Painting a Greek landscape , step by step

I have spent many holidays in Greece.  There is something so timeless and unspoiled about a Greek village nestling at the side of a turquoise sea. So painting these idyllic scenes is always a pleasure, as it brings back memories of such lovely sunny days.

I have painted this from a photograph. This is not as good as sitting painting from the real thing. However, sometimes this is the only way you can do it when time does not allow you to sit and paint on your visit. One day, I promise myself a proper painting holiday.... and yes, it probably would be in Greece.

This is the final painting, and how I did it follows.  I will put a larger picture of this at the end.

I worked from the following photograph. This is Vathy in Ithica. As you can see, my canvas is long and thin. Therefore I have taken a slice through this photo, top to bottom, to work with the canvas shape.  This enables me to get a bit of sky, mountain, background village, harbour and water all in one painting.

Those that are observant will see straight away that this is not an exact copy. Obviously I have used a little bit of artistic licence with colours, building shapes and proportions. Its not far off the original, but some details have been changed to suit my painting. Some things have been missed altogether. I knew I would spoil the whole thing if I attempted to put in a boat or people!!  

Anyway, here is how I did this painting, step by step.

Here is my initial drawing ( with boats at this stage!!  ) .  I never draw much detail, as I change everything with the paint, as I progress.

The next stage is to put in some basic background colours.  I use cheap acrylic paint for this stage, as all of it will get covered with detail later on. This stage just shows me what is what, and where it is!   In other words, defining edges of items.

Following this I work in another layer of colour, which starts to build definition and texture. I am still using basic quality acrylic paints. 

Next I start adding fine detail, and switch to better quality paints. I use a mixture of Chromacolour,  AV Vallejo Acrylic Gouache and Turner Acryl Gouache.  These are all liquid acrylic type paints, in small bottles. They have high density pigments, and can be built up in layers, as the paint dries quickly to a matte, waterproof finish. You can paint light on top of dark really easily with these paints.

I add architectural details to most of the buildings. I have started to work in to the water with small dabs of paint. I have worked in layers of light and shade on foliage.

My next stage is to really look carefully at small details on buildings. I add in the restaurant, on the harbour,  and  add in plants on balconies plus a bougainvillea plant.  I continue to build up layers of paint on the background and foliage throughout the painting.  I have emphasized the light coming from the left hand side over all the painting.

At last the finished painting!!  I have added deep pink flowers to the bougainvillea.  I have changed the top of the church. I have changed the sky to a plain deep blue ( as it often is in Greece! ). Also I hid the building in-front of the church with trees, as I really wasn't happy with it!!   I have added more yellowy green tones to brighten the whole thing up a bit, and put some lighter areas on the mountain.

I shall put this up for sale soon, and update the blog with details.