You’ll find many different approaches to painting onsite. I try to keep things simple and do most of the work in three steps. I am always interested in how light and its effect on color establish mood. From the very start, my goal is to create the feeling of “being there.”

Light changes quickly. One way to preserve the light is to create your layout, sketch, and final drawing in advance. This way you can be sure that you have as much time as possible onsite with “good” light. Whenever I paint anywhere, I make sure I know when sunset and sunrise occur and make a habit of being there to see them. This gives me the chance to take photographs and prepare sketches for an afternoon or evening painting session.

Step 1. Set the mood. In most paintings, after the first wash you’ll know quickly if you need to make adjustments or if you need to start again. Once you’ve practiced the graded and variegated washes and can achieve the results you want, you are ready to take the next step.

Beginning at the top with mixture A (Cobalt Blue, plus a hint of Burnt Sienna), create a graded wash moving from a warm blue to the warm orange of the horizon. Create this color—mixture B—in two strengths of Winsor Orange, Alizarin Crimson, and a hint of New Gamboge. When using the latter, it is easy to create a unbelievable sky, so go easy. Move down the paper, adding more mixture B. At the same time, watch the top and wait for the right moment to add some stronger cobalt wet-into-wet to add depth. Don’t be overly cautious as you move among the buildings with a nice mix of the orange and blue.

As you near the horizon, begin to paint around the light, not the objects in the scene—in other words, the areas of reflected light on car hoods and the like. These small areas of untouched paper are the parts that will pop later in the painting. As you pass among the cars, use water to lighten the wash and begin to create another graded wash of the orange and mixture C (Imperial Purple and Burnt Sienna). This gives the painting some strength toward the bottom.

Keep watching the water on the paper and the moisture content. Just as the sheen begins to fade, add mixture B with a bit more strength for the trees. Continue to drop in color and try to force a bloom here and there when underpainting the trees. Note how the green and purple-grays hint at foliage without having to think about the overall tree shape. As the wash dries, spritz it with water or spray water into your hands and flick clear water onto the paper for added texture. Allow the entire paper to dry to a cool touch, at which point you can begin working on the buildings.

Step 2. Create the big shapes by simplifying your subject: defining the keyhole(s), horizon, and major action lines. Carve them out using slightly darker (less viscous) versions of the previous mixtures. Don’t get too fussy with this step; retain the simplicity of the first wash and allow it to show through where you can. The same goes for the saved white areas.

First, use a very light cobalt mixture with some Burnt Sienna to make a very light gray for the Empire State Building, and then paint an adjacent graded wash to clear water through the foreground buildings as an underlayer, knowing that you will cover it with the next washes. Next, use a graded wash starting from clear water at the cars. Moving quickly into mixture C, create the crosswalk and deepen the foreground.

Now there are two areas of the painting that are actively drying. Move directly to the main buildings, while being careful not to drag your hand through the foreground. Use a variegated wash, moving from different strengths of the previous mixes, which begin to solidify the area of interest at street level. Use some Cadmium Red Light wet-into-wet, adding some color to awnings, street signs, and the like. It’s these pops of red along with the greens of the trees that begin to harmonize the lower area.

As you paint through the cars, move around some of the previous wash to define secondary highlights, and be careful not to paint over saved whites. The street is wet in this scene, so finish by using simple, elongated reflections, but don’t be too heavy handed. The more places you paint, the less light you have. It’s your job to protect that light.

TIP

The crosswalk in my painting does not follow the vanishing point. I’ve allowed myself some liberty here to create a graphic to aid in “grounding” the painting. This is a good lesson in learning where to let go.

Step 3. The most important lesson here is how to use value to create a sense of depth. Using mixture D (Alizarin Crimson with Cobalt Blue, and pure Burnt Sienna), and mixture E (a strong mix of Alizarin Crimson with Undersea Green), use variegated washes to define the action lines of the secondary (slightly darker) buildings in the distance and solidify the action line at the horizon—despite painting through the people and cars.

Now begin adding some Neutral Tint to some of the mixtures to add detail in the people, cars, and general detritus of the city. Paint both positively and negatively to give the trees some texture and shape. Start testing the darker values needed to make the painting “pop.”

The underpainting of mixed grays and blues should balance the orange of the traffic cones and the highlights on the cars. Don’t worry about things looking too polished just yet. Continue to bring value forward as a whole, rather than get too involved with the details.

It is important to notice that you have been building slowly to the final details and washes. Begin to move out of the midtones, but reserve the final darks and details. Allow the painting a bit of time. Step away, do something else, give your eyes a rest, and then envision the next step.

Step 4. By now you should have some nice dirty colors in your wells. You’ll need a good brick color, as well as a stone mixture for the parapet and cornice. Mix Raw Sienna with some Imperial Purple, and then Cadmium Red Light, light red, a touch of Cobalt, and Neutral Tint (mixture F). You’ll also need to work on the shadows and trees, so mix some Undersea Green with Burnt Sienna, and some Imperial Purple (mixture G).

It’s worth noting that by working without cleaning your wells, the bits of remaining color left from the first wash make these mixes unique to— but harmonious with—the rest of the painting.

Starting with the foreground buildings and working into the trees, pull them closer by adding more tone. Use clear water to transition from the brick color—or in some cases, a dirty Imperial Purple. Think about shaping the trees by creating shadows. Start to paint negative shapes around some branches and use a fairly dry brush to make small strokes at the outer limbs to define them. It’s important to practice these brushstrokes before attempting them on a painting that matters. Find the correct thickness of paint and dryness of brush to work with conviction.

As the brick layer begins to dry, use some more blues to bring the midground buildings forward, while making sure they do not compete with the foreground. Use simple shapes. Add detail only where you want to direct the viewer’s eye. As it dries, add some more light red to mixture F and start to get the middle value and darkest value ready by mixing light red, Burnt Sienna, and a touch of Neutral Tint (mixture H).

Allowing the previous wash to show through in some areas, add the final details on the street, figures, and storefronts.

Everything is a little too neat for me. I want to use light to impact my darks. Taking an old worn-out brush, dip it in clear water and begin to lift out the headlights of the cars, making sure to rotate the paper as you pick up the color. Do this here and there, but don’t overdo it. Next, using clear water, lift out the background to suggest steam coming from a grate, and notice how the angle counters the color change in the sky.

Take your lift brush and make a bold stroke across the painting near the bottom of the cars. Go through the people, cars—everything. The goal is to obscure some detail, while allowing other areas to become more impactful. The lift also gives a sense of “wet street” that I use quite often.

Finish with another shorter stroke in the foreground. By now the voices in your head should be saying, “Stop. Listen. Step back. Give it some time.” Remember, there are things you can do later in the studio to give the painting more polish.