Wet surfaces in watercolour

For various reasons I won’t be able to do more than one post in October, so this one is really to lay the ground for the next one in November

Burano in the Rain I painted a few years ago, after a long week-end in Venice, when it poured every day. However. a lot of paintings have come out of that trip, including this one, which tackled wet road surfaces, which can be tricky

Reflections, umbrellas and light streaks across the wet. It is all about illusion!

The base colour is a blend of French Ultramarine Blue and Cadmium Orange. Hence orange for the umbrellas, as the tone is correct

Oh, how to do the light streaks? When everything is completely dry, load a small square brush with clean water, and dash it across quickly. That works well with edges of paving stones when you want to lay perspective lines. It also works well putting breeze ripples on the surface of a lake

I am starting to prepare a painting of Notre-Dame de Paris, when we queued in the rain to get in the cathedral. I am going to use the same colours and method. If I can, I will break this down into stages (and hope it works)

But that is for next month!