Day Three: A real challenge

Today I did in paint what I have been hesitant to do in pencil or pen. I have a project I'm doing for the library (an example map for our teen map-making workshops later this summer) that is going to incorporate a small (3-inches high, max) sketch of Notre Dame de Paris. So on my patio table, I have a bunch of pictures of the cathedral lying around. Today, after I woke up and breakfasted, I thought, What shall I paint for today's 30x30? and the picture was sitting there staring up at me....

No. No way. Can't do that without a pen! But it's all about challenge, so I decided to try. I painted an outline and blocked in a pale base color first, and then I went back in, first with a straight brown for the lighter darks, and then with a combination of Umber and Jackson Blue for the darks, mixing that lighter and thinner to use also for the shadows. The real cathedral, now that I look back at the photo, is more gray stone than it is cream, but I'll ask you to picture it as standing in the sunset and picking up some warmer tones from that!

It took me a really long time (a couple of hours), but I'm actually quite pleased with the result. I even threw in some little people, for scale, remembering what Jim Richards says about the eye perceiving what it believes to be there and not getting all crazy about correct shapes and petty issues like feet!

Maybe I will try some other ambitious things this month, instead of opting for the simplest still life I can concoct!

#30x30DirectWatercolor2018