[Bianca]

This is a scene from a little cruise on the river Ljubljanica in Slovenia‘s beautiful capital Ljubljana (definitely visit if you can!). I chose this scene as I was inspired to give water a try as you talked about it in your last lesson. I tried to keep the foreground colors more saturated and warmer and keep contrasts stronger in the foreground. Did quite some negative painting in the shadows under that weeping willow and under the umbrellas along the riverbank.

Not too sure about composition, as this didn‘t lend itself easily to a rule-of-thirds composition, plus this bright white facade ended up right in the middle of the painting, which I would have rather had at more a one-thirds-position. But I think the converging lines along the river offset with the greenery in the bottom left work ok to keep the composition balanced.

Thanks again, Alex, for your fabulous lessons and your easygoing teaching style. I have learnt so much and will keep trying to apply what you taught us in my future paintings.

[Bianca]

I seem to have trouble uploading more than one picture. Initially it worked for both my painting and my photo reference, then I edited it to a new version of my painting but then my photo reference was gone. Now I added the photo back but now my painting is gone. I know I „added“ a second pic each time and didn‘t deliberately delete or swap out the first pic. I‘ll check this thread until Thursday and if the situation isn‘t resolved by then, I‘ll just put the second pic in a separate post.

Thanks 🙂

Update: I think I solved the problem: I needed to upload both pics together again, not just (try to) add one to the existing one.

[Bianca]

This is from a photo I took a few years ago on a trip to Serbia. It is the building my husband was born in, in the town of Zrenjanin in Vojvodina. I chose to paint it for the light and the angles and hurried to get it finished today, as it happens to be his birthday tomorrow so this will be a little surprise gift. I cropped the photo so I could find a rule-of-thirds composition. I tried my best to put details only in the area of focus and just hint at some details further to the sides.

I went over that left side of the building about three times with shades of blue but I still think it wants to be even darker but I‘m leaving it be now 😊

Daniel Smith paints on Saunders Waterford, plus a tiny bit of Pigma Micron pen and a few touches of Winsor and Newton White Calligraphy Ink for highlights (white gouache and I don‘t get along too well 😅 )

[Bianca]

This is the roof of Vienna‘s State Opera, a building I walk by every day at work. That painting with the statue you showed us intrigued me and as I have many photos of this roof and the statue, I gave it a try. This is Erato, the Muse of lyric poetry and mimic imitation, riding a winged horse.

[Bianca]

Here is my view of Prague‘s Old Town Square as photographed by me from the tower of the Old Town Hall. I imagine these houses huddling together in the first row, all dressed up and decorated, showing their beauty and their wealth, as the ladies on the red carpet at a prom or ball.

The perspective intrigued me but I‘m not happy at all with the colors. I wish I had been able to do more wet-in-wet and bring out the light better. I added some pen at the end which now seems too harsh 🙁

Also, I‘m not sure if I like the cropped version or the whole sheet better. As so often, I forgot to mask my painting area so I just let the edges fade out but that seems messy now. But the cropped version looks a bit too tight now 🙁

+2 More Photos

[Bianca]

This is my rendition of The Church of the Holy Cross in Nin, Croatia, from the 9th century. I took this photo on vacation in Croatia a few months ago, loved the bright sunlight and strong shadows and tried to find a good spot from which to take an interesting photo. Even though the façade is simply white, I tried to show the sunny and shady sides with warm and cool colors.

[Bianca]

Thanks so much, Alex, for the video feedback. The color I used was Moonglow 🙂 It totally separates in a blue and a red hue when the prepared wash sits in the pallette for a few minutes but when you mix it back up it is this great color. I need to try and pick up the separated colors and use them individually on one piece – then I‘d get three colors from one tube 🙂

[Bianca]

Oh my, what a bummer 🙁 Wishing you a speedy recovery!