Rialto Bridge, Venice – Watercolours
Step 1 For this painting of the rialto bridge as you can see I have done a fairly complex line drawing. |
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Step 2 Then for my sky wash using my 1.5” wash brush, simply block in the sky area with cobalt blue then wash out your brush squeeze out and suck out a few clouds. |
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Step 3 Now for the distant buildings that you can see through the arch of the bridge. I used my No 8 round brush and simply dropped in some yellow ochre and then whilst it’s still wet I dropped a little bit of light red and a touch of the Charles Evans sand. Let all these colours spread. Once slightly dryer I used a mixture of cobalt blue and light red and my no 8 round brush and intimated a little bit of detail such as the arch ways, windows and verandas. |
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Step 4 |
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Step 5 Next stage the building to the left hand side. For the main building firstly pre wet the entire building leaving the light strips and marbled arch ways dry. Now in the wet areas firstly drop in a little bit of yellow ochre then light red stronger. |
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Step 6 Once dried the light strips which you left and the marbled arch ways, drop in with a tiny touch of Charles Evans sand and whilst still wet here and there a little bit of cobalt blue. At this stage also paint in the bit of roof that you can see using burnt sienna. Whilst all this is drying, paint in the building just tucked in behind this building using yellow ochre and light red with burnt sienna for the roof but keep these colours lighter. |
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Step 7 For the windows use a mixture of cobalt blue and burnt sienna and my no 8 round brush simply fill in the window areas leaving a touch of the under paper showing through here and there. Do the same on the distant building just behind this one, but again keeping the colour weaker. Notice inside the marbled arch ways I have made the window mix darker and stronger. |
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Step 8 Now lets add shadow to what we’ve already done. The mixture is cobalt blue, alizarin crimson and burnt sienna, basically think very carefully about what is going to cast a shadow from overhanging roofs , the insides of the windows and overhand from a veranda and the shadow cast from the chimneys on the roofs. Notice at this stage that I have put a little bit of shadow on the building behind the main building and this shadow is cast by the main building. Also now look into the centre of the bridge and you will see that I have painted the stone work that you can see through the arch and for this I pre wet it and then dropped in a little bit of Charles Evans sand followed by a little bit of yellow ochre. |
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Step 9 For step 9 I am filled in the whole of the bridge, pre wet it first then with my no 8 round brush dropped in Charles Evans sand followed by yellow ochre followed by raw umber, let all these colours merge and notice where I have left the unpainted bits. |
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Step 10 Now for the arch ways on the bridge that I left unpainted. Which is raw umber with a tiny touch of cobalt blue into it and simply fill in all these arch ways. Now again with the raw umber and blue mix but with more blue into it, fill in the main arch way on top of the bridge. |
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Step 11 For the big arch way of the bridge again raw umber and cobalt blue mixed, fill in the whole of the arch way getting it lighter as it comes over to the right hand side of the bridge. At this stage again with the cobalt blue and raw umber mix, add a little bit of detail into the arch way at the top of the bridge. And a few little squiggly bits here and there to intimate a little bit of ornate stone work. |
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Step 12 For step 12 add a little bit of reflection from the far distant buildings just using a no 8 round brush. This is just a few squiggles to intimate reflection and using the same colours that you used in those buildings. But also a dark mix of raw umber and cobalt blue for a bit of reflection of the arch way of the bridge. |
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Step 13 Now for the gondolas in the foreground and for this I use a mixture of ultra marine blue and burnt sienna to make a black. This is for the main body of the boats. Add a few little squiggly bits here and there to intimate other boats here and there. Notice on the main gondola on the right hand side also using the same brush I used a little bit of alizarin crimson here and there. And this is for the covers on the gondolas and once dried on the foreground ones I put in a few squiggles here and there of strong yellow ochre to give the gold pattern on the rug. At this stage also put a bit bits of raw umber and yellow ochre here and there to intimate jetties and waters edge through the boats. |
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Step 14 Now for the first wash on the water which is a mix of cobalt blue, hookers green and tiny touch of burnt sienna. But plenty of water into this mix keep it weak. Using my ¾” wash brush stroke straight through all your reflections making sure that the water gets weaker as you go further into the distance. Don’t hesitate and don’t paint carefully because otherwise you will disturb all the other colours that you have put on. Be brave and go straight through quickly. Whilst its still wet still using the same brush drop in a little bit of raw umber here and there into the water as reflection from the bridge. Let all this dry. |
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Step 15 For stage 15 paint in all the posts using a mixture of raw umber followed by here and there raw umber mixed with cobalt blue and towards the base of some of the posts, drop in a little bit of black for the knarly wood. And of course the black is ultra marine blue and burnt sienna mixed. At this stage also using the black to put in a few black rippled dark areas underneath the gondolas and also reflect the posts. Notice I have done the same over to the left hand side of the canal as well. Also at this stage I had put in the gondola in the far distance using a mixture of ultra marine blue and burnt sienna and to be honest for the people in the boat you can add any colour you want because you can just see there clothes. This also applies to all the people on the bridge. |
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Step 16 And now for the final stage, finish off that water and as you can see for this I have used the same initial wash of cobalt blue, hookers green and burnt sienna making it stronger and using my tip of my ¾” wash brush, add quite a few ripples of the dark water colour. Also add a little bit of fairly strong yellow ochre here and there and with the same brush add a few ripples of yellow ochre towards the right hand side of the canal. And there we go a fairly complex scene of the Rialto Bridge in Venice. I will give you a slightly easier time for the next project in 2 months when we will be doing a big acrylic. |
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