Things in Relation to Other Things

When drawing architecture, much like drawing anatomy, everything has its place. A knee needs to go where a knee goes. Trapezius needs to go where trapezius goes. Not putting it there gets you into trouble. This is the same with classical ornamentation and proportion. A cornice has its place.

This morning while painting, I noticed that the upper levels of the arched building weren't lining up correctly. I had begun to work on the large dark brown storefront on the right because the perspective is off, especially with the upper windows. But, how I work is to choose a general color to work over the whole painting, and today it was a general dark that would work with the brick and beige stone shadows.

I was happy to find many of my vertical lines are well placed. It was the diagonals, and not so much the angle, but the height. The entire wrought iron railing had to be lowered. The cornice was way too high, and I never realized there is another cornice above it, just below the railing. I was happy to figure this out, because when first working out the drawing, I felt that those details were better if they were more central. And its easier to fix it now than it would be later.

I used the dark color to define where the corner of the brick building is, and to show where the stones will line up. Then I drew in the new location of the cornice detail and the railing. I find working this way is efficient, both working out the drawing and creating a foundation for the paints to come. The majority of this will be repainted with thicker layers on top. It's like a paint-by-numbers cheat sheet.

The building on the far right is still a complete mess. The principle is to work the areas that are the least realized, always bringing the piece up, in step with itself. Here is the painting as it stands. A couple more sessions and I can start with the finish details!

Tell me about your painting process. What is your process. What things do you want to improve?