Cassis. The roofs of the city

Light falls from the upper left, creating a warm, hazy illumination across the clustered roofscape that dominates the foreground. Your eye enters through the terracotta and cream-colored tile patterns in the immediate foreground, then travels upward and back toward the pale church tower with its cross—the compositional anchor that rises against dark forested hills. The scene reads as a dense, compressed stack of buildings seen from above, with the sky overcast and cool, creating strong contrast with the warm earth tones of the roofs. Deep shadows pool in the valleys between structures and in the background vegetation, creating atmospheric recession.

The darkest darks are the shadowed forest areas and deep gaps between buildings (near black, #2e282a). Mid-tones dominate: the warm browns and taupes of roofs and walls occupy the full middle register. The lightest lights are the cream and pale yellow façades of buildings and sky highlights. When you squint, three distinct layers emerge: dark background hills, mid-value roofscape, and bright sky and building faces. There is minimal pure white—light is always slightly warm or grayed.

• #a39c8e

  Raw Sienna + Titanium White + touch of Ultramarine

  Sky throughout; also the pale building façades and highlights on the nearest roofs

• #867769

  Burnt Sienna + Raw Umber + Titanium White

  Mid-tone terracotta roof tiles and building walls across the entire foreground cluster

• #5d4b43

  Burnt Umber + Alizarin + touch of Ultramarine

  Shadowed roof undersides and dark recesses between buildings

• #413d3b

  Ultramarine + Alizarin + Raw Umber (nearly opaque)

  Forest foliage in background hills and deepest shadow voids

• #bbb7a8

  Titanium White + Raw Sienna + Cadmium Yellow Light

  Brightest building walls and the pale church structure

Brushwork is visible and directional—roof tiles are rendered with short, parallel strokes that follow the planes and create obvious texture rather than smooth blending. Building edges are often soft and diffused where they recede, especially where structures meet shadow; foreground edges are crisper. The artist uses a loaded brush to drag warm tones over cooler underpainting, creating a broken-color effect that suggests depth and atmosphere without tight detail work.

1. 01

   Establish the sky and distant value foundation

   Block in the entire upper half with a single wash of your lightest palette mix (#a39c8e)—sky, pale church tower, and the haziest background hills. Work wet-into-wet if you can, allowing soft transitions. This establishes your overall atmospheric tone and prevents the roofscape from feeling isolated. Keep edges soft and let the sky suggest distance through its unvaried, calm surface.

2. 02

   Place the dark forest hills and define recession

   Using your darkest mix (#413d3b), paint the forested hills in the middle distance and background. Notice how these dark masses frame the church tower and create a dramatic backdrop. Leave some sky showing through at the horizon line. These shapes are irregular and organic—don't outline them; instead, let them emerge from loose brushwork. This step separates foreground from background decisively.

3. 03

   Lay in the dominant roofscape mass with warm mid-tones

   Fill the entire foreground cluster with your primary mid-tone (#867769), covering the majority of the roofs and building walls. Work loosely and observe that this tone shifts slightly warmer on sun-facing roofs (add Cadmium Yellow Light) and slightly cooler in shadows (add touch of Ultramarine). Don't worry about individual buildings yet—you're creating the overall warm base that anchors the composition.

4. 04

   Model the rooftop planes with shadow and highlight variation

   Now begin distinguishing individual roof planes by adding your darker shadow mix (#5d4b43) into the valleys, recessed areas, and undersides of tiles visible in the foreground left and center. Apply these shadows with directional strokes that follow the tile pattern. Simultaneously, lighten your mid-tone with white to create sun-struck roof sections on the right and upper areas. The interplay between warm light and cool shadow creates the dimensional illusion.

5. 05

   Develop the pale building faces and the church tower

   Use your lightest mix (#bbb7a8) to paint the cream and pale yellow façades of the prominent buildings scattered throughout the roofscape. The church tower in the center-background should be distinctly pale—this is your compositional focal point. Notice these pale forms are never pure white; they're warm off-white. Let them emerge from the surrounding mid-tones by contrast rather than by outline. Shadow their edges subtly where they turn away from light.

6. 06

   Refine tile texture and edge definition in the foreground

   Using a smaller, round brush and your mid and shadow tones, add decisive marks across the nearest rooftops in the immediate foreground. These marks suggest individual tiles and their edges—work with horizontal and diagonal strokes that follow the roofs' perspective. Keep these marks loose and abbreviated; they're not meant to describe every tile, just enough to create convincing texture. This foreground detail grounds the composition and draws the eye in.

7. 07

   Add atmospheric depth and soften distant transitions

   Revisit the mid-distance buildings and forest edges with semi-transparent glazes of your lighter neutral tones mixed with a touch of Ultramarine. This cools and softens them, pushing them back in space. Let some edges blur and dissolve slightly. The church tower should remain crisp; everything else should feel slightly veiled. This step unifies the composition and reinforces atmospheric perspective.

8. 08

   Final accents and corrective modeling

   Step back and assess your value structure. Darken any shadow gaps that feel too light—these dark crevasses between buildings are critical to readability. Add warmth to sun-facing roof slopes with a glaze of diluted Cadmium Yellow Light over mid-tones. If the church tower needs more presence, brighten it or sharpen its edges slightly. Keep your brushwork loose; overworking will destroy the expressionist energy. This is refining, not repainting.

• Treating each building as a separate structure rather than seeing the roofscape as one unified, interlocking mass. Step back frequently to see large shapes, not individual houses.
• Making the sky too white or too vibrant. It is muted and cool—a grayed, pale tone that recedes. It should feel atmospheric, not flat.
• Overblending and smoothing the brushwork. The visible, directional strokes are essential to the expressionist character. Tile texture comes from broken color and gestural marks, not smooth transitions.
• Losing the value contrast between the dark forest and the warm roofscape. Without that dark frame, the composition loses depth and drama. Keep those background hills genuinely dark.
• Placing the church tower too prominently or centering it too rigidly. It should feel like it emerges from the roofscape, not imposed on top. Let surrounding buildings partially obscure its base.

beginner friendliness

value contrast

palette complexity

compositional simplicity

brushwork visibility