Yoga Watercolors at San Marco Square Day 2

The hardest part of Yoga Watercolors is taking the risk, getting out, and showing up! Besides that, the next challenge is selecting your possible site from among the confusing selection of stimulating choices.  San Marco Square is fun, classical and stimulating.  There are trees, statues, fountains, buildings, lamps, landscaping, people lounging and talking.  Perfect atmosphere for a subject.  Excitement , then fear sets in!! How are you ever going to capture all that information.  The first thing I do is pull out my phone camera and crop a composition that I think I might like by using the zoom feature.  I snap a few pictures which I will show you here, and then drill down patiently to figure out what the best light and my skill level can handle ! lol  I also take into account where the sun is likely to move so I can not get toasted as I stay put there for at least an hour! 

 So I considered this one with the classic lions, may do that another day.  I still like it.  






Then I began considering the Movie Theater across the street and the tree and bench. 

People later sat there so I might have had some models too, in time.

 Ultimately I chose this one , I liked the shadows, the fountain perspective and the gazebo has always been a favorite of mine.

So I set up and started the pencil sketch shown here
 

I find I don't like the square format paper I bought.  It is an Arches watercolor block, but I don't usually work so small and the square format is too stumpy for me , tends to make my compositions feel a bit off, so I need to break down and get a 12"x16" which for my pace and speed gives my washes time to dry for second layers.  Picking paper and brush sizes and types can be a matter of personal taste and relative to your speed and agility.