I’m really happy that I decided to sketch Baroque facades for this year’s 30×30 Direct Watercolour Challenge. It’s a subject that I love but one that is challenging as well.

My favourite way to sketch Baroque buildings is to start with paint but then switch to ink in order to accurately describe the intricate designs – the curved elements, the use of the classical orders (and whether they are pilasters or full/half /three-quarter columns ) and the stepping wall planes. (Above: Re-sharing some sketches from the last time I did some serious Italian Baroque sketching.)

As mentioned last week, these types of sketches (paint then ink then paint again) can be considered direct watercolour as I’m starting with paint without any guidelines. But I want my 30×30 sketches to be paint-only and totally ink-free. This means that I have to work out a way to describe the details.

Does this mean I have to use a finer brush than my usual 1/2 inch Dagger brush (Rosemary Series 772)? 
Does this mean that I have to work more wet or dry?

These are two of the questions that are going through my head as I start this challenge.

I’ve also decided that I want to research every building that I sketch!

I love to understand the design of these Baroque facades and so it’s been really satisfying to get out my three favourite books on the subject in addition to my own photo album/book that I created in 2004 (you can see some sample pages here).

BTW these books are specialised architecture books – I’m only sharing these for other people who are seriously into architectural history and theory. They are not sketching-related books at all! 🙂

So you will see on my pages diagrams describing the design…

and also quotes – particularly from George (ie. George Sullivan from his book “Not Built in a Day”) who was my constant companion during my 2010 visit to Rome. (See Part 1, Part 2 and Part3 for my sketches from that trip – lots of George quotes in Part 2 and 3 when I was solo.)

I’m absolutely loving the research process but it’s actually making it hard to paint loosely in watercolour as I’m more invested in describing the details. Also, the research is taking longer to do than the sketch itself  so this might become a time challenge as I get busier this month!

Anyway… these are my initial thoughts about doing the 30×30 challenge so far this year.

Here are the sketches of the individual buildings.

S. Susanna

S. Andrea della Velle

Acqua Paola

Acqua Felice

SS Luca e Martina

Ah! this is going to be a fun (and full-on) month!

If you are doing the 30×30 challenge… how’s it going?