Leisure Painter - UK (2019-06)

PLANNING THE PAINTING

My chosen photograph looked perfect for a painting that I could populate with

people. The pavement is also deep enough for me to include long reflections

so I decided my scene would be a wet one. As always I prepared by producing a

sketch, which I felt would help me decide where the figure would be placed in the

composition. I soon realised that the perspective was a bit awkward so my sketch

started life with a bit of geometry. If you want to follow me next month and

complete the painting, you may need to understand how to draw this. I would

suggest either sketching along with me now or use this next part when you

draw out for the painting.

http://www.painters-online.co.uk JUNE 2019 17

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Step 3
I then used a Unipin black fine liner gauge 0.05 and drew the details on the figures.
I also added the umbrella. The ink dried quickly and I ran a soft eraser over the entire
image to erase the pencil lines. Then it was a case of dropping in the colours. You can
clearly see that I wasn’t particularly careful with the paint. Some colour overlaps the
edges and I deliberately left white patches here and there to add sparkle. This works
because the definition has already been created with the ink, which allows the artist
much more freedom with the paint. I also used a little wet-on-wet blending to
create shadows on the gentlemen’s legs below the coat and around his arms.

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SETTING THE HORIZON AND VANISHING POINTS

2 The lamp posts are parallel to the far pavement after the

turn. The height of them is therefore determined by first drawing

the largest lamppost then drawing a line from the top of it to the

vanishing point. A few other details can now be drawn in.

t 3 The block pavers on the pavement run parallel to the

quayside edge and the building on the right. Using a ruler and

keeping it on the vanishing point will ensure that you achieve

the correct perspective for the right and left edges of the pavers.

The near and far edges of the pavers are all horizontal.

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1 The horizon is placed just over a third of the way down.

There are two vanishing points to mark because the pavement

takes a turn to the right. The foreground pavement has a

vanishing point one third of the way in from the right and sits on

the horizon line. The lines that mark the edges of the pavement

and the bottom edges of the buildings on the right meet at the

vanishing point. There is a vertical line that marks the edge of the

building and the second vanishing point sits within that, again on

the horizon line. The lines marking the edge of the pavement

after the turn meet at the second vanishing point.

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