Watercolour of Athens, 15" x 11"
My second attempt at the Monastiraki area of central Athens. Well the Parthenon is up on the hill in the background, but making it appear on the top of the hill might have detracted from the focus of the old church I think. Painting cars sideways on is a lot more difficult than painting them head-on - they can either look too stretched out with a wide wheel base or two dumpy.
Landscape Watercolour of Limassol, 15" x 11"
The side of Agia Napa Church in Limassol looking up towards the tourist district of the town. The tall washingtonia palms here are probably the easiest to replicate. I use a fairly small synthetic brush, loaded with thick paint and just make short drags from the centre of the canopy outwards to the length of a leaf. And then one long drag of course to form the trunk.
Saunders Waterford Rough Paper 140 lbs.
Landscape Watercolour of Athens, 15" x 11".
Monastiraki was the site of one of the largest monasteries in Athens. So little was left of the complex - and only this little church remains, hence it's name 'monastiraki' or 'little monastery'. The area around the square here has many tourist souvenir shops and traditional Greek Kebap Restaurants. I very rarely go back to paintings to rework them, but the yellow taxi was an afterthought (there were tow many plain cars, so I washed over one with a Cad Yellow bit of paint).
On Saunders Waterford Rough Paper, 140 lbs.
Landscape Watercolour of Mykonos, Greece, 15" x 11"
Mykonos, a small Greek Island and part of the Cyclades group. It's a very popular tourist destination I suppose because it's not too commercialised and has the iconic Aegean scenery of pretty villages and white washed houses. My sketch is of the New Port, a few miles away from the main Mykonos town and an early part of the morning when the air is still.
Landscape Watercolour of Piraeus, 15" x 11"
Pireaus, the port for Athens and the largest port in Greece. This is the main road / dual carriageway that runs around the perimeter and is punctuated by at least two dozen gates and ferries leading to all the Greek Islands and beyond. The building is probably a government office but offers an interesting contrast to the shadows of the larger apartment blocks on the right.
Watercolour 15" x 11" on Saunders Waterford Rough paper 300 gms
Old Town Limassol on the Greek side of Cyprus, has a typical Greek feeling about it despite some of the Turkish in it's historical past (and the Venetians and the English have had their influence also). I think what rescued this painting for me was the shadow of the external electrical box or whatever, on the old building in the centre. Sometimes adding a little detail even though you think you might ruin the fresh look of the picture, can just pull it back, especially a little shadow or highlight.
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