Part of the San Miniato complex in Florence

     One of my favorite places in Florence is San Miniato al Monte. It's a beautiful romanesque church on the highest point in Florence. I have drawn and posted the church facade, but I don't think I've ever added the other bits. The church has a cemetery and a small shop where monks sell home made soaps and oils. I did a watercolor of a small corner of the monastery and the store.
     I wanted to quickly explain how I go about even doing a watercolor sketch. I think one of the most important things I've learned to do is to do a quick sketch before hand. This has really helped me with composition and figuring out the light and the way I want to build the painting. This is what one of those pencil sketches look like.

     I'm really just trying to organize the buildings and to figure out perspective and composition. In this stage I am definitely making corrections and changing things. This is why this step is so necessary, I know it's a thumbnail sketch and I don't have to worry. Plus I am already painting in my brain while I'm doing this. These sketches vary in their detail. Sometimes I do much more detailed sketches where I make notes on light and shadow in a more in depth way, and also simple quick sketches just to make lines and place things. Afterwards I set up my paint and I redraw the scene. I am following the sketch, making small changes and corrections in the buildings. I then proceed to paint, which is a process that changes from painting to painting, so I'll save that for another post. Here is the completed painting. 

-R