Trevi Fountain - Step 8

Most of my attention at this point is on the rocks, waterfall, and water. Water is usually best rendered with soft edges and this is a key part of this piece. The softness of the water contrasts nicely with the harder edges of the figures and achitecture in the background.

For the water in the foreground, I've added some little ripples. It's naturally choppy because of the splashing waterfalls, so no big waves, just lots of little ripples going every which way. A turqoise mixture of Cobalt with a bit of Winsor Green works well. I'll also take some of this color later and introduce hints of it in the figures and shadows for overall harmony.

I've further defined the rocks on the right side by adding some of the shadows. It's amazing how much more three-dimensional something looks once you begin to add the darks.

The job of defining the rocks under the waterfall is not quite so easy. In fact, it's a pain in the neck! I add gradually darker layers but I have to be very careful to keep the edges soft. Otherwise, the water will appear "cut out". Jagged edges (like in the last step) and outlines that are not fully defined are the key to making the rocks seem like they are behind the falling water.

Trevi Fountain - Step 7

It's time to start sculpting the rocks and figures by adding some dark areas to give them form. It's the shadows that define the rocks and make them seem three-dimensional. Notice how I've tried to make the shadows visually interesting by fluctuating from warm to cool. At this point, I also wanted to put in my darkest area so that I could balance everything else according to that value. This usually helps keep me from being too light in other areas.



I'm still not completely sure how I'm going to tackle the falling water, so I tread lightly. The first step is to paint around the white parts of the water with the lightest version of the underlying color.

Now, this doesn't look much like water yet, so you have to be patient. All I'm doing here is starting to define the shapes underneath the water. You don't want the rocks to be very clear since you are seeing them through a wall of water. It's too difficult to paint soft, wet-into-wet edges here since I'm trying to paint around the white water, so I have to rely on jagged outlines to make the rocks appear to have soft, blurry edges (picture an impressionistic painting).

All in all, I'm pleased with how things are turning out so far, but I realize the most important and difficult parts of the painting are still to come.