The Vienna City Hall

This is just a fragment of the ornate facade of the Vienna City Hall. Painted from a photograph from a vacation many years ago.

Luxor at night

We visited this temple a year ago in the evening. It was lit by projectors that made the color of the sandstone glow in warm hues.I expected the night picture to be a challenge, but it didn't turn out terribly bad.

Again in Nice

I wanted to do this one in as loose and free style as I can. I also wanted to make the colors and contrast in the foreground stronger. Both goals are partially achieved. Learning is a process and I fully enjoy it.The first one is 7.5 x 11 (19 x 28 cm) and the second one is tiny - only 5 x 7 (13 x 18 cm)

Street in Arles

Another cityscape after a photograph from last summer's vacation.

Chapel at Eygalières 2

This is a second attempt on the same subject. I wanted to make the chapel more prominent by bringing it closer and painting it in more vibrant colors.

Chapel at Eygalières

 This picturesque chapel is near the little Provencal village of Eygalières. And no, this isn't me there with the easel. There really was an artist painting on location when I visited.
As for the painting, as usual, there are things that turned out well and others that I do not like much, and would improve. Yet, it is a good picture with which to wish you Merry Christmas!

 This was the small sketch I made beforehand, to figure out the composition.

Street in Nice

I started this as a sketch on the back of a discarded picture. Wanted to do it in a very loose and free style. It started off well, but by the end I kept fussing and fiddling. Well, that's part of learning.
This is in the older part of Nice, where the streets are narrower, and the buildings have the typical local style.Painting these pictures brings back nice memories from last summer...

In Roussillon

Another street in the village of Roussillon. Strolling through the streets was pleasant in the morning, but by noon they were packed with tourists.

Gordes

Another provencal village perched on a hilltop. The houses here are not painted and have the natural color of the stone.

The village of Roussillon

A view of this picturesque village in Provence, perched on a hill, with all its houses painted in the hues of orange.

A street in Roussillon in color

The view from the previous tonal sketch, now in color. I struggled with the wall colors, which kept turning out too flat. This one is my second attempt and I like it a bit better, so I'm posting it.

Une rue à Roussillon

Roussillon is a picturesque village, perched on a hilltop in Provence. All its houses are painted in the nuances of orange, due to the ocher quarries located close by. Which, of course, means that I have to do this picture in color.

Alps in color

This is the landscape of the second tonal sketch from before, now in color. I am quite happy with the way it  turned out. A perfect place to end my alpine series. It is snowing outside and maybe I should turn to painting warmer places....

Below Eiger 2

This is a second attempt of this landscape... not substantially different from the first one.

Alps - tonal sketches

Two tonal sketches of Alpine landscapes. The first I tried painting a few days ago, and may attempt again. The second is a really nice composition. I thought this would be a good exercise for me as I  keep having trouble with the color values.
For the first one I tried mixing Payne's gray with raw sienna, to make the color warmer.  It turned out that the raw sienna sediments and comes out much stronger in the darker shades. Not a good combination of pigments.In the second one I used just Payne's gray.

Just washes...

Today I came across a blog, created by several watercolorists, called "One hundred washes". They took on a challenge to paint a hundred washes each, thus experimenting with different techniques and learning along the way. Browsing through the posts in that blog was absolutely liberating for me. I couldn't wait to get to my paints. And, as I didn't have much time this evening anyway, this was a perfect project. The idea is to let the paints mix on the paper in a seemingly random fashion, yet trying to control the outcome.
Here are the results

Fire crackle

Simply sea

Fond of sunsets

Below the Eiger

Hiking trails below the Eiger in the Bernese Oberland