#240 'Mist, St Marks Square, Venice' 8x10"

I wasn't sure how I would tackle the mist but once I had found this great spot and mixed my colours, I really enjoyed it. 

Someone said to me to put colour notes down early on in a painting. Which I have been doing recently, especially in such a tonal painting like this one. I put a patch of the sky in next to the building to give me an idea whether I've pitched both of them right.

I've also been working on reducing the amount of tones I have in the painting down to around 4! Which seams very little compared to what is out there. But it helps with composition and making the painting work as a whole. Can you spot the approximate 4 tonal values in this painting?

The mist was quite thick to begin with and the moist atmosphere made my paints sticky and the pavement was wet as though it had been raining, which allowed for great reflections!

A couple of location shots

#239 'Sunset, the Grand Canal' 8x10"

I was going to get on the water bus and go to a St Marks Square for the sunset. But seeing the sparkle on the water and the colours I had to stop and paint.

A lot of places I paint on location I am on show, this one was odd as people were in a waiting room and I was painting in front of them! Plus when the boat turned up all the passengers and drivers were peering in having look at my painting. Which is alright once its nearly done and (hopefully) come together. But in the early stages I want to show out its not finished yet :-)

The colour of the sparkle? It's very hard to see it as it's so bright and dazzles your eyes. I look to see if its warm or cool. Generally later in the day or early morning its warmer and say middday it would be whiter paint.

#204 'View over Southsea Common' 21x30cm

This is a view from my Mums flat in Southsea - Portsmouth. I painted on the balcony, 7 floors up. The common grass area is already dry and burnt from the sun we've been having.  
The building is Southsea Castle (built in 1544) and the light house was built in the 1820's!  The building in the sea is called Spitbank Fort and the land on the horizon is the Isle of Wight.

Here is a pic of the painting on the balcony: