Forged Downpour

I was inspired to paint scenes of the overlooked beauty one can discover in the spaces dominated by major landmarks. Instead of painting the Eiffel Tower, I wanted to focus on all the extraordinary detail found in an anonymous part of the French urban landscape.

This piece was done with a mixed media technique that includes a graphite pencil layer, majority watercolor, and highlights with gouache and pastel - made on Arches Cold Press Watercolor paper. To bring some nostalgia into the piece I wanted to mimic the effects of film lomography, where negatives are intentionally damaged to create a surface veneer of colorful texture. I achieved this with the top layer of gouache and pastel.