plate no. 2135

Deuxième vue du port de Bordeaux

oilNeoclassicismlandscapecityscapeharborshipscloudsfiguresarchitecture

some experience helpful

Recreating this painting will help students develop skills in atmospheric perspective and rendering complex scenes with many details. It's a good exercise for practicing color mixing to achieve subtle gradations in the sky and water.

technical profile

palette complexity

brushwork visibility

value contrast

compositional simplicity

study guide

est. 15 hrs

approach — 8 steps

step 01
Sketch the basic composition, dividing the canvas into sky, water, and land.
step 02
Block in the main areas of color: light blue for the sky, darker blue/gray for the water, and earth tones for the land.
step 03
Start building up the clouds, focusing on soft edges and subtle value changes.
step 04
Add the distant buildings and ships, paying attention to their reduced size and detail due to atmospheric perspective.
step 05
Paint the figures and architectural details in the foreground, adding more detail and contrast.
step 06
Refine the water reflections, using slightly darker and desaturated versions of the colors above.
step 07
Add final details such as rigging on the ships and highlights on the buildings.
step 08
Glaze with thin layers to unify the painting and adjust values as needed.

color palette

primary · ultramarine blue · titanium white · yellow ochre

secondary · burnt umber · raw sienna · cadmium yellow light

Mix blues and white for the sky, adding small amounts of yellow ochre for warmer tones. Use burnt umber and yellow ochre for earth tones, adjusting with white and blue to create variations in value and temperature.

techniques