Bath views from Alexandra Park

I have been living in Bath for almost 10 years, and still, I only discovered a few days ago one of the best view point of the city. This is the view from Alexandra Park which is only 5 minutes drive from my house. The scenery is just breathtaking. I painted this a week ago on a sunny afternoon and found it really inspiring. I surely will be back soon!

Bath views from Alexandra Park - April afternoon  10"x12"  oil on board

My set up before I started painting

Detail

Here are below a few stages of the painting. As you can see, the sky and light is constantly changing which means some buildings are sometimes in the shade, sometimes in the sun. The tricky part is to make a decision about which part you want to keep sunny/in the shadow, and stick to it, otherwise you would spend your time painting over it again and again and end up with a big mess!

Talking about mess, look below at my first stage of the painting...

Stage 1 - blocking in the background

Stage 2 - starting to add the buildings and greens

Stage 3 - posing while someone takes my picture and pretending I'm painting and haven't noticed them

Stage 4 - adding highlights and contrasts

Detail

My next post will be about my forthcoming show in Bradford on Avon (2-4 May) at the West Barn, so watch this space for more info!