More direct watercolours depicting yesteryear

I’ve made two – count ‘em – two direct watercolour paintings since last we met, dearly beloved. Both of them are based on old Victorian photographs.

The first one here which I painted across three evenings last week shows a group of British army recruiting officers – maybe rounding up some likely lads for the Boer War, maybe earlier than that. I like several things about this one. The soldier in the red in the background standing in front of the trees is well realised, and the blue one with his hand on his hip isn’t bad either. In the original photograph the church in the background is hazy, apart from the tower and I think I’ve caught that quite well. The wall of the building on the extreme left is a pub, and I’m afraid that I haven’t captured the soldiers leaning on the wall that well. I’m pleased with the way I have the pavement in the foreground half in the shadow of the pub, I think that works quite well.

Carrying on with the old black and white photo theme, this next painting from yesterday was one I came across when I googled Victorian street urchin. I liked the photo a lot, even though this isn’t London and the urchins are collecting in a park rather than the street.

I think the urchin on the left is better realised than the urchin on the right, although to be fair this one does have a much more woebegone look on his face. The park background hasn’t worked out too badly. Overall, it’s okay, but probably my least favourite of July 2023 so far.