sunlit ruin and stormy sky

Painting a sunlit ruin and stormy sky in watercolour
Painting a sunlit ruin and stormy sky in watercolour

A couple of weeks ago I discovered a new abandoned town - Tiermas. This one is an old Roman town and had some beautiful medieval buildings, including a very large church. In the 1950s most of the town, the old Roman baths and all the orchards and arable land was flooded to make way for a reservoir. Everyone, except 2 of the inhabitants, moved on, with the remaining 2 staying until they died. It's a sad story for sure.

The part of the town that was on a hill still remains, and is quite extensive. But it certainly is very ruined! On the day I was there it was rainy and I had a number of false starts before sketching, plus a few trips back to the van to wait out showers then setting up again and continuing. It was rather funny, and also totally worthwhile, because the lighting was beautiful with the sunlight catching the stonework on the buildings and the dark stormy sky.

After I finished sketching, I took a million photos, and we're going to be working from one of those for this lesson.

Happy painting!

Find the full tutorial on Patreon or Renee's Studio - www.walden.co.nz/learn

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One of my all-time favourite paintings of a stormy day in a ruined Roman town in Spain.

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