Visiting Northern England: Village Scape #1

First, it was the sheep of North Yorkshire that inspired me. Then, the incredibly interesting landscapes - so different from what I am used to here in Colorado. And now there are the villages; interesting, historical and picturesque. Each one I visited had its own personality and charm.

For my first "village scape" I chose this adorable tea room in Skipton that had some of my favorite things: my favorite color, red, in the chairs, the name, The Three Sheep Tea Rooms,  which reminds me of the sheep that grace the countryside and then of course they served English teas which I enjoy.

I used an oil paint, called Torrit Grey made by Gamblin, to paint in the initial shapes. (I also used it mixed with white for the background wall.)
The chairs were my first challenge - each facing a different direction.
After mixing my paints I blocked in all the general colors before I started in with the details. I worked from top to bottom.



The Three Sheep Tea Rooms
10x8", Oil on canvas
Rita Salazar Dickerson

I absolutely love the detail in this painting: tea cups and saucers hanging in the window, the red and white pattern on the chairs, the upstairs window with customers inside, even the crack in the sidewalk was a pleasure to paint. My challenge was to keep myself from getting too tight and caught up with all of it. To remain loose, I applied more paint and then got out my palette knife to soften edges, push around the paint where it looked too stiff and just enjoy the textures I could create with it.