Richard Baker

Women in gowns and men in white tie and tails: just your average night out in Cambridge.

Large pastel of figures on Trinity College Cambridge forecourt. This is from 2002 and I must confess I wasn't shying away from popular subject matter (bills to pay). This sold in an exhibition.
#pastel #mayweek #cambridge

Yes, it has been one of our sketch group's regular places plus lots of other great venues. As I recently gave up my car I'm mostly turning back to still life and botanical. Working on my garden to ensure lots of subject matter - I should be out there now! Sun is shining/

Thank you, yes it looks beautiful and I'm a great fan of Cedric Morris's paintings.

Thank you Sheila!

The Reform party dolts don't think so. But then they are pandering to voters who don't think at all. The Iran war is the signal that oil is so over.

Part of a house and outbuidings painted in watercolour. I love the clock tower, the pantiled roofs and the sundial. I won't be able to visit easily again now that I have become a non-driver but I can paint in the grounds of my own Tudor manor house (wishful thinking!)

Watercolour of a garden and buildings in Comberton near Cambridge. The botanist owner of this Tudor manor house is included in the painting, sitting in a folding chair. I have painted here several times.
#watercolour #watercolor #Comberton #enpleinair

A line of trees painted at a nature reserve near Cambridge.

A pen and watercolour woodland sketch at the Beechwoods nature reserve near Cambridge UK.
#watercolour #watercolor #enpleinair

Thank you Andy!

I love my garden but it's a bit of a mess at the moment! Been planting seeds in trays today so looking forward to the summer.

Gareth, I don't think I have any of Emmanuel. I did one ages ago looking up Downing street and it included that college but it sold and I don't think I have a photo of it.

Thank you Peggy! I paint a lot of different subjects but I always return to botanical and used to paint flowers as a child.

Downing College, Cambridge, depicted in pastel 1999

Pastel of Downing College, Cambridge.

The first one that comes to mind is John Carpenter's Halloween.

Mixed garden flowers in a vase, watercolour (mostly carnations I think)

Mixed garden flowers, watercolour sketch (some foxgloves on the right)

Sketch in watercolour of mixed garden flowers

Sketch of carnations in watercolour

Some watercolour flower sketches in a 16"X12" 300gsm pad quickly done from garden flowers in the last 2-3 years. More to come this year I hope.
#watercolour #flowers

A watercolour drawing from 2016 of a sculpture of a stag in the garden of a Jacobean house in Royston, hidden in the ivy. The owner of the house offered to remove the ivy for me but I politely persuaded him not to do so as that was where the interest for me was. He was very amicable and left me to it. There were many other sculptures.

I haven't painted views of Royston but I had the opportunity of painting in the grounds and looking round the interior of 18 Melbourne Street, the Jacobean house owned by the late Emad Borno. This is a sculpture of a stag covered with ivy (see alt text). www.countrylife.co.uk/property/a-g...

I'd want surgical gloves on before touching his hands (and a respirator).

A watercolour drawing from 2016 of a sculpture of a stag in the garden of a Jacobean house in Royston, hidden in the ivy. The owner of the house offered to remove the ivy for me but I politely persuaded him not to do so as that was where the interest for me was. He was very amicable and left me to it. There were many other sculptures.

I haven't painted views of Royston but I had the opportunity of painting in the grounds and looking round the interior of 18 Melbourne Street, the Jacobean house owned by the late Emad Borno. This is a sculpture of a stag covered with ivy (see alt text). www.countrylife.co.uk/property/a-g...

Her Bloomsburyesque hats and dresses are perfect for garden paintings.

This is how the final version looked:
bsky.app/profile/bake...

Yes, the pinnacle you can see over the trees is St John's College New Court so Trinity is the next college upstream south along the river

There's all kinds of ink and a favourite is Daler-Rowney FW acrylic ink but I use traditional Indian ink such as Winsor and Newton non-waterproof (it doesn't run when dry, just softens a bit when you put washes over it)

With watercolour and ink usually there would be some feint pencil marks to define the composition. Then I would add some watercolour washes and draw into them as they dry with Indian ink using a dip pen. The ink flows so well like this. Then I alternate between pen work and watercolour.

Hi Mike, I put some comments and images about this in a reply to someone yesterday. Hope it's helpful:
bsky.app/profile/bake...

Ink sketch of the garden with watercolour (and a gardener in a hat). The object just off centre at the bottom is a driftwood sculpture which is slowly decaying

This is a sketch of the garden at the front of the studio. Includes twisted hazel which I really like to draw.

A couple of garden sketches from last summer, ink and watercolour. Already planting seeds for this year including some sunflowers which look great in a busy mixed flowerbed.

I'm afraid not, Brieftastic. I'm just sorting out old artwork and getting on with some new things. I'm not looking for sales right now.

Dictators just arrest the judge - problem solved!

I have sold a lot in the past but I'm not looking for sales right now. It can take up a lot of headspace and packing and sending artwork causes a lot of worry.

That's what it was like 50+ years ago. It can be a bit alienating now because it's all so corporate and wealthy.

Look at the subject and then look at the paper and mark out the composition boldly. Then attack it with a full brush. Don't do fiddly details until you've blocked in the major forms that describe the view. Imagine you want to describe the scene to someone who hasn't seen it.

Thank you. I do still paint outdoors but not on the street. I did do urban on-the-spot painting for several decades but I'm not up to it any more (too old!)