BODIUM CASTLE

 


It’s always been a bit of an issue for me that the things I want to paint are generally quite architectural but an architectural subject shows up my weaknesses as an artist far more than a nature based landscape painting. So I was trepaditious to take on a castle.

However, the soft lines of a castle, the curves and the rounded edges are a little more forgiving than the edges of a more modern building. The shape also gave me the opportunity to play with the light and shadows which are less harsh than on a building with sharper corners.

I liked the stone work on the castle though in retrospect I should have done more to delineate the individual stones. That next level of detail would have added something to the painting.

The reflections are quite basic compared to later works but they give a bit of an impression of movement on the water. It’s always tricky painting still water so the reflections are my own addition to the painting. However there’s no real logic behind them so I’m not sure if they work in the painting.

The sky and the trees both do work and these are elements of my art that I have become increasingly comfortable with. Early skies were very one tone but now I’m building up colour and shadow in layers and it looks more realistic and also more dramatic as a result.

The weakest point of the painting is the path leading up the castle which is a weird and artificial shape and I’m not sure why I didn’t work it over. I think it is because although I can see now how to fix it, I couldn’t work it out at the time!

All in all this isn’t a bad piece and it serves well to show some skills that are starting to develop.


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