You probably won't remember, but it was Velasquez on this thread who urged me to try acrylics, I'm thankful that he did.
I hope he looks in from time to time. Thanks Vel.

Still admiring the pictures!

Impressed by your range of materials and styles, Foinavon.

Charcoal has been around as a drawing medium since man first made marks on cave walls and rocks.
It's great fun to use as long as you don't mind getting your hands dirty and can quickly produce some lovely effects.
I painted this dog yesterday by covering a sheet of paper with charcoal then lifting it out with an eraser to reveal the white paper underneath. Afterwards, I put a few details back in using a thin stick of willow charcoal. It took me about an hour all told.
Many artists have used charcoal, none more so than the French surrealist Odilon Redon, and many of his black and white works can be found online.

The blue looks more saturated on here in digital image than on the canvas but never mind.
The colours used were white, magenta, spectral yellow, cyan and burnt umber. The burnt umber wasn't strictly necessary but provided a mixing short cut to the darks.

Thanks Capt_F.
I don't do many rural landscapes being a city dweller, only when the mood takes.

It takes my mind of everyday things lfc, especially politics.

And then the is the whole history of art as well if you care for that it’s a great pastime

I try to write a little of the context about each painting in the hope that it might interest people in other artists especially some they might not have looked at before. I also hope that some of you might take up drawing and painting, it's something you can do at any age and it doesn't matter if you make a hash of it, we all do at times. Just enjoy the moment.

It might be worth looking to see what art groups there are in your area. It can help if you learn with other interested people. They will encourage you and you will pick up ideas from them.

There are also magazines and plenty of books on the subject although you tend to learn more by doing rather than reading "how to do it".

Spent a happy hour this morning painting this stripped down cityscape. Not brilliant but what the heck.
Blends of magenta and yellow for the sky, burnt umber and yellow ochre for the foreground.

What happened to Velasquez ?

His last post :
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Velasquez • June 29, 2017 5:54 PM BST
ZORRO......IS IT POSSIBLE TO PRINT THEM ON PAPER?

I remember Val as being often funny but I thought Zorro was on the edge of a breakdown.....he was falling into a Religious Signs Vortex ( paranoid schizophrenia at a guess? )

Green can be a dominant colour especially the harsh greens which come ready mixed in paint sets and should be used carefully. It's much better to mix your own shades as I have done in this painting. Cyan gives particularly clean shades of green when mixed with spectral yellow and more muted tones with yellow ochre. If you want to tone down a green, use a red which is the complementary colour. The darker greens here have been mixed with a touch of magenta. The scene is countryside around Rivington in Lancashire.

This is quite close to home. Gas street basin is the northern end of the Birmingham to Worcester canal and is a quiet oasis in the heart of the city. The view shows the tunnel under Broad street leading to Brindley Place, a busy area of restaurants and bars. I tried to depict the almost mystical calm of the place at nightfall.
I needed a darker palette than usual with a bright red and yellow for the highlights and chose Prussian blue, burnt umber, cadmium red, spectral yellow and titanium white.
L.S. Lowry used Prussian blue in his cityscapes. It was the first synthetic blue pigment and has a very dark sombre shade as can be seen in the sky of this painting.

This might be a possible if drastic solution. Slice off the lower part with a craft knife. So far it's just a photo crop but I think it looks better.
Colours used were Prussian blue, Magenta, spectral yellow and white acrylic paints. The sunset was highlighted with orange and warm yellow gouache.

I very much welcome all feedback, Jack including constructive criticism. The tunnel recesses are indeed illuminated and perhaps I should have given it less intensity although the blue oval is the focus. The Tap and Spile is the building on the immediate left with the yellow sign and is on the canal side walk from the Mailbox to Broad Street. My own criticisms are that the cast light on the brickwork isn't convincing and isn't helped by my camera's poor red response and the chimneys could do with more definition.
I think the choice of palette is very important and mixing from a few carefully chosen colours gives a composition harmony and atmosphere rather like the choice of key in music. I could say a lot more but don't want this to be too long.
Thanks for confirming that the crop of the sunset is an improvement, there's no going back.

That sounds good, Culvin. Being with likeminded people you will improve quickly. Look forward to seeing your creations.

Thanks Culvin, much appreciated. I'm not trying to sell anything on here, it's against the rules.

Good luck with your group .

Foinavon , Here's a pic of the fluid art I did on Saturday . I like it .. I basically didn't have a clue what I was doing , but I did it anyway .