I had just taken a workshop from David Lobenberg and was amazed to realize that it was ok to trace! I guess I just needed permission from another artist. It's is one of those preconceived beliefs that I had that it's "cheating" if I trace. Other than the project from that workshop (which I am still working on), this was the first time I had enlarged a photo and traced right onto the watercolor paper with the extremely fancy technique of taping it to the window! Once I had the structure of the house and the main areas of light and dark, I laid down a light wash to create some depth and leaving highlight areas. Then it was just a matter of going back and putting in more and more detail, including the house placard "the Bonelli's" and street number done in pen ( they don't show up very well in the photo).
I use this technique quite often when working in the studio. Although I sketch many of my pieces, I like to trace (speed up the process) to get things going on the paper. I too often wonder about the "cheating", but have determined that it is the finished product that I am concerned with - not so much about how to get the sketch to the paper. Your painting looks wonderful.
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