Dignified, A Grisaille Landscape

Using a grisaille underpainting not only makes for an interesting look, it pretty much gets the majority of the work of a painting out of the way in the first stages, at least in watercolor.  Drawing and laying down the underpainting of this took much more time than adding the color did.  

Before I began this morning I washed the paper with yellow ochre to tone it and help the painting have unity.

For several days I've been pondering on how I wanted the finished piece to look.  What made this subject interesting to my eyes was all the peeling metal and the wood underneath the old buildings; the tiny details.  I've also been thinking on my desire to suggest foliage rather than trying to render it in perfect detail and decided that I could add little details to the building shapes and just suggest the foreground and background.  I'm much happier with the results than some of my other landscapes.  

Dignified, watercolor on cold pressed Arches paper, 16" x 20"

So, here stands the finished piece.  Adding colors to it took about 2 hours from toning the paper to the last brush stroke.  I like working this way, like the contrast between the soft foreground and sky against the hard edges of the building shapes and like working over well defined light and shadow shapes.  

Thanks for stopping by!  Alice