Day 11-15 of The 100 Day Project

Portuguese house with balcony and flowers Ink and Watercolour

My third set of challenge sketches for The 100 Day Project. I’m starting to incorporate the learnings I gained from the first 10 days, but as I’m experimenting with style changes, the quality of the output isn’t as predictable.

11/100 – 15 Minute sketch of house with balcony

What I like:

Angle I chose to capture with a bit of warped perspective (looking up at the building so that the perspective angles dips down as the building recedes).
Layered elements in the sky which lead to faded edges at the top.
Inclusion of partial car element.
Front of balcony is more defined, but side balcony details is looser, less defined, and not as much blue used to accentuate.

What I didn’t like:

Warm shadow colour used on the wall.
No clear focal point.

What I learned:

Use cool for shadows when I don’t want those areas to draw the eye. The cool grey shadow works well in the upper balcony at the front, but the warm grey shadow (channeling Daniel Smith Moon Shadow) draws the eye.
I like using source images and sketching location positions that look up at the subject, so that it causes accentuated angles within the building.

12/100 – 15 Minute sketch of Fisherman’s Hut in Cabanas

Ink and watercolour sketch of fisherman's hut in Cabanas

What I like:

Close up view of the cabin.

What I didn’t like:

Cabins either side of the subject should have been left as just a black outline and white so they didn’t detract from the focal point.
It’s a bit dark, and not enough differentiation between light and dark areas to create a feeling of depth. (The wall and door is actually set back from the front posts and fishing boys – but that isn’t obvious from this sketch.)

What I learned:

Could be useful to do a simple thumbnail sketch before I begin painting so that I can identify the light and dark areas better.
If I’m using a lot of the same colour, create two versions, one cool and one warmer. Use cooller one on the background and warmer colour in the foreground.

13/100 – 15 Minute sketch of the View from our Bedroom Balcony

Ink and watercolour of Bedroom Balcony view

What I like:

There’s a lot going on, which correctly depicts the view. Happy with how I positioned the key shapes.

What I didn’t like:

Too many warm cast shadows which detract from the focal point of the roof and chimney
Chimney is in the middle of the scene, should have adjusted view to position it further to the left or right.
Background land and water is too distracting, because the colours are too intense.

What I learned:

Far background shapes need to be simpler and looser, and colours need to be faded.
A quick thumbnail sketch would be useful to plan the composition.

14/100 – 15 Minute sketch of House with blue shutters (2 attempts)

I chose this house because it was on our list of potential purchases, but we never got to view it. We were eventually put off because there’s prime parking spots in front of this house, and during the season there’s always cars parked really close to the front of this house.

2nd Attempt

Blue Shutter house sketch in ink and watercolour different angle — 2nd attempt at this house

What I like:

How the house is framed on each side.
Use of limited colour palette.
Angle of the photo I took (from the side and looking up).
Use of cast shadows and areas of bright sunlight.

What I didn’t like:

Perspective angles of the elements are a bit sloppy.
Needed more white around the sketch.

What I learned:

Interesting source angles work better than a face-on viewpoint.

I had two attempts at this house. I sketched the first with biro as I’d just seen another artist on Instagram use biro for his building sketches, and they looked fabulous. But I wasn’t happy with my sketch or the way I painted it.

1st Attempt

Blue shutter house in biro and watercolour. — First Attempt

There were just too many elements I didn’t like, and the scene was confusing and overwhelming. But I was much happier with my second attempt at this little blue shuttered house.