Ponte Vecchio sketches

Going to spend a few weeks working on a picture of Ponte Vecchio in Florence. Went there in 2003 and the atmosphere in Florence is surreal. The light creates a soft pastel-like effect and any photograph you take especially early in the morning just looks like a painting.

But that’s cheating.

Now I’m not very good at architectural drawing or painting. I prefer more organic subject matter and to be honest, perspective and structural recreation fill me with dread. I plan is to really understand the subject and then just represent it with the minimum of detail. As I said, the light will be the key to capturing the essence of Florence and then an eye for the simple detail should get me through.

So I have started with a quick pencil sketch to understand the light and shade areas followed by a watercolour sketch to get a feel for the coloration, tonal relationships and reflections in the water. Interestingly, the water and the reflections will probably be the focus as the water makes for the darker areas of the painting.

Basket case

Didn’t fancy class last night. Still tired from the long haul back from Nashville but dragged myself to class with a basket of fruit under my weary arm.

Having missed a week, I was behind the rest of the students who had all worked up some nice pieces and there’s nothing worse than being on catch up.

The first part of the exercise was to really understand the composition’s tonal values by generating quick pencil sketches.

Ta Dah!

Eat your heart out Cézanne

Once I was happy with the composition and the light and shade areas, I proceeded with a watercolour painting and completely messed it up. Come back Cézanne....

I will work into this more and try to pull out the forms of the fruit more but the basket is a bitch frankly and I wish I had just stuck the flippin’ fruit on a plate.