Corfe Castle painting – Autumn sunrise watercolour
Corfe Castle dominates its Dorset landscape. A stone fortress built by William the Conqueror on the Isle of Purbeck. The remaining ruins create an impact sitting high on a hill between two valleys. This painting of Corfe Castle came about after a visit to Corfe Castle. It was hard to resist. From one bright Autumn morning, wandering along the Purbeck Hills, I created the Corfe Castle painting.
Painting with broad brushstrokes
For this Corfe Castle painting I wanted to create a smoother watercolour painting. Less detail, more the essence of the sunrise, warming the Castle walls and the hillsides.
Therefore I started with a larger brush, painting the first green washes on the hillsides. This wash had a warm yellow tone, for the sunlight shining on the hills. I applied more layers of the wash as each layer dried. Then I applied initial grey and pale orange washes to the Castle ruins. The pale orange wash was painted on the sides of the ruins facing the sunrise. Capturing the warm glow of sunlight.
Painting less detail
The Corfe Castle painting has less detail, than I normally paint. It isn’t much, but there is a difference. There is still a suggestion of texture on the grassy hills. Also the castle ruins have details of windows, doorways, craggy outlines and cracks. There is also the trailing vegetation creeping over the ruins.
In this painting I wanted the shape of the Castle ruins to dominate the landscape. I wanted to show how the ruins seem to flow and tumble across the hill. How the sun creates a glow on the castle walls and on the Autumn colours on the hills.
Primary Colours to create watercolour palette mixes
I normally paint with three watercolours, one red, one yellow and one blue, but for this painting I chose an extra yellow and blue. The extra colours were to add a slightly different hue to the greens, the Autumn colours and the sky. I used the large bowl of blue wash for the sky, for very wet washes for the sky. This produced smooth layers of watercolour for the sky.
Corfe Castle painting finished, capturing an Autumn sunrise glowing on the Dorset landscape.
