Watercolours
Tim Wilmot is an artist from Bristol in the South-west of the UK, specialising in vibrant watercolours, using tone and light to bring out the best in the medium. Tim, self-taught, paints in a loose, impressionistic style and, while having dabbled with portraits and still lifes, he is inexorably drawn to landscapes. He says: “I’m an outdoor person rather than an indoor person. For many years I’ve taken a sketch book on my travels and I quickly scribble scenes in a shorthand sort of way. Then, returning home, I recreate those memories with paint and brush. Watercolour is also an ideal medium for those quick impressions when you’re limited in time.”
What about Tim’s style? He says: “I have been influenced by the styles of so many great watercolour artists, such as John Pike, Edward Wesson, John Yardley, Alvaro Castagnet and Joseph Zbukvic, but I have developed my own style over the years. When I look at other artists your aim is not to copy their style but to take elements of how they go about things and ‘make it your own’. So, use methods and techniques that you are comfortable with to deploy and use: there’s no sense using masking fluid if you never get on with the stuff!”
As well as an exciting artist, Tim is also an inspiring teacher. He demonstrates regularly in England and, has more than 15,000 followers of his demonstrations on YouTube. He is also a popular online painting tutor. He loves personal interaction with his students: “Every artist loves a bit or critique and feedback, and that’s one of the key things I get out of a demo to a group of people. Everyone has something to say about a piece of work and that feedback is critical to development.”
Tim adds: “There are all sorts of reasons for coming on a painting holiday — it might be to improve your drawing skills, loosen up your style, learn how to incorporate figures in a landscape — and it’s my job to try to find what your personal objectives are and help you achieve them. Oh and have fun with like-minded people on the way.”
You can learn more about Tim and see more of his pictures on his website at https://www.timwilmotartist.com/
Tim’s painting course at The Watermill
Every day we’ll paint outside as much as possible and Tim will try to do two demos during the day. He says: “During the demos I’ll welcome questions, such as ‘Why did you choose that scene?’ ‘What brush are you using there?’ ‘What colour combination did you just use?’ and so on”.
After the demonstration, everyone can have a go at replicating that scene. Tim says: “I will be on hand to look over your shoulder and give some words of encouragement and try to give advice on what, in my opinion, does work and what doesn’t. We can also have all our work displayed together and go through a brief critique and compare our experiences”.
“If we’re in the studio, no problem. There will be opportunity create some watercolour landscapes from some reference photos and we can do exercises on figure work, and getting things like cars or boats into the landscape.
“We all want to take away many things from our time at the Watermill and then the key is to IMPLEMENT at least one thing you have learnt.”
