The next step for my painting was to add all the intricate details on the building, shadows, awnings, and give the building some texture. Although the original building was brick, I decided to make it stucco. There were actually two sources of light for this painting. The sun was rising to the right, which lit up the corner of the building and the edge of the lamp post. Plus there was a second source of reflected light from the other side, which lit up the front of the building and created shadows from the trim and awnings.

Now that the background was completed, I turned my attention to the objects in the foreground. First, I painted in the hanging lanterns and porch railings.

Following this step, I painted in a light wash on the lamp post. This is a perfect example of why you should paint light first with watercolors. It is extremely difficult to “erase” paint. Seeing the lamp post in blocks of color made me realize I made an error in the lamp dimensions. I was able to correct the angle and fix my drawing problem before there was too much paint on it.

Next, I worked on the street sign. I used a #00 brush to carefully and slowly paint in the letters. Throughout the painting I used only 4 brushes: a 2” wash brush for the sky, a #8 Round for large areas and to mix paint, and my #1 and #00 Round brushes for all the details.

After the Sacramento sign, I painted several layers on the lamp post to complete the painting. A few tweaks here and there and I was done. Here is the final painting, which I am calling Sacramento Street.

Sacramento Street