Alicante Spain, A Great Stroll

On the East coast of Spain lies two great cities Valencia and Alicante. I Spent time in both places on my backpacking and painting trip over 20 years ago. Most of the city is centered along the coast where there is a long beach, boardwalk, sailing club and other accoutrements. This scene shows a palm tree and some sailboats at a local Yacht club. To capture the palm tree, I created de-saturated greens greys and oranges using my convoluted painting strategy summarized here. The turquoise water would have been made with cerulean blue (PB35) and aureolin yellow (PY40).
 

Royal Regatta Yacht Club, Alicante Spain, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, Late June 1998 (No. 0902)

This could be on any beach in the Caribbean, but the water on the Mediterranean was much rougher and had navy blue and emerald green tints. There were not many people around as I recall. Technically this was a tough painting, the five supporting poles for the roof framed a highly textured-water effect in the background. The water was done with French ultramarine (PB29) and phthalo green (PG7).

 Playa del Postiguet, Drinks, Alicante Spain, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, Late June 1998 (No. 0901)

 

The boardwalk was a great place for a stroll, it was lined with benches and palm trees and great views of the beach on one side and the city on the other. Recently I used google earth to check out the location again, and it looked much the same. The interlocking brick colour is fascinating, I wonder how I mixed it? Probably alizarin crimson (PR83) with aureolin yellow and some green. It would be ten years until I started blogging regularly which is a shame. When I got back I sat down with Mom and Dad and told them all the stories. 

Paseo Explanada de Espanya, Alicante Spain, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, Late June 1998 (No. 0903)

 

Hiking up the mountain, which meant walking up a path beside the road, I made it to the prominent castle where I painted a beach scene looking down. This painting was done on top in the park areas around the castle. It looked like they were using the space for gatherings and festivities. The day I was there a lot of people were setting up chairs and catering. The stonework looked old, but the graffiti looked new. I added some myself, well, I signed my name on the wall in the painting. In the background were the rolling mountains, done with neutral mixtures of blue. I used to make that colour by creating purple first (PB29+ PB35+PR83) then adding some green (PG7). In retrospect I was making dark blue. But as I look at this painting, I like the colour variations in the distant mountains it looks like a mix of rock and trees.

Castle de San Fernando, Alicante Spain, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, Late June 1998 (No. 0900)