Dear Charles,

"Dear Charles Reid, sorry for painting you in such a way that you look like you just survived a bar fight."

Yes, too much red but I still enjoyed this lunch time watercolour. I used Arches 300g NOT paper, 18 x 26 cm.

Charles Reid - Watercolour Artist and Teacher

My favourite life drawing books

My favourite life drawing books are the following: 

One is called, Henry Yan's figure drawing techniques and tips. The other book is titled, The Natural Way to Paint, by Charles Reid. Henry Yan's is based on pencil and charcoal techniques and Charles Reid focuses on pencil and watercolour techniques. I find both very inspiring and I have improved as an artist by studying them.

Henry Yan's website
Charles Reid's website

Charles Reid and Henry Yan

Charles Reid Watercolour Secrets

I ordered this Charles Reid Watercolour Secrets DVD direct from Pulsar Productions in Australia less than a week ago! There was no charge for postage either, amazing! It would have been so much more expensive if I'd ordered it on Amazon.



Charles Reid Watercolour Secrets

My second Charles Reid DVD

I received this DVD when I arrived home from holidays the other day, it's a funny coincidence that a trawler is one of the main subjects Charles Reid has chosen to watercolour. I found the DVD to be very helpful, I learned a lot and I hope my skills improve in the coming months. The title of this tutorial DVD is, Charles Reid's Watercolour Landscape Masterclass. He paints two watercolours, explaining in detail his approach and execution of each piece.

Charles Reid's Watercolour Landscape Masterclass

A great collection of Charles Reid work

I found this wonderful web page full of Charles Reid's portraits and nudes. Click here.

Watercolour life drawing by Charles Reid

Watercolour by Charles Reid

Charles Reid Landscapes

I have recently enjoyed watching Charles Reid paint portraits on DVD and feel very inspired by him. I am learning technique for the first time in my life and not surprisingly I am seeing the benefits of it in my art. In the below youTube trailer it looks like Charles sits inside some clubhouse most of the time to draw and paint his landscapes but from the reviews it seems to be a very good tutorial video, two hours and 15 minutes of invaluable tips. It's on my shopping list!

Learning to watercolour

I received two great DVD's in the post yesterday. Watercolouring by Charles Reid and Alvaro Castagnet. I have watched the Charles Reid film and found it really inspiring, so hopefully you will see a big improvement in my watercolouring very soon! It would be nice to go on a watercolour course with these guys but I could not afford it. I recommend these tutorials to anyone who is interested in improving their skills. Not recommended for beginners. Go here if you would like to see more tutorial videos from APV.

One small step in a watercoloured direction

I was very happy with the result of this watercolour study, I am starting to get a feel for the medium. It is still a series of mistakes that I somehow patch up but most importantly, I am making fewer mistakes with each painting I do. I painted this yesterday evening at the "The Swedish Academy of Realistic Art" in Bergshamra, Stockholm during a two hour session. I'm still playing with the Charles Reid approach to watercolour painting which is the free use of hot and cold colours.

 Watercolour by David Meldrum 2012.04.19

Craig Young Palette

Charles Reid paints with a Craig Young Palette

At some stage in the future I'd like to own one of these handmade paintboxes by Craig Young. It will set me back £225 pounds though! Two Artists I admire, Alvaro Castagnet and Charles Reid use them, the deep wells look extremly useful.

Influenced by Charles Reid

Drawing a model in one minute and then painting her by two. It's fun trying to do the impossible!
I had great fun yesterday painting with primary colours at my life drawing class, I like the fact they are so cheerful, I'll create more of these Charles Reid influenced sketches, absolutely. Click the image below to see more or click here.

10 minute watercolour sketch by David Meldrum

Charles Reid paints with primary colours

I tried this technique last night at my life drawing class, after two hours I created a colourful but scary result. Charles has been doing it a while, I guess I can't expect to emulate his style on the first attempt!