plate no. 8765
Gate of Rajah's Palace, Benares, India
Marianne North, 1880
some experience helpful
Students would develop skills in architectural perspective, color temperature relationships between warm building tones and cool sky colors, and creating atmospheric depth through value gradation.
technical profile
palette complexity
3
brushwork visibility
2
value contrast
3
compositional simplicity
4
study guide
est. 8 hrsapproach — 8 steps
- step 01
Begin with a light pencil sketch, establishing the main architectural forms and horizon line
- step 02
Block in the large sky area with horizontal brushstrokes using cool blue-gray mixtures
- step 03
Paint the main palace structure with warm pinks and mauves, working from light to dark
- step 04
Add the white domes using titanium white with subtle warm and cool variations
- step 05
Paint the foreground sandy area with horizontal washes of warm earth tones
- step 06
Add the trees using various greens, keeping them lighter than foreground shadows
- step 07
Place small figures for scale using darker values
- step 08
Refine architectural details and add final highlights to domes
color palette
primary · cerulean blue · titanium white · quinacridone rose · raw sienna
secondary · sap green · burnt sienna · ultramarine blue · cadmium yellow light
Mix warm grays for shadows using blue and burnt sienna; create palace pink by mixing white with small amounts of quinacridone rose and raw sienna
techniques
- ·atmospheric perspective
- ·color temperature contrast
- ·architectural drawing
- ·figure placement
- ·horizontal brushwork
common pitfalls
- →Making the palace too saturated
- →Losing the sense of scale without figures
- →Creating muddy colors in the architecture
- →Overworking the sky details
materials
surface · primed canvas or canvas board
required
- ·#8 flat brush
- ·#4 flat brush
- ·#2 round brush
- ·cerulean blue oil paint
- ·titanium white oil paint
- ·quinacridone rose oil paint
- ·raw sienna oil paint
- ·canvas 16x20
optional
- ·palette knife for mixing
- ·#6 filbert brush
- ·painting medium
- ·liner brush for details
A smooth to medium texture canvas works best for the architectural detail and atmospheric effects
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