Sorrento. Grave of Sylvester Shchedrin.

Warm, sun-drenched Mediterranean hillside dominates the upper two-thirds, its ochre and olive mass punctuated by deep green vegetation and cool purple shadows. Below sit brilliant white and cream buildings arranged loosely along a street, anchored by a pale chapel with a triangular pediment on the right. The light comes from the upper left, casting warm shadows across the hillside and warm reflection onto the street. A small group of figures in dark clothing with red accents gathers in the foreground, providing human scale and a focal resting point before the eye climbs back to the architecture and landscape.

The darkest values cluster in the hillside's shadow areas and the building entrances—deep purples, browns, and greens create a recessive backdrop. The lightest lights are the building façades and church front, almost white-pink. The hillside itself is a unified mid-to-warm-mid tone, complex within itself but distinctly darker than the buildings. Squinting reveals two clear masses: the large dark landscape shape and the clustered bright buildings, with a narrow street tying them together.

• #d8c4b9

  Titanium white + touch of raw sienna, with ultramarine to cool slightly

  Building highlights, church facade, bright sunlit surfaces

• #baa391

  Yellow ochre + raw sienna + white

  Hillside midtone highlights and light areas of earth

• #9d8570

  Yellow ochre + burnt sienna, balanced warm

  Main hillside masses and sunlit earth tones

• #8e6651

  Burnt sienna + ultramarine (cool shadow) or burnt sienna + raw umber

  Dark hillside shadows, building entrance shadows, recessed areas

• #5d5d5a

  Ultramarine + burnt umber, atmospheric cool gray

  Deep shadows in buildings, purple undertones in hillside, shadow accents

• #4e3837

  Alizarin crimson + ultramarine or burnt umber + ultramarine

  Darkest door and window recesses, deepest hillside shadows

The hillside is handled in broad, directional strokes that follow its contours—loose and gestural, never uniform. Buildings have slightly crisper silhouettes but remain painterly; windows and doors are suggested with shadow rather than drawn. Foreground figures are barely indicated with warm strokes, while vegetation is dabbed in with a heavier hand. The overall effect is confident and warm, with edges softening as they recede into the atmospheric distance.

1. 01

   Establish the composition with a warm ochre wash

   Thin a mix of yellow ochre and a touch of ultramarine with linseed oil to create a warm, luminous undertone. Block in the entire canvas with a loose, directional application, darker where the hillside will be, lighter where the buildings live. This warm base will unify everything and set the painting's temperature from the start. Don't worry about accuracy—just establish that this is a warm southern scene.

2. 02

   Block the hillside's value and form

   Using burnt sienna + yellow ochre + touches of ultramarine (cool shadow mixture), paint the hillside as a single coherent mass, following its slope upward and to the right. Keep strokes directional, angling them as the earth tilts. Where the hillside meets the sky, leave it soft. Establish the darker recess areas where vegetation clusters and shadows fall—these give the hillside its three-dimensional life. Work loosely; this isn't about detail, it's about form and light direction.

3. 03

   Lay in the white buildings as bright, warm silhouettes

   Mix a pale warm white (titanium white + tiny touch of raw sienna + hint of ultramarine) and paint the major building masses on the left side—roughly rectangular forms with their characteristic Mediterranean proportions. Keep edges simple and clear against the dark hillside. Don't place windows or doors yet; just establish that these are the lightest, brightest shapes in the painting. The contrast against the hillside should be immediate and striking.

4. 04

   Position the church and establish the street plane

   Paint the pale chapel on the right with its distinctive triangular pediment, keeping it similarly light but slightly cooler than the main buildings. Then lay in the foreground street with a warm, earthy tan (yellow ochre + burnt sienna + white). The street curves slightly and leads the eye back into the scene. This step anchors the spatial composition and gives the small figures a place to stand.

5. 05

   Add vegetation, shadows, and architectural definition

   Block in the dark green foliage at the top and the vegetation on the hillside using ultramarine + yellow ochre (or viridian + burnt sienna). Paint the deep shadows and recesses of doors and windows with the dark mix (burnt sienna + ultramarine). These darks make the bright buildings read clearly. Don't overstate windows—a dark rectangular shadow, perhaps with a tiny brushstroke of lighter reflection, is enough.

6. 06

   Place the figures and refine the foreground

   Suggest the gathered figures with loose warm strokes of reddish-brown and dark tones. They should read as people from several feet away, but no faces or fine detail. Their warm clothing color echoes the hillside's warmth and creates a visual bridge between the landscape and architecture. Add any curved architectural elements (like the arch in the lower right) with warm tan lines that define space without becoming too literal.

7. 07

   Soften the hillside and add atmospheric depth

   Using thinner, cooler mixes of ultramarine + ochre, glaze subtle cool shadow areas over the hillside where vegetation recedes or slopes away from light. The goal is to make the hillside feel three-dimensional and atmospheric, not flat. The sky visible above should be cool blue-gray (ultramarine + white), which makes the warm earth below feel warmer by contrast.

8. 08

   Final warm passes and light accents

   Stand back and assess. Add warm highlights where sunlight catches the buildings—bright white touches on corners and roof lines. Warm the entire painting slightly with a thin, warm glaze if needed. The church's pediment might catch a golden accent. The street should glow warmly. This final pass ensures the painting holds together as a unified, sun-saturated moment, not a collection of separate elements. Resist the urge to over-finish; painterly warmth is the goal.

• Making the hillside a uniform single color—it requires internal variation with warm highlights (ochre) and cool shadows (purple-green) to read as a living landscape. Too flat and it becomes a wall.
• Losing the warm light temperature—this painting lives in warm golden sun. Cool or neutral grays will drain the energy. Keep shadow mixtures warm (ultramarine + warm earth) rather than black + white.
• Overworking the buildings with fussy doors, windows, and details—they should read clearly from a distance but remain painterly and loose. A shadow shape is enough for a window.
• Placing the figures too literally or centering them in the composition—they're small anchors for scale and life, meant to suggest activity. Keep them loose and subordinate to the architecture and landscape.

beginner friendliness

value contrast

palette complexity

compositional simplicity

brushwork visibility