Plaça de la Constitució in the town of Sóller on the island of Mallorca

Capturing a busy town square on paper can feel a bit tricky when you look at all the tables and chairs. My good member Daniela kindly provided the reference photo for this piece of the historic Plaça de la Constitució in Mallorca. Instead of painting every single person and chair, I concentrated on the big shapes of light and shadow first. The sky was washed with a clean cerulean blue while the bright stone buildings caught the warm sunlight using touches of yellow ochre and light red.

The trick with a scene like this is to let the background church tower stand tall against the clear sky without getting lost in the details. I used a mix of viridian green and spring green for the trees to give that lively sunlit look. The dark cafe umbrellas and seating areas anchor the whole bottom half of the painting and help the bright white parasols pop out. Painting loose means you suggest things rather than drawing every single brick or table leg.