Written by My name is Andrew Lucas and I was born and grew up in the City of Salisbury, England. And, being surrounded by countryside and medieval architecture, my love of rural and urban spaces started from a young age. I found that art and drawing always came naturally and allowed me to express the way I felt about the world around me.
In my late teens, I began teaching myself how to paint in watercolour. This seemed a natural progression from drawing to me. With its unforgiving nature, it allowed me to forge a love, respect and passion for the medium and its difficulties early on. And through the early years of trial and error, I started to produce confident paintings.
I have worked in all mediums but found that watercolour was the most expressive for me and so the majority of my work is centered around it.
In 2003, I held my first solo exhibition titled ” The Inspirational world ” in the Portico Gallery in Salisbury. This was a great success and was a crucial stepping stone, confirming my desire to become an artist and to share my passion for painting with the wider audience.
Later that year, I relocated to Torquay in Devon, South West England where I still live and work today, painting new collections and pieces consisting of architectural studies, landscape, seascapes, as well as other subjects that may inspire me.
My technique for painting watercolour is very much in the traditional style of building up several washes. This can be a very time consuming way of painting, but I feel that the results offer freshness, structure and a sense of togetherness and belonging to the piece. After the initial body of washes have been applied, attention can be given to form, tone and details, as well as other techniques that will bind the painting together.
I have always followed the ideal of using the best materials that I can and that are available to me. I use both pan and tube watercolour paint, and I find both can be easily used and offer very good results. I currently use Winsor & Newton Professional series paint in both pans and tubes, as I find they offer the greatest luminosity and pigment qualities.
I use all three types of watercolour paper, Hot pressed, Cold ” NOT ” surface and rough, with preference depending on the subject I am painting. I mainly use 300gsm/140lb weight as I find that this is heavy enough to cope with almost all subject demands. From the various papers that I use, a particular favourite is Daler-Rowney The Langton and Bockingford papers, both having excellent structure and quality allowing you to lay multiple washes without hindrance.
I also like to use I also use an acid free heavy weight cartridge paper which I find very good for working watercolour. It is, however, a very fast paper to work on in regard to paint flow and drying time and so you have to keep that in mind and work quickly. I use a mixture of synthetic and sable/natural brushes, including mops, riggers, flat and round profiles, with preference given to natural hair as it holds onto paint far better.
The synthetic brush at the same time is far more hard wearing and very good for certain applications where the sable brush would fail, and so is also a great asset to have within your brush collection and one that shouldn’t be disregarded.
I feel that drawing and planning are paramount to making a good painting, and so I will spend a good deal of time with the initial drawing before tackling the final piece. I find it is also very healthy to work in a more spontaneous manner, to just paint and leave planning to the moment. This method I also enjoy very much.
I have great interest in architecture and relish in the challenge of a complicated structure to paint, this offers a great sense of achievement as the image must capture the soul of the building you are attempting to reproduce. I also have a great passion for landscapes and seascapes, and so many of my paintings have a reference to these also.
My aim through my artistry is to evoke real emotion and engage with as many people as I can through sharing my passion for painting and art. To build a lasting following of people who find a real sense of purpose, meaning, and passion through the work that I produce. Most of all, to let everybody enjoy the art as much as I enjoy making it, I hope you all enjoy the work.
Andrew Lucas
Doodlewash
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Wow! Beautiful art! Thank you for sharing your work and passing along some excellent advice. Those of us who are at the beginning of our journey truly appreciate this.
Thank you very much Fantine, best wishes.
Andrew, your work is amazing! Thank you for sharing your process and tips on art supplies.
Thank you so much Sandra, best wishes.
These are simply gorgeous! Thanks for the info about brushes!
Thank you very much Jean, my pleasure.
Your work is beautiful and inspiring. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you Mary, great to share the work with you.
Amazing work and really enjoyed your life and development of your art work most enjoyable
Thank you very much Les, best wishes.
Had another look great your work is beautiful I would have loved to have seen your exhibition
Thank you so much Leslie, you are welcome at any future exhibitions that I am planning, best wishes.
Thank you Andrew giving your time to reply nice surprise
Lovely, soft colors. Thanks for sharing your work!
Thank you very much Sharon, my pleasure.
The details in your watercolors reveal attentive detail to your subject, rendering extraordinary artwork. I’ve enjoyed seeing your paintings, Andrew, and reading your story.
Thank you very much Sharon, so pleased you enjoy the work and I look forward to sharing more pieces, best wishes.
Fantastic work. Thanks for sharing. ‘Reflections’ and ‘Woodland Path’ really stand out for me.
Thank you so much, great to share the work with you all, best wishes.
Thanks for showing so much of your work. I really like it.
And many thanks for your story 🙂
Thank you very much Janneke, pleasure to share the work and a little background, best wishes.
Andrew, thanks so much for sharing your wonderful Art Work. Love the detail and the beautiful sites you have to paint from, how luck you are!
Thank you so much Patsy, so pleased you are enjoying the work and the locations of the paintings, best wishes.
Great write up Andrew. Fantastic work as always. Would certainly love to go sketching with you if i come down your way.
Thank you very much Matt and so pleased you continue to enjoy the paintings, sketching sounds good too. Best wishes.
Beautiful pieces! So delicate but full of delicious contrast.
Thank you very much Jill, so pleased you are enjoying the work, best wishes.
Beautiful paintings! Xx
Impossibly beautiful paintings! How can someone achieve such beauty and neatness with watercolor I wonder!