In Which I Ignore the Zoom Group Art Choices

 As I believe I've explained here before, but for the benefit of any imaginary new reader out there or just old forgetful readers, I do three virtual art sessions a week via Zoom with four friends.  On Wed/Fri we choose a photo to work from, and on Mondays we can work on whatever project we like.

About a month ago, for the Monday project, I decided to do something that would take more than one Monday -- a painting of Aziraphale's bookshop (yes, that would be Good Omens again).  I came across this pre-production photo, which had lots of fabulous details and wonderful lighting:

We never actually see this view in the series itself, as some furniture was changed or moved around, and that gorgeous staircase top was never shown.  (We've been promised a view of the upstairs in the upcoming second series, so maybe it will turn up then.)  

I decided to use Strathmore mixed-media tanned paper, as it had worked well for an earlier piece I did of the bookshop -- this one, in fact:

Well, as things turned out, the toned paper wasn't really necessary, as I wound up covering every single inch of it.  But I enjoyed working on it, as it has the smoothness needed for fine detail work, with just barely enough of a surface texture to allow for some watercolor blending.  

I started with a simple pencil sketch to place the basic objects, and put in a few details in brown ink.  And then I used white gouache to add highlights, and watercolors for the rest of this very complex picture.

Here you can see the start of those details, and the simpler sketch:

The piece is 8" x 10".  I used VERY VERY small brushes to get the fine details, especially in the staircase top and railing, and for the books.  (Most of the books are about 1/16" wide!)  This is the smallest brush I used (Princeton Velvetouch 5/0 Spotter):

I wound up enjoying the process so much that when the Wed/Fri group sessions came around, I often ignored whatever picture the others chose to work on, and just kept painting away on the bookshop.  And I worked on Tue/Thu/Sat/Sun too!

Most days I could only handle about an hour of painting.  I had to enlarge the original photo 300-400% to see the fine details, and would work on one or two square inches at a time, and go bug-eyed after a while.  Also, the tiny brush can't hold much paint -- perhaps 1-2 strokes -- so I was constantly reloading it.  It was quite slow-going!  

It all took a month to complete, and I love the results:

Now I don't have a Monday project...hm...I wonder if there are other photos of the bookshop that would be fun to do?   

Wait and see!