.

    At the same time the pattern of the folds is delicate and doesn’t compete with the subject which is the figure.

    When painting a figure, I have learnt that the background is one of the most important and also one of the most difficult considerations.

    Perhaps I need to start doing paintings of figures again.

    Especially as I enjoy it very much and because such paintings can look very interesting.

    It is also a subject that I haven’t explored very much which makes it exciting.

    The biggest problem is finding somebody.

    Pencil drawing of a woman with a floppy hat sitting on the ground
    “Female elegance”

    And here is a drawing of my wife wearing a floppy hat.

    Like the painting above, this drawing was done in 2012.

    I am very pleased with this pencil drawing.

    However, I don’t like to draw with a pencil.

    Because although you can achieve some beautiful effects with a pencil they smudge too much.

    With this pencil drawing, I did an orange wash over the pencil lines in order to stop them smudging.

    You can spray it with a fixative but I never do. 

    I don’t like any kind of aerosol. 

    I think that those tiny particles coming out of aerosols must get into your lungs and be harmful. 

    And this is why despite having a full can of fixative in my artbox it never gets used!

    I have no idea what I’ll do with it. 

    I guess one day it will just get binned.

    But that would be so wasteful and so for now I just keep it.

    That’s all,

    Gareth.

  • Watercolor painting of a woman sitting and writing in a cafe

    Watercolor painting of a woman sitting and writing in a cafe

    Watercolor painting of a woman sitting and writing in a cafe
    “Mystery woman in a coffee shop”

    Sadly, I have no idea when I painted this picture.. 

    I’m guessing that it was 2012.

    But it’s just a guess.

    And I have no idea where this place is.

    Neither do I know who the woman is in the painting.

    She could be my wife or a complete stranger.

    I should have kept some record of my work such as a pencil date on the back of the picture and a brief note about the place or person.

    But in my salad days I was just focused on painting.

    And that was a wonderful freedom.

    And hopefully such deep focus made me a better artist.

    But later on, it caused a big conundrum when it came to organising my work.

    Because I didn’t record my artwork.

    And also because I have painted a lot of pictures.

    I think that I presently have about a 1000 paintings even after throwing many paintings away.

    Anyway, I found this small painting while I was attempting to organize my artwork.

    And what I can say about this picture is that I like it. 

    And this is why it never got thrown away like so many other paintings.

    I love the shape of those chairs and the soft atmosphere of this scene.

    The colors are also pleasing with the contrast of a warm brown and a cool blue.

    Perhaps I should call this painting “A mystery woman in a coffee shop”.

    What do you think?

    What title would you give it?

    If you can think of a great title I will let you have the painting for half the price.

    That’s all,

    Gareth.

  • A simple line and wash watercolor of a woman reclining in a chair

    A simple line and wash watercolor of a woman reclining in a chair

    I’m really happy with the minimalism of this painting. 

    And when I look at this painting it makes me think I should do more paintings of figures. 

    There is a beautiful combination here of line and wash.

    And the areas of shadow are a beautiful mix of warm and cool colors. 

    I especially like that touch of pure blue in the shadow areas. 

    When I look at that it makes me wonder if I’ve actually improved as a watercolor artist. 

    I think my shadows are a bit boring nowadays compared to this.

    And the composition is great. 

    The way the figure occupies the space of the paper creates wonderful negative spaces within the surrounding areas of the paper.

    I think this is one of the lucky paintings that worked out well.

    And there were probably many failures which I threw away. 

    But the truth is I can’t remember as this was painted over 10 or 15 years ago.

    Gareth.