Denver Victorian Watercolor Painting

Yesterday we had the first meeting of my Urban Sketchers Workshop and I did this painting in preparation for the class. We painted at a beautiful green belt in Denver that is lined with wonderful old victorians and we beat the heat by staying in the shade all day. I emphasized painting small so that each artist could finish 3 or 4 sketches and this painting is 5X7 inches. We talked about choosing what we considered most important and simplifying everything else and in this sketch I painted the second house as a simple dark shape so that the first victorian dominated the composition. Along with the watercolor, I used pencil and pen and ink and the dark reflections on the windows were added with black ink. I demonstrated once in the morning and once in the afternoon and then worked with the students individually for the rest of the time. At the end of the day we had a critique and looked at all the paintings. That is the most exciting time for me because I love seeing all the paintings and talking about what we learned. I am really looking forward to our second meeting next Sunday.