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Staithes
Step 1

 

This is the beautiful village of Staithes, just one of the many beautiful little villages we have on the North East, as you can see from the first image, I have a very simple outline drawing, followed by my skywash. For this I pre wet my entire sky area using my large 1.5” wash brush then a little bit of yellow ochre in the bottom of the sky followed by cobalt blue from the top all the way through. Simply wash out my brush squeeze out and take out some clouds.

Now into my cobalt blue, I dropped a tiny touch of alizarin crimson and put in some cloud shadow. 

Step 2


Once the skywash had dried its time for the headland coming out, it looks rather complex, but it was all done very quickly while it was still wet. I pre wet the headland area using my ¾” wash brush.  For the rocky bits first, I dropped in some very weak yellow ochre, followed by a touch of raw umber and then a pin head of light red. Let all of these colours spread around. Then again whilst still wet I put some yellow ochre in the grassy areas followed by yellow ochre and hookers green mixed, again let all these colour merge together and then let it dry.

Its time for the shadow colour which is cobalt blue alizarin crimson and burnt sienna. Mainly cast a shadow where the grass meets the rocky bits and then spread it downwards slightly with a damp brush.

You will notice at this stage that I have masked off the little people on the rocks. This was just masking fluid that has a touch of blue in it to show you where you have put it.  For the buildings I blocked them all in first of all firstly with raw umber mixed with the Charles Evans Sand for the right hand building. Then Charles Evans Sand mixed with a tiny touch of burnt sienna for the other two buildings. Notice that I have left the side of the middle building white. In reality it is white which is just perfect for casting a shadow.

The roofs on the buildings were don’t with burnt sienna and the darker ones are burnt sienna with a touch of raw umber in All of this was done with my No 8 round brush.

Still with the same brush, I painted in the windows using a mixture of cobalt blue with a tiny touch of burnt sienna. Notice I have left some white edges around the window frames.
Step 3
 

Now for the detail on the buildings. For the impression of stone work again with my No 8 round brush I use raw umber mixed with a touch of burnt sienna. Just give the impression of a few stones, don’t do to many, other wise you end up with a house with chicken pox, less is best.

For the shadow on the buildings, I use that same old shadow mix cobalt blue, alizarin crimson and burnt sienna, remembering that the light is coming from the right, cast a nice strong shadow within the window frames and underneath the overhang from the roof.

Also look at the shadow I have cast on the white bit of the middle building and diagonally across the big building on the right, this suggests another building out of shot.

Step 4

For the water I use the Charles Evans Mediterranean Sea, yes I know we are not in the Mediterranean but it was a lovely sunny day and it matched the colour of the sky. Put the first wash on fairly weakly leaving a few white bits to suggest waves, then once has had dried go over with the same colour slightly stronger just here and there.
 
Step 5

For all the walls underneath the building, I pre wet the whole lot. Then  with my No 8 round brush put in some raw umber here and there, bits of light red here and there, then some hookers green with burnt sienna mixed in the bottom areas to suggest a bit of moss. Let all of this merger and run together before using raw umber and burnt sienna mixed to suggest stone work again.

Here and there put the dreaded shadow mix again but again think about what is casting shadow on what, like one bit of wall casts a shadow on the bit of wall next to it.

Now its looks like I've done a big bit here, that’s because I have. Firstly I did the people, rub off the masking fluid with your finger, now paint them in with your No 3 rigger. To be honest, you can paint them any colour you want, it depends on what colour clothing you want them to be wearing. But for any flesh tone the easiest was to get flesh is Charles Evans Sand with a tiny touch of light red. 

Step 6

For the rocks that the people are standing on I firstly dropped in yellow ochre followed by raw umber and then a little bit of black which is ultra marine blue and burnt sienna mixed. Don’t make too much of these rocks because they are a long way away.   For the big bit in the foreground I pre wet the whole area with my ¾” wash brush and put quite a lot of Charles Evans Sand in followed by bits of yellow ochre, light red and raw umber. Let all the colours run and merge, then with a damp brush stroke down some diagonal strokes to give a bit of shape to the beach.

For that big clump of rocks in the middle distance, whilst all of these colours are still wet I simply scraped in the shapes with my credit card. The best card for this of course is the Northern Rock card.

 

Step 7

In the final image you will see that I have added some big shadows in the foreground again to suggest some building out of shot which to be honest isn’t there but its called artistic license and it makes the picture. A few bits of weaker shadow colour here and there in the beach itself. All of this was done with the same shadow colour and my ¾” wash brush. And there we go a lovely day at Staithes, and if you haven’t been to these places we live the beautiful most diverse area in the country so get out there and paint it.
 

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