Saturday 26 March 2011

Terracotta Rooftops

20x26cms

This is part of a Sicilian town clinging to the hillside. What really attracted me to the scene was seeing all the rooftops from above and all the old fashioned terracotta tiles.  If  ever I was going to build a house I would have to use some of those!
I started with watercolour, letting the colours bleed into each other, then I used coloured pencil for the details.  I used Canson Aquarelle paper, which is the best I've found so far that suits both medias...but the search is still on for the perfect paper!

22 comments:

Shirley said...

I LOVE rooftops in general as a subject for art - and yours are gorgeous!!

Sandy in Michigan said...

The colors are so warm and inviting! I love your rooftop sketch and I'm looking forward to seeing more of your watercolor/colored pencil experiments.

Dan Kent said...

Absolutely beautiful. Neat how you started with the watercolors. Love the composition.

Timaree said...

Beautiful painting. I can feel the sunny warmth of this village.

Anonymous said...

Such a complicated subject - and what a beautiful composition!

Anonymous said...

I love this - I want to come and stay in one of those lovely houses!!

Unknown said...

Nice drawing. It captures the essence of Italian villages so well!

Unknown said...

Gorgeous - I love all the soft colors. And the combination of media gives a great detailed-but-not-fussy feeling.

Sarah Melling said...

Yummy soft texture you've achieved with the watercolor and pencils...seems perfect for the stucco walls and tile roofs. Gosh, you live in such a beautiful place!!

Pat said...

Great rendition of rooftops and houses! xx

debra morris said...

Lovely rooftops Cathy, wish we had such beautiful houses here

martinepittet said...

Wonderful result, Cathy! It's lovely to see the watercolours blended under the pencil work !

Anonymous said...

Well this definitely works! I like the soft watercolours with the definition that the pencil provides - great technique.
Sue

jenna said...

The details in this are really beautiful - the free edges of the watercolor combined with the pencils' precision really works out nicely.

I loooooove those rooftops. If I ever buy a house, I'll probably slap a terracotta rooftop on it, regardless of where the house is.

Sandra said...

Just wonderful!

Unknown said...

Your work makes it seem like you're an old pro at the watercolor/cp techniques! Wonderful page and I love the rooftops you sketched. Our rooftops tend to be blah; the interesting ones are hard to find! Wonderful page!

Unknown said...

Blimey Cathy, this is wonderful. It makes me wish I was there. These drawings go far beyond sketching, they are beautiful paintings.

Stew.

Barbara B said...

Cathy, these are really nice. The combination of watercolor and pencils worked really well to give a fluid look as well as the details.

Ellen Burkett said...

Oh so beautiful! I've been working on a building for a while. Can't hold a candle to this!

Gillian Mowbray said...

I can't keep up with your prolific output, Cathy. This really jumps out at me - very special. x

Alex said...

Love it! =) Beautifully captured

Lucia B. said...

I love these terra cotta roofs, they are familiar to me as also here in Tuscany most of the roofs are made of tiles made with terra cotta coming from Impruneta, near Florence, famous for its furnaces. I like also the composition of this painting, and the harmony of colours, really beautiful!