San Francisco Building by Kathleen Godshall

From the Artist: I photographed this building while I was visiting a friend in San Francisco in July for her daughter's wedding. I enjoyed seeing the interesting old buildings; mostly so well maintained and beautifully painted. I'm glad I chose to use pencils, as I don't have a clue how I would have handled all those curves and angles in watercolor!

From the Painting Guide: To do this in watercolor you'd need a very steady hand, a thin brush with a fine point, and lots of patience waiting for paint to dry so you didn't get any line of paint bleeding into another one.

I would probably mess it up myself on the patience aspect! I think the detail is fabulous (and the kitty in the window!).

Things to Consider When Looking at This Painting:
Composition: I really like the composition of this, starting with the positioning so that half the space is calm (the sky) to balance out the busy building. The strong dark line at the roof's edge and the firm vertical on the right-hand side lead the eye along and across the painting, and anchor the detail.

The angle fits this project perfectly -- it takes a section of a building that we tend to glance up at, but rarely study. We don't need to see any more of the building to recognize it as such, instead we're able to take in the detail and enjoy the beauty.

Color: Just look at the golds in the building's details, and the blues in the blinds! I think it's glorious! Using colored pencil is a bit like watercolor -- it's easy to get wishy-washy colors that are dissatisfying, but with a little bit of technique (see Colored Pencil Basics from About.com's Drawing Guide) you can get strong, saturated, vibrant colors that zing, as in this artwork.