I came back to the painting, having given it a grey/green wash as I explained, then leaving it for 24 hours to go really hard. Then I started work on it again

I started by putting detail into the foreground especially into Lola’s coat and trousers. This gave me a focus for the mid and background. I put some detail into the cathedral, not too much, as this is not an architectural study, but hopefully just enough. Gothic architecture is very ornate in detail anyway, and there is only so fine you can go with a brush

How I regretted including the marquee on the left. Once the colour went in, that shape was too dominant. I should have known better. I could just as easily have painted distant buildings and trees in that space. However I was stuck with it, so I have to continue. Incidentally I never abandon a painting halfway, even when it looks like being a disaster. Often it works out better than you think, and if you want to do it again , then you have made all the mistakes, not just some

On the second painting I started darkening the road surface in the foreground and putting in reflections. It was starting to look like a wet surface. I put some red spots in the painting, leading the eye from the foreground to the front of the cathedral. The Nike tick on Lola’s shoe, bags, coats, and umbrellas by the cathedral door. I used Cadmium Red. Nothing better in my opinion for catching the eye

Still that marquee bothers me. If I frame this painting I could crop about two inches off the left-hand side, which would help. It would also lose me a couple of figures from the queue and some pigeons, which would be sad. With that in mind I drew some extra pigeons in the foreground to compensate. The last picture is of the finished painting, so let’s have a look at it

By and large, I think the painting works. It certainly looks like a wet day, and maybe I will get used to the marquee. I think they were using it for an exhibition at the time

I hope you liked that little demo, and found something helpful. Let me know your ideas too. After all that rain, it will be nice to look at some hot weather subjects for a change. I have just returned from Turkey and Greece, where we had some rain, but also some sunshine, and I have some interesting photographic references to work on.

In the nearby village of Pirbright, between Guildford and Woking, where I belong to the Pirbright Art Club, we shall be having our Winter Art Exhibition 5th and 6th December, so I have got to get working on my entries. I will show you what I have done towards the end of the month, and also talk a bit about Pirbright which is an interesting village. Until then………

When I last posted, I talked about painting a scene in the rain, with wet surfaces, something I have always found to be tricky. I showed a painting of our visit to Burano on a wet day which worked quite well. I wonder if I can do it again.

A couple of years ago, we went with the family to Paris and then on to Eurodisney. ( I enjoyed Eurodisney much more than I thought, incidentally). The two photographs which I am going to use are above, showing the queue into the cathedral and also my granddaughter Lola having great fun chasing the pigeons at the same time

I was more interested in creating a mood in this picture rather than drawing accurate figures. Heads down against the weather, just wishing we could get inside

I want to use them both in the composition. I think the child with pigeons will make a strong foreground against the other picture. We shall see

Using a simple grid I did a freehand drawing of the cathedral with the figures in the rain. I added some more to the left to make the queue longer and also extended the tent/marquee which had been erected in front of the cathedral. That decision would come back to haunt me later on. I then did exactly the same exercise with the child and birds, guessing the proportions as best I could. The next step was to transfer the child drawing onto tracing paper, which I then slid across and back the cathedral drawing to best judge the correct proportion between the two

completed composition

I am sorry this picture is rather dark. I had given it a coat of grey/green watercolour mix to establish the mood. Mixed from French Ultramarine Blue and Cadmium Orange. The figures in blue are masked out as I want them to have light coloured raincoats. I thought the relationship worked well. The child’s head is just overlapping one of the figures so they look part of the same scene.

I now have some painting to do, and will publish that as second part, probably during the week

Don’t forget I am always interested to hear from other painters who can give me tips how to improve my work

Prague 2015

I composed this watercolour from my own photograph. The square was very crowded that day so I have simplified the background to avoid confusion. I did spend some time on the beautiful Tyn Church getting those needle-sharp spires as correct as possible

I used a limited pallette for best effect.  Just six colours, which were mostly blends. The underlying colour was Raw Sienna mixed with Naples Yellow to give the feel of bright sunlight. Shadows were provided with Violet modified with Sennelier Transparent Brown. Sharp colours in the foreground were mostly cadmium red and ultramarine blue

I have had great sales success with my Montmartre, Paris series. It would be great if Prague paintings prove to be of interest, as I have so much more material. Such a paintable city