Thursday, October 02, 2008


A change in style for fun resulted in these paintings.

Friday, May 02, 2008


Here I am experimenting with black, white and silver ink together with watercolour paint on smooth hot-pressed paper.
I chose a beach-like scene drawing my figures extremely loosely with the result above.

Friday, February 29, 2008




An American academic from Palo Alto California commissioned me to paint Selwyn College Cambridge and the Radcliffe Camera Oxford, both shown above. I used ink and watercolour with acrylic paint on Bockingford paper, emphasising the crispness of the architecture against the casual painting of the foliage

Friday, January 25, 2008



Here are two more ink and wash paintings.
I use two pens of different thicknesses to enliven the line and fill in the colour, paying special attention to the relative contrasting hues in order to get a balanced picture

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

I went a little crazy today and painted St Katherine's Dock in a very loose ink and wash manner.
Letting the white of the paper show through occasionally livens up the scene.
I emphasised the ink line to give structure to the painting

Saturday, January 12, 2008


Scotland's highlands are a constant source of inspiration for me.
Here is a view of Loch Clair and Liathach, the mountain in the background, with the sun streaming through...how that was painted is my secret!

Saturday, December 22, 2007


And now for something completely different!

A decorative semi-abstract flower piece painted on watercolour paper using acrylic paint and ink.

The technical problem here is to achieve a balance of colours and contrasting tones

Wednesday, November 21, 2007



I normally make up my paler colours by adding white to a deeper version, but somehow a good pink had eluded me.
This week I bought a tube of acrylic CARNATION PINK , as the manufacturer called it.
As usual, something new inspired me and I painted these pictures employing the
colour in all its glory.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

I have always enjoyed paintings with
"lost"and "found" elements in them.
I used this technique when I painted
these two ladies.
I restricted the palette to no more than
five colours in each painting.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007



For a change I fancied painting a portrait of this beautiful girl from a picture I had of her in a magazine.Her pose is quite hypnotic and appeals to me very much.
I worked in watercolour, creating a mystical background in various shades of blue and green to set her off

Sunday, September 23, 2007

IF YOU LIKE ANY OF THESE PAINTINGS, I CAN ALWAYS PAINT A VERY SIMILAR ONE TO ORDER.
I prefer to paint in a 7"x10" format, but I can produce larger work on request.
If interested, please email me at fredericksegal@gmail..com
Thanks.
Cornwall! Boats and cottages, sea and hills.
What better subjects to paint?
There is a liveliness about the place which
begs to be captured.
These were painted with a mixture of watercolour, acrylic and ink.

Really the colours in a painting are secondary to the tonal values. I used a very restricted palette for this view of a flower market...just Cobalt Blue, Alizarine, Neutral Tint and a hint of Cadmium Red. It was painted extremely loosely so that the viewer's imagination comes into play.
Great fun!

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

I am always exploring new approaches to my work and this week I bought
some hot-pressed watercolour paper, which is very smoth and takes a pen
well.
I chose Cornish subjects and created a fantasy land by
outlining many of the watercolour stains.
This was exciting because I had no idea what
would result and had to modify my approach
several times till the painting hung together

Thursday, August 23, 2007


Here is a busy square in Rome, Piazza della
Rotunda it's called. It was always packed with
tourists looking for bargains in the nearby market.

Saturday, August 18, 2007


Florence...I painted this view of the Duomo and Bargello Tower from a photo I took from our hotel window when we were there. The road beneath was cluttered haphazardly with parked vehicles.
I used a mix of watercolour and acrylic paint on Fabriano paper.

Thursday, August 16, 2007


Here is another riverside painting I did of Richmond.
A simple subject such as this boat manages to have an imposing presence.
I kept the focus on the boat and painted other parts of the picture less distinctly.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Richmond-On-Thames is a fascinating historical town set south west of London. I went there this week on a beautiful day and took lots of photographs.
The river front has several fine buildings of architectural merit and I took one picture from the bridge of these, over the top of the umbrellas which cover the tables in a cafe.
I used a looser technique than usual, on Fabriano paper , which is almost fabric-like and gives a mellow soft result

Sunday, August 12, 2007

I couldn't resist painting another Still Life.
This one, however, has my usual vivid colours toned down considerably.
I kept glazing over the items till I got the effect I wanted, and introduced the suggestion of a third dimension, rather than painting the objects flat against the background.

Friday, August 10, 2007


This painting in watercolour with its varied shapes and colours needs juggling with the paint to achieve its harmony.
Juxtaposition of contrasting hues creates a tension of its own together with varied shapes close to eachother