Learn How to Paint Toronto in Canada With Oils

Step-by-step Painting Instruction on Urban Landscape Art

Jul 26, 2009

A modern city landscape painting complements a limited palette and offers geometric shapes for the artist to explore. Here's how to complete the painting.

The composition for the painting had been amalgamated from several photographs from travel brochures and magazines. Using a combination of source material creates an original composition for the artist to explore when painting from a photo without having to travel to a faraway place.

Oil Painting Techniques on Using a Limited Palette

The geometric shapes of the buildings echo one another, as does the monochromatic colours. In order to create mood, a limited palette of a mere three colours and white have been used. To add contrast, a dramatic sky adds a focal point to the otherwise orderly shapes within the cityscape below.

Paint Techniques for Oil Colours

A smooth painting surface had been prepared from sanded and primed MDF. A thin glaze of pthalo blue imprimitura had been applied prior to the drawing. The imprimitura sets the mood via an underlying colour to the painting and also helps set the tones. Thinned oil paint can be used, but for a quick drying time, acrylic paint had been applied.

Oil Painting Materials

Oil Painting Tips on How to Paint Buildings

After working out the composition from several photographs of Toronto, the drawing was transferred onto the painting surface once the imprimitura had dried. In order to emphasise the sky, the buildings were placed near the bottom of the painting surface in order to create an interesting painting of an urban skyline. With a thin sable, the palest areas were applied first. This consisted of titanium and a little burnt sienna. In order to emulate the different creams on the buildings, varying amounts of burnt sienna were used in the mix (fig 1).

Adjusting the Tones

With the same sable, the mixture was darkened with the addition of more burnt sienna and a little pthalo blue. To add variation to the monochromatic colours and to darken them further, a little permanent rose was added here and there. Even with such a limited palette, lots of different kinds of darks can be achieved. With a soft, clean sable, the different tonal areas were knitted together (fig 2).

Painting in Monochrome

With the bristle brush, burnt sienna and a little pthalo blue were mixed and ladled onto the clouds around the buildings. More white was introduced to the cloud mixture further from the cloud base. With a clean sable, white and a little burnt sienna were applied to the cloud tops. Loose brushwork contrasts against the constrained detail of the buildings below (fig 3).

Sketching the Highlights to the Clouds

The two contrasting tones to the clouds were merged together by using mid tones of all three colours and white. Care was taken not to over mix the colours or the painting will loose its life. Finally, with a clean bristle brush, white and a little pthalo blue was applied to the blue sky (fig 4).

How to Paint Cities

With a mere three colours and white, an interesting monochromatic painting can be completed and is a useful exercise for those on a budget or those getting to know oil paint. In this case, certain colours dominate particular areas yet conform to the overall mood of the setting. Practicing a limited palette helps the artist to appreciate the other colours when used. The artist might like to explore three other colours.

The copyright of the article Learn How to Paint Toronto in Canada With Oils in Landscape Painting is owned by Rachel Wills. Permission to republish Learn How to Paint Toronto in Canada With Oils in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.