Progress of my Canal Street Painting

Canal Street Trolley, NOLA

10" x 8" Watercolor



Above is the final painting. Below, you can see the progress as it is completed.

This is the progress of a painting I have been working on for the last few weeks. (In this busy world, I set aside Friday mornings to get together with some friends and paint. So, some paintings that could probably be finished in a day or two, take me a few weeks.)

In September, my husband and I vacationed in the city of New Orleans. What an amazing place. The history, architecture, music! My husband, a budding photographer, took his DSLR everywhere, and I have been helping him "process" the 2000 + photos using Lightroom and Photoshop. One of my favorite shots was a photo of the Canal Street Trolley in the distance. The sun was starting to set, and casting pink and gold glow on the buildings. The famous street lamps of New Orleans where just coming on, and the city was becoming more active after the daytime heat.

I decided to paint that scene.

I originally posted it on my Facebook page, here...www.facebook.com/KimMcCarronArtDesign

But to my shock, I found out that some of my friends (yes, people my age) still don't have a Facebook account! So, I was asked to post them on my blog too.

Perspective Sketch of the trolley, buildings and lamps. I used masking fluid to protect the light points.

After drawing this composition out, I made the mistake of starting with the lamp posts since they were such a prominent feature in this painting, So I am forced to work the background around them. Not an easy task in watercolors. the black/indigo keeps bleeding into what ever I paint around it. However, I just learned a cool "hack" around this dilemma. Carefully coat JUST the lampposts with Modge Podge! It will repel water and watercolor once it dries completely! HOWEVER once I did this, I can not CHANGE them, i.e. fade them out, or add additional color to them. Such is the price for not planning past the initial sketch!

I added the tops of the trees, and people getting off the trolley. I also underpainted the shadows of the storefronts on the right hand side.

More details to the trees, and storefronts on the right.

Next time I hope to finish up the left hand side buildings, cars and people. Stay tuned!
.... DONE... See the finished painting at the top of the post.