Low water, Derwent - watercolour of the estuary at dawn, mudflats holding the sky

Low water, Derwent 2026

Watercolour on cold-pressed paper

38 × 56 cm

Available Enquire

Tess Marlow · Watercolours · Hobart

Estuary light, painted before it flattens.

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Recent work

Works on paper

Nine recent sheets. The full hang, with everything sold or in collections, is on the works page.

Work 06 dolerite wet

Dolerite, wet

2024 · Watercolour on cold-pressed paper · 56 × 38 cm

Available Mountain

Work 09 hellebores

Hellebores, July

2025 · Watercolour on cold-pressed paper · 38 × 28 cm

Available Studio

All works

The artist

Tess Marlow

Tess Marlow painting at the studio table by the window
At the Hampden Road table, winter 2025.

I paint the Derwent from a kitchen table in Battery Point, most mornings before seven, while the tide is going out and the light off the water is still worth having.

Everything is watercolour on cold-pressed paper, wet into wet, with six pigments and as much of the white sheet left alone as I can manage. A painting is finished in one sitting or it goes in the plan chest, which I call the drawer of nearly. I have been painting the estuary, the mountain and the shore south of Hobart since 2013.

Originals are sold from the studio and through Harrow & Lane in town. Studio visits are by appointment and always welcome; bring a coat, the room faces the water.

Based
Battery Point, Hobart
Medium
Watercolour on cold-pressed paper
Painting since
2013
Represented by
Harrow & Lane, Hobart

Materials

Six pigments, one paper

Everything on this page was painted with these, on 300gsm cold-pressed paper, with as much of the white sheet left alone as I could manage.

Payne's grey Every shadow on this page
Indigo Deep water, wet rock
Cerulean Granulating, for skies
Raw sienna Sand, timber, lichen
Quinacridone rose A touch, at dawn
Burnt umber Mixed in, never alone

CV

Exhibitions & awards

Solo exhibitions

  • 2026 Low Water Harrow & Lane, Hobart
  • 2024 Before Nine The Paper Rooms, Launceston
  • 2022 Estuary Cygnet Arts Hall

Group exhibitions

  • 2025 On Paper Little Quay Gallery, Devonport
  • 2023 Tasmanian Watercolour Survey Channel Regional Gallery
  • 2021 Small Works Harrow & Lane, Hobart

Awards & prizes

  • 2024 Southern Watercolour Prize, finalist
  • 2022 Paper Rooms Acquisitive Award

Residencies

  • 2023 Maria Island residency Four weeks, autumn

Collections

  • Private collections in Australia, New Zealand and the UK

Enquiries

Enquire about a painting

Originals, commissions and studio visits by appointment.

For prices, framing, commissions or a studio visit, email is best. Tell me which work you are asking about, or what you have in mind, and I will reply within a couple of days.

[email protected]
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