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.