St. Peterhofstatt
8 October 2022
One morning, I walked through the lanes around the St. Peter church in Zürich because the art supply store was not yet open. The canopy with the verdigris roof and its columns caught my eye and I decided to stop and sketch it.
I used a watercolor post card, watercolors from Schmincke and a fine liner. For this drawing I chose the colors phthalo green (519), transparent Sienna (653), and pure yellow (216).
I knew from the start that mixing neutral colors, particularly a cool gray would be a challenge. When I set up to do some swatches I remembered a tip by Jens Hübner. He suggested to add the swatches to a sketch instead of hiding them. So you can find them to the left of the drawing.
Many times when I had to mix yet another gray, I was sorely temped to use add ultramarine blue to the palette. The grays I mixed just seemed too green or too brown when I tested them on a scrap piece of paper. I am glad I resisted. In the end I think they do look right next to the other colors in the sketch and they bath the scene in a warm light.