An abandoned sanatory is an intriguing subject to paint, so I decided to make two different scenes with one reference photo my daughter Mariska made.
She made the photo at night looking out from the windows of the abandoned Sanatório de Valongo in Portugal.
This is the daylight scene as I imagined it to be several years from now.
The original photo had a lot of backlight so I had to guess where the wall stopped and the floor began, with a little help from perspective lines that was easy to do.
Then the walls themselves, were they high or not? I decided on high and damaged so I added cracks and green algae.
The floor would also be dark with algae and moist from the incoming rain.
The plants outside would have taken the opportunity to overgrow the walls and windows, so there will be vines coming in. But not too far, once inside they are devoid of sunlight and can't grow any further.
I had a lot of fun imagining all this and of course painting it!
More information about this watercolour - and the nighttime version - can be found at www.jannekesatelier.co.nr
