Painting a real stone Chateau

We did have an aquarellista session last week - we painted "view-through" - a landscape or something happening, seen through a window or an archway or a couple of pillars. It was very inspiring and there were some truly interesting results... But I forgot to take pictures... That's why you get a report on this week's painting of the Chateau de Castellaras (a commission). And because I often get the question "how do I do stones" I'll try to explain that here: there were a bloody lot of them in that painting...

I always start my paintings from the right hand side! Not the most efficient as I am right handed and have to be careful not to smudge parts that are still wet. I have tried to start left - but it just feels less good. Funny isn't it! Habits -even the wrong ones- are hard to break...

The finished product, 70X50 cm of hard work with a tiny brush. (click on it to enlarge)

One way of painting stones: just "hint" them. In the castle stones I could clearly detect the horizontal, irregular lines, and much less the vertical ones. So that was exactly what I painted in the sunny parts, like the tower. Note that it is important to take your time to observe what "the character" is of the stones. Where does the light come from, how do you see the shadows, how are they shaped, what is their colour, is the shadow and light very clear... The stones under the pillars are regular and square. I vary slightly in colour and paint them on top of each other, so that the rims of the aquarelle form natural shadow lines, and here and there I leave a small line unpainted (white)
Other stones are hopelessly irregular - but most of the time rectangular-ish. And because the light comes from above, the shadow will usually be under the stone.
Above the most varied piece of stone wall. Irregular, in size, colour, material, shadow and shade... I must admit that I "simplified" it a bit. I do that often, also with tiled roofs. (The brain still accepts it as a roof - although the tiles are much bigger than in real life...)

Next post about your work on "deep sea" and then we're on summer vacation!!