4th April 2025: Brixham Harbour in Watercolour with David Webb
Thanks Chris, for these photos and for the write-up.

David began drawing enthusiastically from an early age. He discovered watercolours as his preferred mediums when in his early teens and has been mostly painting in this medium ever since.

For two decades he worked as an illustrator, often producing meticulously detailed works connected with natural history. But then he rediscovered his love of watercolour and now works in a looser more painterly style.


​He has worked on numerous art books and magazines.
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https://www.davidwebbart.co.uk/​

David enjoys finding scenes that include boats and harbours and brought a photo he had taken of Brixham Harbour [above]. 
But he considers the composition carefully, moving some elements such as boats and simplifying other areas to make a more satisfactory design. Making pencil sketches [below] is part of this process.

A pre-prepared sketch​

David worked on pre-stretched 140g NOT paper using just five colours: Cobalt Blue, Alizarin Crimson, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, and a touch of Indian Yellow. He favours a 'mop brush', a very soft brush that holds a lot of liquid and is versatile enough to cover large areas or, with its tip, add relatively precise touches.

Typical mop brushes

David's palette

Firstly he wetted the paper copiously and then added washes in the loosest fashion working from the top downwards. A convincing sky resolved itself almost like magic and the major background areas were soon established.

Bit by bit the distant trees and buildings became established, and pigment was sponged out from where light-coloured boats etc would emerge.

David worked quickly, adding details of light, shadow, reflections and so forth until before long the work was complete

The finished painting

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