To do a Painting of Florence is always a joy and delight. Last September I was working in Florence on a number of painting projects, one of which was painting several street scenes on the spot in my hand-made watercolour sketchbook. In the photograph of what’s on the drawing board you will see the sketchbook depicting my watercolour study of Via di Spirito Santo painted standing up with my small box of paints balanced in one hand with the sketchbook, the other holding my traveling paint brush.
I was able to produce several streets scenes like this in my sketchbook whilst I was in Florence. Sketchbook painting on location is always a delight, especially in Florence. It was an intense fortnight of study at the Charles Cecil Studios. I don’t think I’ve ever painted as much in my life, not even when I was an art student.
I wanted to capture the dark, narrow street which had snatches of the early evening light catching the tops of some of the buildings and so I used a very limited palate of Raw Sienna, purple and Payne’s Grey for much of the sketch. I’m wanting to retain the freshness of this sketch in my studio production which I’m intending to work on over the next few days.
Watch this space for the finished result.