This  picturesque  village is set on the shores of the Étang de Thau, a large lagoon with openings to the Mediterranean at Marseillan, an ancient Roman port and Sete known as the ‘Venice of the Languedoc’. The area is known for its excellent oysters and mussels and you can enjoy a plateful with a glass of the local Picpoul de Penet at any of the simple restaurants along the shore front. Perfect!

STOP PRESS: There’s also now a video available on our YouTube channel which I’m sure will help the painting process. Here’s the link. Live in Lockdown: Bouzigues

 

Anyway, back to the tutorial..

This is the classic view of Bouzigues and, as usual, I started with a sketch of the scene. Not too detailed but sort of boxing the main shapes in. This is all about contrast. Strong sunlight and strong shadows. My kind of watercolour painting.

 

 

The next step (Stage 2) is to wet the sky area and wash in some sky tones with Cobalt blue and a touch of Pthalo blue. I actually dabbed the clouds out with tissue and softened the edges with a clean damp brush. Then wash in some Pthalo blue and some Hookers green to the water and, once dry, a wash of Naples yellow and dabs of Yellow ochre set the tone for the buildings. Leave some white paper here and there for sun blinds and lighter facades. Right. The scene is set.

From this point, I added more washes of Burnt sienna  to bring more drama into the scene. Layer by layer (see Stage 3 on main tutorial below)). Let this stage dry and then you’re free to add shadow areas and then trees. The stage here (Stage 4) showswashes of a mix of Magenta and Payne’s grey giving that warm Mediterranean shadows.

 

 

 

Here’s the full step by step tutorial. Let me know if you think it would be better to show each step with a large image. It would be great to see how you get on – please email me your paintings and I’ll get back to you with some positive feedback. Have fun..!