I finally got to visit and paint a castle as I'd always wanted!
Dunollie Castle was about a mile walk from the port of Oban along the coastline.
We climbed the hill to the castle ruins and enjoyed the views. I took loads of photos like this one, and later painted this spread in my travel journal.
I began with a pencil sketch, then added fine ink lines with a Faber Castell India ink pen.
I added washes of stone colors once the ink was dry. The stone is made from mixtures of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna with touches of yellow Ochre and sap green to create the mossy bits.
The sky came next -- a wet wash of phthalo blue with ultramarine blue mixed in here and there. While the paint was wet, I dabbed out areas of clouds with dry paper towel.
Next came the greenery -- mixtures of sap green with various yellows, and Hooker's green with ultramarine blue. Also, phthalo blue mixed with burnt Sienna created the deep, foresty greens of the ivy-covered wall on the right. The vivid, almost cartoon green grass was a mixture of phthalo blue and lemon yellow.
A few more details were added to the hedge on the left with various shadowy greens to give it depth. Also, the grasses growing on the top of the castle keep walls were dabbed in with sap green and yellow Ochre.
Finally, the white grout between some of the stones was added in with a white Prismacolor colored pencil.
It was a joy to visit Dunollie Castle, and a joy to paint it!
To learn more about Dunollie Castle, check out their website here: https://www.dunollie.org/
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