Special Edition! Creating "Umbrellas by the Sea"

Vernazza, Italy, under the warm glow of dancing yellow umbrellas ... sipping liquid grapes ... breathing in the gentle caress of a sea breeze ... this is one of the many reasons why I know that life is a gift to be gratefully treasured, especially when it is shared on the 25th anniversary of marrying my best friend :)   This is a scene that took me five years to decide how to capture, but once I got started I couldn't wait to complete my vision.

 I knew that I wanted a large canvas because Vernazza is nestled in the embrace of a very high ridge overlooking the expanse of the Mediterranean Sea.  I chose an 18x36 canvas (big for me!) and then cropped the image to emphasize what I loved most -- the large sunlit yellow umbrellas.

I started by sketching the basic placement of shapes with a fair amount of accuracy.  I used a pastel pencil because it was easy to make changes, if needed.

 

 Once I was satisfied with the placement, I "sketched" with paint and let it dry so that I could paint over it with transparent paints without disturbing my road map.

  Since the umbrellas were what I was most excited about, I started with my favorite part (dessert first, right?)  I painted the whole area with transparent indian yellow (using an oil medium called "Archival Lean") and then laid on opaque paints quickly so that the underpaint was wet enough to be picked up where I wanted it to be.

 This next part was fun because it made the umbrellas really start to "pop" with the complimentary colors.  I laid in transparent ultramarine blue for the mid-ground church and, again, quickly painted opaque colors before the underlayer dried.

The fun continued in similar manner...

At this point, I needed to make a decision.  The photograph blocked the background hills because of mid-sized trees that had been planted along the marina edge.  But, this being Vernazza, I really wanted to capture the sense of being small in a large place.  So I chose to look through the trees and imagine the steep hill that lay behind.  This was not easy!  You will see that it took several iterations.

My challenge with the next portion of this painting was to make it lively without breaking up the simplicity of the overall "values" I had planned (squint at the final painting image and hopefully you'll see what I mean).  I also didn't want to paint every single chair leg and table top because I know that less is often more since it allows the imagination to create far better stories than the paint brush is able to.

I knew I wanted to work more on the background hill, but it would be easier to judge what needed to be done after painting the foreground.

At this point I had covered the canvas, but I knew that several areas needed a bit more attention...

 

On my final pass, I created depth and interest in the background, adjusted the boats and water, added texture to the potted bushes, and worked on a few shadow and light nuances.  This painting is currently hanging at the Waverly Artists Group and looks great next to its companions, Ready for Limoncello and Fruit of the Vine!

Umbrellas by the Sea, available

18x36 oil

(here's the photo again, just for fun comparison)