Venice Watercolor Study

Painting class today and after a gathering of good friends - what could be better?

Because of all the harum-scarum since last Tuesday, I had done no work on transferring the drawing to watercolor paper.  However, since I knew that would probably be the case, I planned ahead so my time would not be wasted.  In accordance with that plan, I made sure to pack up my kit the night before so I wouldn't be so rushed in the morning that important items would be forgotten.  To my usual kit I added all my paints, my paint chart/guide, and a pad of 9 x 12" watercolor paper, and last week's paint tests.

The plan was to do some more paint tests with my own magenta and a different yellow (both matching the ones on my color chart for my target hue) that I didn't have with me last week.  Then I planned to start a study without any drawing at all.  I would paint as much as I could of the scene in the time I had without any underlying guide.  

Here's the drawing:

Here's today's start on the study:

The sky: it was going to be a problem if I copied it from the photograph where it was just plain gray.  Boring as well as not a good clue to the need for the open umbrella.  Plus, I just want to practice clouds.  After a few combinations, I chose to use indigo and burnt sienna to make my gray for the sky and for the rest of the painting.  I had fun with that big cloud!

Next I wanted to work on the canal.  I felt it looked very green in the shadowed areas (on the left) with a grayish cast over all.  What you see is the wet-in-wet green wash with some areas I had to "lift" as it had flowed into what is the lighter part of the canal.  An added gray wash will be done at a later time.

But while I waited for that to dry I began working on the buildings in the background - behind the bridge over the canal.  I used the gray I had mixed and added more burnt sienna.  The roof is a color I plan to use elsewhere in the painting, and the building on the left in another color that if it isn't too bright will also appear in other places.

Okay, you say, that's all very well and good, but what on earth is that wavy white area immediately above the dark cloud?  Good question.  On our walk one gray morning last week, I noticed a cloud formation that did exactly that and thought this would be a good place to try it out.  Right now I think the sky above that "white wave" is too dark.  If it were a lighter gray, it might work better.