Vasabron Bridge Stockholm, Sweden

This is a painting of the Norstedts Publishers building on the Vasabron bridge in Stockholm. I was fortunate to be able to visit Stockholm on a business trip in March. The day was a bit overcast but relatively warm, during a walk that my fellow traveller and I took the last day of our trip to Sweden. I took a photo and had it in my mind that I would like to paint this scene at a later date. My choice of paints was watercolour, and the paper I chose was a 300 lb Arches. A 300 lb watercolour paper does not really need to be stretched beforehand, and so no preparation was required. I used a muted palette by using complementary colours of Quinacridine rose and Viridian, with a little of orange mixed in. The yellow I chose was naples yellow, which is a bit muted to begin with. The cooler tones were a mixture of Ultramarine blue and Ultramarine violet, muted a bit with their complements as well. I'm settling in with a more earth tone range of colours that I mix myself, using Steven Quiller's palette, which includes about 26 colours. I like how the bridge stands out from the background. I think I achieved this by leaving white highlights on the lamp supports on the bridge, as well as the higher contrast that is created between the white and the darker portions of the bridge. I also like how the water seems to sparkle below the bridge. Starting to feel better about my paintings.

Watercolour Painting - Utah landscape

This was an image I photographed a few years ago during a trip to Page Arizona. Page is located very close to the Utah border, and this location was just across the Colorado river. I was on a photographic workshop with Alain Briot, and his workshops never fail to please. This was an amazing location to photograph, and the terrain is very much as you can see in the painting. Unfortunately there is no human figure in the image I took, so the scale is hard to evaluate, but the boulders in the centre of the image are about 6  to 10 feet in diameter. The hoodoo to the right is at least 15 feet high.
I am becoming more familiar with the water colour medium, and I do not have to mentally focus on how to do so as much as I did a year ago. It becomes more natural and instinctive as I spend more time painting. I did use strong colours on this painting, but the actual colour scheme of the real thing is also very bright and colourful.
With watercolour painting it is important to leave some of the white of the paper to create that sparkle that a good watercolour painting should have. I think I could have left more white than I did, but once the paint is down, you can't go back. However, I am relatively pleased  with the effort.