In this piece, I continued with what I had learned from working with underpainting on my previous pieces, such as La Macchina Electrica - I and Il Mare - I. I began with an initial pencil sketch, as usual. Instead of underpainting over the pencil, as I had with my most recent pieces, I returned to inking before laying down any watercolor.

One of the things that I learned from working on La Macchina Electrica - I was how much the texture of the paper (in this case Strathmore Smooth Bristol Board) changes once it becomes wet. Even if one lets the paper dry completely, the grain of the paper opens up, causing more ink to be absorbed into the paper, rather than sitting upon the surface.

Choosing to ink before adding the color allowed my pen work to be much finer and tighter than if I had underpainted beforehand. Once I finished inking, I underpainted in yellow and blue for the shadows, similar to what I had begun doing with the pieces focused upon the sea and ocean.

From there, I worked in the watercolor after letting the underpainting dry completely, being careful to lay the colors over the underpainting for a minimal of mixing. I used a similar strategy with painting the cobblestones as I had for Giù Arche - I, painting the individual bricks as blotches and then using my mop brush to simulate the effects of running water through the alleyway.