Visit of Tetuan from the terrace of Khalifa

This composition is structured as a view from a high terrace looking down across the medina of Tetuan. The ornate minaret dominates the left foreground as a vertical anchor, while the eye naturally follows the receding street through the center, flanked by whitewashed buildings that diminish into hazy distance. Soft afternoon light bathes the scene from the left, creating warm creams and pale yellows on the lit building faces, while cool shadows gather in doorways and beneath eaves. The background mountains close the composition with dusty peachy tones; a pale blue sky warms toward the horizon. Small figures throughout—sitting, working, moving—and hung laundry in the immediate foreground provide narrative texture and human scale.

The value range is deliberately compressed and harmonious, avoiding sharp contrasts. The darkest darks appear in the minaret's decorative patterns and the silhouetted figures in the foreground and street; even these sit comfortably in the middle-value range rather than reaching near-black. The lightest lights are the whitewashed walls and sky, reading as pale cream-white rather than paper-white. Squinting reveals that most of the building mass occupies a unified light-value zone, with shadows functioning as subtle warm-cool transitions rather than value drops.

• #eeead8

  Raw sienna + Naples yellow + water; mostly water with pigment dust

  Sky's warmest zones near horizon, brightest building walls, sunlit planes of the medina

• #eadec8

  Raw sienna + touches of alizarin crimson + water

  Mid-tone creams on building faces, sunlit surfaces, transition zones between white and shadow

• #dee0cf

  Ultramarine blue + burnt sienna + water (cool gray); optional alizarin for soft lavender

  Shadow undersides of eaves, cool shadows in doorways, distant atmospheric tones

• #d3dbcc

  Burnt sienna + ultramarine + water (warm gray-brown)

  Middle-value building walls, weathered architectural surfaces, ground shadows

• #998370

  Burnt sienna + red ochre + touch of ultramarine

  Minaret tower body and geometric pattern details, warm architectural accents, richest brown shadows

• #c9c0ad

  Raw sienna + ultramarine (warm gray); burnt sienna + cerulean

  Weathered ground plane, mid-tone building passages, soft atmospheric veiling of receding forms

The technique is confidently watercolor throughout—soft, translucent edges dominate, with white paper intentionally showing through pale washes to preserve luminosity. The minaret's ornamental details are rendered with drier brushwork and more defined edges than surrounding buildings, creating emphasis without rigidity. Buildings in the middle distance dissolve into lost edges where pale walls meet pale sky, forcing atmospheric perspective to do the spatial work. Figures are suggested with loose, quick strokes rather than detailed rendering; the foreground laundry and ground plane show visible, unblended brushmarks that suggest texture without describing it precisely.

1. 01

   Composition and Spatial Structure

   Lightly pencil the major organizational lines: the terrace edge where the seated figures sit, the path receding through the center between buildings, the vertical emphasis of the minaret on the left, and the mountain ridge across the upper right. Mark the horizon line—it's relatively high, making the city feel expansive. This is fundamentally about capturing Tetuan's spatial layout as seen from above; get the perspective lines and proportional relationships right before tone.

2. 02

   Sky with Atmospheric Warmth

   Wet the entire sky area with clean water. Drop pale blue (ultramarine heavily diluted) at the top, transitioning downward to pale cream and warm yellow as the sky approaches the distant buildings and mountains. Work quickly while damp so colors merge softly. Add small birds as dark silhouettes—quick, gestural marks—while the sky is still slightly damp. Leave the minaret spire and its immediate surroundings as white paper.

3. 03

   Mountains and Atmospheric Distance

   While the sky layer is still damp, paint the distant mountain ridge using very pale alizarin crimson and ultramarine (extremely dilute—almost more water than pigment) to achieve soft dusty lavenders and peachy tones. Keep this nearly atmospheric; the distant city on the right should be even paler, pale yellow-ochre suggesting warmth without form. Use this haziness to create spatial recession across multiple planes.

4. 04

   Minaret Tower and Ornamental Details

   Paint the minaret body with rich warm brown (burnt sienna + red ochre). While damp, suggest geometric patterns and arches with slightly darker strokes (add ultramarine to the mix). Keep the minaret's shadows warm, not cool—maintain temperature consistency with the lit buildings around it. The crescent finial and spire can be left mostly white with just one or two dark accents. Avoid over-rendering; let some details exist as negative space against the pale background.

5. 05

   Middle-Ground Buildings and the Street

   Paint the flanking buildings with very pale cream washes, letting the paper show through significantly—these buildings read almost as the paper's value. Add soft warm shadows (burnt sienna + a touch of blue) under eaves and in doorways, especially on the left where the minaret casts cooler shadow. Paint the cistern or pool in the street center with soft blue-gray. This is where the street's busy life emerges: loose figures, suggested doorways, hints of the market garden, kept atmospheric rather than fussy.

6. 06

   Foreground Terrace, Figures, and Building

   Paint the terracotta building on the right foreground with warm orange-brown (red ochre + burnt sienna)—darker and more saturated than distant architecture. Add the two seated figures on the left as dark silhouettes anchoring the foreground against pale background. Paint hung laundry and fabrics with soft whites and pale creams (barely tinted), and add the figure in dark clothing as a warm accent. Keep the weathered ground plane understated—use soft warm grays (burnt sienna + ultramarine) for shadow and texture suggestion.

7. 07

   Atmospheric Depth and Final Accents

   Assess the atmospheric recession and haze: if the distance reads as sufficiently distant and soft, preserve it. Add final touches—a few figures for movement, clarify a doorway or two, perhaps the warmest yellow-green of the market garden if it reads as important. Reserve the most saturated darks for minaret patterns and silhouetted figures, not scattered throughout. If shadows feel too light, add one final subtle glaze in recessed areas under eaves and in doorways. The painting should read as a complete atmospheric moment—the specific light and humidity of an afternoon, the life happening below the vantage point.

• Overworking the minaret's ornamental patterns: these are suggested, not fully rendered. Too much precision makes it look stiff and overly architectural rather than capturing the visual impression from distance.
• Making the architecture too contrasty: the compressed value range is deliberate for atmospheric effect. Push shadows too dark or highlights too light, and you'll lose the hazy, unified-value quality that makes this feel like afternoon heat.
• Losing perspective recession by making distant buildings as detailed and saturated as foreground ones: keep the far medina pale, soft, and cool; reserve definition and warmth for middle-ground and foreground.
• Rendering foreground figures and ground textures with too much precision: these should remain sketchy and suggested to maintain the painting's fresh, spontaneous watercolor quality. Over-rendering competes with the architectural narrative.

beginner friendliness

value contrast

palette complexity

compositional simplicity

brushwork visibility