The Making of the Painting Rue de l’Abreuvoir Paris
Rue de l’Abreuvoir Paris was an enjoyable piece to paint. I had just finished doing the large 4 feet by 6 feet Winter Salt Lake City Temple painting so I wasn’t used to working on smaller canvases. This painting, a 24 x 24-inch painting is exactly 1/6 the size of the last. Needless to say, it was enjoyable to be able to finish a painting much quicker because of the size.
This was a commission piece I had been asked to do by a couple who had traveled to this street and fell in love with it. I received a few photographs from them then searched and gathered a few photos from the internet that I thought provided good angles. From those photos, I then drew the outline of the buildings, street, and walls.
I started with painting the sky. Moving through with Titanium White, Mars Black, and Pthalo Blue to give it a nice warm blue look.
From there I basically started with the back buildings, the two towers in the background, and then worked my way forward to the nearest building on the left. I did a little detail on the buildings at this point but not all of it.
I moved over to the right side of the painting where I filled it in with trees and other vegetation coming over the wall. I did a couple layers in the back with a more faded dark green to give the feeling of distance, then did more tangible and bright colored leaves for the trees and plants that are more in the foreground.
After that, I moved to the walls and the road. Though they are all gray, with the direction of the brush strokes, and the different streaks of light and dark, I was able to produce the different parts with distinction and clarity. These gray parts are more of a shadow created by the trees on the walls, road, and bottom parts of the buildings.
I then went back to the buildings and added the plants and vines, another balcony, and vines along the walls.
I finished it off by lighting up the road and sidewalks, creating more streaks, and adding in the street lamps.
Overall, this was a fun painting to do. I love painting places because I know that they let the viewer really get lost in them. Since this is for someone who has been there, I know this painting will make them remember their time in this beautiful place.
If you have a place you have visited or even where you live that you would like painted, get in contact with me and we can work the details out!