The first painting stop was Dunnottar Castle which is near Stonehaven on the East coast just below Aberdeen. I visited this castle briefly in 1999 and always wanted to come back. It is an unusual castle situated on a headland.
I was staying in a guest house on the quayside in Stonehaven for two nights. This left me with a mile or so to walk to the castle. I passed a memorial for the many who lost their lives in the two World Wars.
I climbed down from the path and sketched a number of views of the castle
I climbed down from the path and sketched a number of views of the castle to get a feel for the place and to help me decide where to paint the next day. I then walked further along the path to the castle so I could take further photographs for future reference.
The following day I decided to paint in acrylics and packed my rather large ruck sack and off I went! I climbed down from the path again and moved further down the cliff towards the beach.
I sketched the view on the canvas board and decided to use my new Jackman’s paints with the Daler Rowney… putting some base layers on… then more of the sky.. I use Ultramarine together with the burnt sienna and also orange to vary the greys. I also add a little titanium white to lighten areas. I then vary the earth colours to create the rocks..
I do not have any given formula for colours… but I just use my instincts.
I do need to finish this painting…
I then walked further along the path and sketched another view with the intention of painting it on canvas later… I particularly liked the composition together with the shadows. I used oil pastels to emphasise this.
