Painting process | Alhambra Summer, Early Morning Light
I arrived at the Alhambra as soon as it opened, and the day was already warming quickly. While wandering the gardens, I found a spot where the trees perfectly framed the towers and the view of Granada below. The colours were so beautiful I knew straight away I wanted to paint it.
I wanted to capture that fleeting moment of crisp greens and blues in the morning light, just before Granada starts to bake under the July sun.
Preliminary sketches and studies
Even though colour was my initial inspiration for this painting, I needed to make sure it works in black and white too.
This quick pencil sketch mapped the darks and lights. I was drawn to how the Alhambra’s sunlit walls led the eye toward the white church in the distance. I enjoyed breaking the view into clear foreground, middle ground and background layers through value.
These messy little studies helped me test colour mixes and see how the composition held together. I like how they catch the freshness of early morning, even in such rough form.
This larger paint sketch helped me solidify the structure for the final painting.
The painting process
I started by sketching out the big shapes in paint to ensure the composition was maintained. I used gridlines based on the golden ratio to keep the composition balanced. It’s a step I used to skip, but I’ve learned how much stronger the result is when I take the time.
This is the first layer down, essentially placing colour into the big shapes with no detail or transitions between them. From here, I used this base layer to judge later colours and values.
Next, I worked on deepening the darkest values with purples and greens. I added the distant city, worked into the shadows, and opened sky-holes in the trees.”
Here you can see I’ve been working on the three trees on the right side. I love how they frame the scene and catch the light under their branches.
The light on the trees is yellow, green and peach, echoing the colours across the rest of the painting. The shadow on the middle tree surprised me. It’s as a vivid blue, which was fascinating to paint while still feeling true to the light.
I was careful not to overwork this painting, so I paused for a month at this point, resisting the urge to push through.
Stepping back was frustrating, but it taught me that creativity and progress often comes from reflection. I learned that choosing what to leave out can be just as important as what I put in.
That’s a lesson I’ve carried forward into my paintings since and I feel like it’s made a big difference in the quality of my work.
To finish, I layered more blues and greens into the foreground. This brought out the lushness of the vegetation and caught the feeling of dawn light on the leaves.
The ripples you can see here appeared when I took the canvas off the stretcher bars to travel from Spain to London. I have since re-stretched it, so the final painting lies flat, as shown in the photo below.
Finished!
“Alhambra Summer, Early Morning Light”
100 x 50 cm, oil on canvas.
This painting reminds me of the spectacular colours and intense light of Granada. I hope you can feel that too.
Details
My favourite part was painting the deep blues in the shadows against the soft peach light of sunrise on the buildings.
Up close, this tree and its shadow become almost abstract against the mottled foliage below. I enjoyed pushing and pulling the paint to achieve that light effect. It contrasts perfectly with the rigid row of cypress trees and boxy towers.
I painted these three trees as if they are in motion, swaying in a gentle breeze. It’s fun how many vivid colours are in these trees, which individually don’t seem like they would work, but together give an accurate sense of the morning light.
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