Capturing the Charm of Florence: A Watercolor Guide to Iconic Architecture

1. Introduction: Welcome to capturing the charm of Florence, a watercolor guide to iconic architecture. My name is Mona, and I'm a visual artist living in Italy. With years of experience in creating and teaching art, I specialize in capturing everyday moments and scenes with vibrant watercolors. In this class, we'll dive into creating a vibrant watercolor painting of Florence's iconic rooftops and the cathedral Duomo. We focus on essential watercolor techniques like layering, blending, and adding architectural details that capture the warmth and beauty of Florence. This course is designed for beginners and intermediate artists looking to elevate their skills while painting a stunning cityscape. By the end of this class, you'll have a beautiful piece of art that showcases the charm and unique character of Florence ready to share with friends or display in your space. Your project for this class is to create your own watercolor painting of Florence's Skyline and share it in the project gallery. I can't wait to see how you capture the city's magic with your own creative touch. Join me, and let's bring a piece of Italy into your watercolor sketchbook. 2. What we will do: In this course, you will learn how to paint an architectural landscape, capturing the charm of Florence with watercolor techniques that bring out the warmth of the terracotta roofs and the iconic cathedral dome, Hildomo of Florence and the Bell Tower. It's important to pay attention to the details, but not too much because we are going to paint the details, but we are not going to focus too much on the details. Your project is to create a watercolor painting of Florence's rooftops and Cathedral focusing on color harmony, architectural details, and also the skyblnding. 3. The sketch: Start with sketching the composition. We need to start with the cathedral dome Il Domo, placing it off center, as you can see in the reference photo to create a visually nice composition. And then lightly sketch the main shape of the bell tower and the rooftops and little houses. Keep your lines loose and simple and try to avoid too much detail. The focus should be on capturing the basic shapes and the proportions, not on overdoing the details. And pay attention also to the layers of the rooftops, which can create depth in our scene. 4. The sky: Going to paint the sky using the wet and wet technique. I begin by wetting the sky area with clean water and using a large flat brush. I'm going to just wet the sky area and try to avoid the buildings. After wetting the whole area of the sky, I'm going to use a blue colour, a cold blue, and I'm going to create a gradient with that color. This helps the watercolor paint blend smoothly. Perfect. After wetting all my sky area, I'm using a larger, a large round brush, and I'm mixing a cobalt blue with ultramarine blue, and we'll start from the top of the sky area and gently apply the color, the blue wash. First to the top and then moving downwards, so it gradually fades as it approaches the buildings and the rooftops. If I go a little bit over the domo the dome, it's okay because anyway, the color is darker and I'm going to cover it later with the dark color. I continue with this blue wash covering the whole area of the sky. The gradient technique helps me to have a more realistic sky. If I feel like I need to make it a little bit darker, I can add some more of my mix of blue colours, blue cobalt and blue ultramarine. And while it's wet, I add it to the top of the painting and then blend it downwards. Okay. 5. The base wash: I'm waiting for the sky to dry, I'm going to add the base color for the buildings. I'm going to use a medium wash in number nine and mix a light wash of burnt sienna with yellow oak. But as you see, the wash needs to be really light. And then I'm going to apply this wash to the whole area of the buildings. So each house is painted with this light wash, and some areas I can live a little bit lighter and some areas, I can look at the reference photo and maybe use a darker color. The only parts that I'm not covering is the Domo, the dome and the bell tower because they have a lighter color. So at this stage, I'm avoiding the rooftops because they are the darker parts, and I'm going to paint them later. 6. The base wash for the Cathedral and the Bell Tower: Peace color for the bell tower and the dome, basically the white parts. What I'm going to do is to paint only the areas that aren't directly hit by the light. So only these parts on the left that are in the shadow. I mix a little bit of cobalt blue with my gray, just a tiny bit of gray. But this color needs to be very diluted because I don't want it to be too dark, so I add as much water as I can. And this color is going to be used for the subtle shading on the white surface of the dome and the bell tower. So as you can see, the color is very diluted. And this color is for the parts of the dome that I can see the shadows. Try to keep this layer extremely light because it just needs to give the illusion of the shadow. So wherever you see on the dome, the shadow, you can put this light over there. Also, this part, I can add also on the bell tower. I'm just focusing on the shadows you can see here on the bell tower. I'm only putting the shadows with a very fine brush. Let's also do this window and a little bit of these details here. Okay. So paint only these areas that aren't directly hit by the light. This will show the highlights and gives a three dimensional look to the painting. As you can see here, I have a warmer color, which I can use the same color I used for the paintings, a mix of yellow and Bensena. Also here I'm using a light wash and continue on this part while it's a bit wet. It can blend into the other color and it's fine. Let's allow this to dry before adding the next colors. 7. Base color for the Dome: Mix, rich, warm, earthy color, kind of red brown color for the rooftop of the dome. The same color I used for the houses for the basewh, but I'm going to make it a little bit warmer by adding more of burnt sienna. A touch of yellow oak. And to this color, I'm going to add cadmium red. You want a warm tone that resembles this terracotta color of the Domo. Okay, now begin by applying an even wash over the dome area starting by this first part. That is the lighter. And then blend it as it's the lightest part where the light hits, it needs to be more blended and less intense. Then continue by applying another wash to the next part following its shape, but paying also attention to leave these white areas. Try to keep the layer light and avoid details. And continue. These two parts need to be darker. That's why I'm adding more of this cadmium red and a hint of burnt umber to this so that it becomes a little bit darker for this part. Especially this bottom part, which you can see is darker. And here is my darkest part of the dome. Pay attention not to cover these white parts because we need them. Okay. I can darken a little bit also this bottom part here for a three dimensional effect and then blend it to what I had before and a little bit also here. I'm using the same color also for this part of the bell tower. You see there is this small triangle which has the terracotta color. It 8. The rooftops: Now for the rooftops, I'm going to use the same red brown mixture that I used for the Domo, Berzena with a hint of cadmium red and a hint of yellow oak for the rooftops. But what I'm going to do is to vary the intensity slightly on different roofs so that I can create visual interest. I don't want them to be all the same. I try to vary the inset intensity of the wash. Looking carefully at the reference photo, I try to see where I have. Oh, this is one part of the dome that I had missed these little round shapes. And then I try to see where these rooftops are looking at my reference photo and then applying the wash over them. For instance, here, as it seems that it's going a little bit under this other rooftop, I'm going to make it slightly darker adding a bit of burnt amber. Okay. I have also some terracotta here. And the layers need to be light. This layer of the rooftops needs to be light, but not as light as the base layer. I can apply directly here another color so that it varies from the other rooftop so that I can have different colors and different depths. Adding a little bit of yellow oak because this one I want it to be lighter. I use a lighter color and a lighter wash for this big rooftop, that is at the end of the picture here another rooftop. This one, I can see that it's a little bit more, let's say, reddish, so I can add some red cadmium red here. Let's do the same also here. And yes, the same thing I have. Also on this building, which I think is the um Signoria and a darker color for these other rooftop. Okay. So you see varying the colors makes it more realistic and it's more interesting for the painting to have different shades of the same color. I'm trying to figure out if there are any more left. Okay. So at this stage, I can allow it to dry and then add some little more details. 9. Shadows on the houses: See that some parts that are shaded need to be darker. The light is coming from this direction, so I need to leave these parts like this and then make the parts that are shaded a little bit darker. Mix, some yellow oak with some natural sienna. And let's see where I can apply this wash. For example, on this little house, I can see it needs to be darker. Same thing here. So by applying this darker color, the painting becomes more realistic and more depth is added to it. Okay. Here on this one, I can see the color is slightly different. It's more like orange maybe. And so I added more yellow oak to the mix I had. We this building here. Okay. More of Sienna. For this large building here and for this one, maybe I can also use a little bit of the gray color that I had used for Domo because I don't want the whole scene to be monocolor. Also, as you can see here, there's this building here which is kind of gray adding some blue cold blue and covering this area. Okay. Also for this building, I can use this light wash of gray. And cover this little house with this gray color. Okay. Also under this little dome, I have a shadow which I can apply using the same color. Also here. Adding some little um, a little bit of burnt umber to my mix. I want it to I want to make it darker. For this part. Okay. And then I saw that I had forgotten this rooftop here. I didn't get hint of red. To my mixture, I covered this part as well. Okay. Now, if the rooftop here, no, it's not dry. Let's allow it to dry and then I will add more details. 10. Adding details to the dome and the tower: While waiting for these houses and rooftops to dry, I'm going to add details to the tower and to the dome. Using this gray color, dis diluted gray color, adding to it some emerald com. Just the hint of emerald green not too much. I just want to make it a little bit darker and a little bit different from the base wash. Then with this color, I'm going to paint the details on the white part of the dome and the arches and the decorations. For example, on this maybe I need to change my brush for this little lines. This is the finest brush I have. It's 40. Adding a tiny line of this gray to add depth. Tiny light also this part. Now, I can also work on the top of the dome. Following the form, I see that the light is hitting from the right. No, I need to have dark color to add depth to the whole scene. Cadumw is golden folder growth on the top, and then I need to add some shadow later. Let's add a hint of purple to this color because I think I needed to be slightly darker. Now, there's shadow on the left of this part and the other one as well. I'm trying to emphasize more ideas shaded areas of the tome. I think at this point, it's better to darken also this area of the dome which is shaded. Using a burnt umber, you see there are some details here which I can add. What else? Some detail here and the lines and the round windows I can do at this point. As you can see, I'm emphasizing the architectural features of the dome, but I'm avoiding too much details because I want to keep the watercolor fill. But 11. Another layer on the houses: To add more shadows along the edges where maybe the rooftops overlap or where they cast shadows on each other or also maybe under the rooftops, under the roof overhangs. Using the same dark color that I used here for the windows of the dome, Burnsena and purple, and using a fine brush, I add a little bit of shadow under these roofs. Just a tiny line to suggest a shadow. I'm not going to overwork here. For instance, here on this one, I can see that the shadow is more present, so I make it like bigger here. Same thing I have. And this part. Oh, it seems like I forgot to paint this rooftop. No problem. I can edit now. It's never too late. Okay. Moving on with these shadows. Same thing here, I can see. I have these shadows and then other forms I can add at this stage. Here, I have a rooftop which is probably made of glass or solar plates, which is blue, so I'm using my mix of blue for this one, and then the shadow underline. Just follow the reference image to see where you have all of these shadows that you can add so that you have more of detail and more of depth. I see a slightly dark building here, which I can paint at this stage that everything else is already dry. This building also needs to be darker. So adding Ciena and a hint of burnt umber. I'm making this dark brown color, and I want to apply it to this building. And then after I let it dry, and then I need to add more details, it goes along until the bell tower here. Yeah. Okay. Okay, let's add some more details and some more shadows on the places that I can now see that I can work on a little bit. You see, I'm just hinting some forms and some, you know, dark colors. I don't I'm not going too much into the detail. For example, I have this window here. I'm going to show with this dark color with this light wash. But I'm not going too much into the detail. Okay. Maybe I just noticed that here also, I had a rooftop, which I forgot. So I'm connecting it to the one that was here before. 12. Adding details to the houses: Let's add some more details like, I don't know, the window frames or some other details that I can see. But as I was saying, keep these details minimal because we don't want to overwork and we want to avoid cluttering the painting. And use different colors in order to have a more realistic result. Okay. I'm just looking for some more details like these window frames, where there are shadows, they need to be darker obviously and where are light, they need to be lighter. Okay. I'm just trying to refine these rooftops. Let's see if I need to add some more adjustments here and there. I feel like I need to blend this line. And here I need to make an adjustment making these parts slightly darker. Same thing here. It feels like there's this terrace here. So the shadow under the rooftop and then I'm adding these window frames here and there. Okay. Now, you can see that there is more depth in my painting with these final touches. I now need to work some more on the Domo. Okay, here. A little bit of refining is needed on this building and maybe an arch for a window over there. So windows here and there. Maybe add a chimney here. So chimneys. You know, some details, but not too much. Here I'm going to add these lines to suggest the tiles, maybe. Okay. Um, I can also work there. On palazzocoT is Palazzo Vecchio. Let's see what I need to refine, maybe add some shadows and work on the architectural structure. And some shadows here. I see an arch. Okay. And, um, let's make this rooftop, a little bit more reddish. Some more windows here. And a little bit darker under this other rooftop. Okay. Now, what I want to do is to, um, refine a little bit more the dome. And yeah, that's it. 13. Adding details to the Dome: I need to use a darker tone for the left part of the dome. This is the color that I used for the rooftops and the dome. I'm adding a tiny bit of purple to it. Then I'm going to cover this shaded area, this dark part. Same thing here, and the shadow goes along this white line. But now I need to soften it and blend it. So I'm washing my brush and blending it. Okay. Just refining some more of the details that I can add on the dome which gives the painting a sense of depth and curvature here. Okay. Now, I also need to add a mix a dark color for the windows of the dome, windows I have here. Burnt tumber purple, and a little bit of my dark gray so that I can have a darker mixed of gray here. And I need to put a tiny dot inside also for this one. Here, it needs to be darker. And some peer. Okay. Now, with the dark color that I used for some parts of the painting, I want to add more details in order to add more depth to the dome. I'm adding some emerald green to this color. So I need to have this rounded shape around these windows and a little bit of decoration that I have over there. Same thing here. So round shape around this window. And here, how about some shadow also under these curves. So this way I can create more curvature here. So you see the light is coming from there, so I need to have more depth also on these little domes. Then I soften the shadow by blending it. Okay. So more. Actually, I can change my brush and use this super fine one because here I can see the details are really, really fine. Same thing on the bell tower. So I try to highlight the windows and details and add like tiny shadows around these details to have a more three dimensional look. Here, obviously, I need to refine and add more shadow. Okay. I think I need a more intense color for some of these details. So adding a little bit of pigment. Okay. You see the shadows help my painting to be a lot more realistic and three dimensional. Okay. So more details also to the palazzo vecu here. You know, like, under the roof and like some shadows. And some more shadows here. Let's see if I missed any window or any more details I can add at this stage. Yeah, just adding some details, some windows, chimneys. I don't know. 14. Final touches: Now, at this stage, for the final adjustments, step back and assess the painting. See if you need to adjust any colors or if you see any color that you think that needs to be strengthened a little bit or details that require refining. For example, I feel like I need to strengthen the color of this rooftop. It's a little bit pale. So I add another layer to it. Yeah, but this stage is important to notice that you don't want to add too much details and overwork a lot and add so many layers, because you don't want to overwork your painting. Just have a look, step back, look it from another angle and see if there's anything you need to do. Just some colors for my painting need to be, you know, it's some strengthening. And if you feel like you need to add final touches to balance out the composition and enhance depth, you can do it at this stage. For instance, here, I feel like if I darken this area, I can add more depth. Maybe some details for this one. Looking carefully at the painting, I realized that, in order to enhance the depth, maybe it's not a bad idea also to put some blue colour on this area that is on the shade, there's the shadow, and then add some shadows for the chimneys. And maybe add some shadows or these windows here and there, under the rooftops. Yeah. But at this stage, I can say that um my painting is almost I wanted to say it's done, but then I realized that I'd like to add some more shadow also here. Little bit of detail of this chimney. Okay.