How to paint a cityscape - A Labour of Love
The first time I painted a cityscape was a simple 7 x 8 inch canvas using acrylic paint. From a distance it looked okay but it wasn’t great, in my perfectionist opinion. Mind you, I had only been painting for about two months when I painted it. However, I always love a challenge and, having been inspired by my recent trip to New York, decided to have another go. Of course, being me I couldn’t keep it simple and decided to “go large”! And complicated! I never paint from photographs so this was going to be quite a task and I really didn’t know what the end result was going to look like. In essence, I would be as surprised as everyone else when it was finally completed.
My first attempt at painting a cityscape - 2 months after picking up a brush
My first step was to prepare the canvas and I knew that I wanted to create another night time scene but with a greater focus on the illuminated buildings. Because of the scale of this painting I knew that there would have to be some fine detail in the buildings and that an abstract approach wasn’t really what I was looking for. So, the first step was to get the background in and an outline of the buildings.
Background and building outlines complete the first stages
once all of the major elements and buildings were added it was time to start adding the fine detail and this painting was going to be all about the lighting during the night to give that iconic cityscape look. This part took an awful lot of patience and time!
The impression of the city lights beginning to take shape, layer by layer
Once the city lights were added, which was a real labour of love as each light needed to be added carefully and in several layers to get the effect I was after, it was time to move on to the foreground. I knew that I wanted to have a waterfront with the buildings gently reflected off the surface. It turned out to be a lot harder than I imagined and it took many attempts before I could crack it. I lost count how many times the Gesso undercoat was applied to effectively erase my unsuccessful efforts.
City lights almost completed and then onto the foreground reflections - a major challenge!
In the end, and after a great many attempts, I finally managed to get the reflections just about how I wanted them. If I’m really honest, I think they could have been better but I was up against a deadline to ensure this piece was finished in time for Christmas but overall I’m pleased with the outcome. This one is being given away as a gift but I think I will have another go as, despite the frustration and challenges, this was a lot of fun to create. So, here it is, the final finished painting. If you’re interesting in getting one for yourself I will be selling prints via my store at Etsy.
The finished painting complete with reflections.
