Demonstration

El Deir

If you paint in a loose style, it often does not matter about getting all the vertical lines in exactly the right places, or indeed making them completely vertical, but with a more traditional approach it is wise to ensure that the intervening distances and the verticality of uprights are reasonably accurate. For this I initially drew construction lines lightly with the aid of a set square. Because of the large amount of detail in the painting I used Saunders Waterford Hot-pressed paper, as the smoother surface helps to render detail more accurately.

Step 1

Once the drawing was complete, I laid on the sky wash with lavender, followed by Naples yellow on the building and part of the slopes.

Step 2

1 With a mixture of French ultramarine and a touch of the delightfully granulating hematite violet genuine the distant hills were rendered, and also on the hill above the gap formed by the vee on the left. This latter Daniel Smith colour is a dark reddish-brown, which is extremely useful for crags.

2 I also used a weak mixture of these colours for the smoke around the tree.

3 For the more prominent peaks and the urn a stronger element of hematite violet genuine was applied.

Step 3

1 Here the left-hand mountainside was painted with hematite violet genuine with touches of yellow ochre.

2 Working on the dried hillsides on the righthand side, the mountain detail was suggested with French ultramarine and hematite violet genuine with a No. 6 sable brush.

3 With the mountain face forming the background to the monastery I again used the hematite violet genuine, varying it in places with yellow ochre, while working around the prominent urn and the upper structures of the monastery.

Step 4

1 I now worked on the left-hand cliffs with French ultramarine and burnt umber, then the grey crag on the right to suggest detail in the rock.

2 With a weak mixture of French ultramarine and cadmium red I laid a glaze over the background and sky.

3 This stage was completed with details on the monastery façade, for which I used raw umber.

Step 5

1 With a soft natural sponge I softened the edges of the smoke then introduced cast shadows with French ultramarine and cadmium red.

2 Finally, I worked on the trunks of trees, boulders and foreground detail, mainly with a yellow ochre and cadmium red mix then painted the figures.

Here is the preliminary illustration showing a set square lined up with its bottom edge touching a hardly visible horizontal line to ensure all the uprights were consistent and vertical.

The finished painting El Deir, watercolour on Saunders Waterford 140lb Hot-Pressed paper, 12½x19in. (31x48cm)