Escape to Art

I am continuing to practise by covering up some of my old paintings.  The painting I am covering today was from one of my art courses where we had to copy one of the Master's - I chose Van Gogh's room.  It was enjoyable getting the textures of wood and colours but it is in my paint over pile...

So I chose a photo from an amazing trip we took to Spain a few years ago.  As it is cold and snowing again, it felt like a good escape from reality and brought back some warm memories.

I did a very quick sketch and decided I wanted to widen the view and make the 'bridge' over the road wider and the amount of wall on the right, less.  

 My final painting is a bit too light and chalky (too much white in there) but I have areas I love - primarily the palm tree and the garden and shadows below.  I often find I like certain parts of a painting and perhaps parts I am not thrilled with.  But... it is always a learning experience so on to the next one!!  I may let this dry and try glazing some transparent blues or purple over the left hand side and the bridge building, so I have more mid- tones and less light tones going on.  I think it would make the lights POP out more.  If it goes well I will post it again, if not it goes in the paint over or campfire pile!

Updated - This is the glazed version, where I used a transparent Ultramarine Blue to darken the buildings that are not in full sun.  Not sure if it has helped, so I think this is in the paint over pile!