I don’t need much of an excuse to paint Dunstanburgh Castle. Northumberland’s Castles are well photographed and painted by amateurs and professionals alike. I’ve often been commissioned to do paintings of castles and I have to say, it’s always a delight. One such project came in 2003 when I was commissioned to do around a dozen large watercolours of the regions castles for a major North East Company for their boardrooms. Dunstanburgh Castle was one of the chosen paintings. I decided to paint it on a summer evening just as the sun was beginning to dip below the horizon.
I recently went back to the reference I gathered on that evening to do a watercolour demonstration for a painting class. They asked me to show them how to tackle a seascape in watercolour. The painting above is the result. I’ve painted a similar version of the scene which is available as a limited edition print.
On my website I have a video of me painting two watercolours of this castle. One is in my sketchbook, the other on a watercolour block. Unfortunately it’s not capturing a sunny summer evening. Instead the sky is slightly overcast. There are advantages doing two paintings at the same time. Whilst one is drying, you can be working on the other one. Also, you usually find that the scene changes during the painting process. You end up capturing different aspects of the view. If you do end up by selling the painting on the watercolour block, then at least you still have record in your sketchbook. This has often happened when I’ve been producing paintings on location. I’m so pleased I have the sketchbook to look back on.