Painting a busy scene

Every so often, I have looked at my reference of Temple Bar and thought it would make a good painting. Certainly its architecture is beautiful, but the focus for this painting was going to be people going about their business.

Here are some progress shots about my process:

I usually start with the background but decided I would paint the crowd first.

I then started on the buildings:

Next came Temple Bar itself. I deliberately did not make it as tall as it is in reality to keep the people as an important part of the composition.

Finally, I felt it needed some directional lines on the ground.