Fabulous day, blue sky over Bakery

At lunch hour I got down to my favorite place to buy bread and a sandwich on Harley street, its the Snowdon Bakery. For what felt like forever we have had grey, cold and rainy weather until today it was a fabulous blue sky with warm sun. Even with the chilly wind I could paint without gloves or salt in the water. Although the bakery is long and single story, I composed the scene on the vertical to emphasize the amazing tree in the background that dominates the skyline. Its the same tree seen behind Rafi auto at the end of the street. Harley street in Westhaven neighborhood has been a treasure trove of art subjects including the famous diamonds and truffles I wrote about in that blog. It would have been nice to do more but there were several things going on in the office, and then I went out briefly after work with some colleagues to celebrate the grant successes.  

Blue sky over Bakery, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2025

painting notes to on tree:

the light branches are yellow ochre (PY43) with orange (PO62). 

the medium value branches are the previous mix, with burnt umber (PBr7) added to it

the dark branches (shadow) are the previous mix with indo blue (PB60) and violet (PV55) added to it

To paint, start the light branches with the number 6 round brush, add the darker and shadow branches. Switch to rigger brush, repeat with smaller brush strokes towards the outer edges of the tree. Follow observed patterns of branches. Make sure the sky-blue, which is applied before painting the tree, is middle value (has to be between the value of the light and medium values of the branches). The yellow ochre is thick enough to sit on the blue wash. Blue wash needs to be dry.