Red Umbrella

This is painted from a reference photo taken on my iPhone on a wet day in February. For once I took pictures throughout the painting process to show as a step by step for those who would like to know how to approach such a subject.

I usually start a landscape painting with the sky, taking care to keep the tones light. I used Turner Turquoise Blue mixed with burnt sienna for the clouds and washed over the light walls with raw sienna.

For the next step, I don't have a usual approach but start with the shape that stands out to me, in this case the dome of the building. I painted this darker tone with cobalt blue and permanent alizarin crimson. The shadow sides of the buildings are a mix of turquoise blue mixed with raw sienna and burnt sienna to give a grey. The small roof is pure turquoise blue.

I started to lay in some darker washes for the buildings (Teal from Ken Bromley mixed with ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson) and painted the couple with the red umbrella (alizarin crimson), which was one of my focal points.

For the reflections on the ground, I wetted the paper to create a diffuse effect.

The crowd of people in the distance provides further dark tones (cobalt and ultramarine blues mixed with burnt sienna and alizarin crimson)  to contrast with the lighter ground.

At this point, I decided that the church in the background needed to be knocked back, so I lifted some colour off with clear water. The finishing touch was the lamp post on the right, painted with teal, ultramarine blue and alizarin crimson. I like to include some street furniture, as they make interesting stopping points in an urban painting.

People sometimes ask me how long my paintings take; this one was painted over three days and took mainly that long because the washes took some time to dry.