Painting a Castle in Ruins

Ashby de la Zouch Castle

Good morning everyone. Well, this is the last of the watercolour sketches that I managed to do on my little holiday in Derbyshire. And we went to the English Heritage site at Ashby de la Zouch in Leicestershire to look around the castle in ruins. In fact, the castle was built in the 15th century and deliberately partially demolished during the Civil war in 1648. However, enough of the shape of the buildings remains so that you can imagine the life that was lived there.

Actually, the weather was unseasonably cool for August, and the light levels were low. So I had to exaggerate the shadows a bit, as I sat underneath a huge old tree to sketch. And we were looking across at the Medieval Great Hall – that’s in the centre of the picture. To the right is just the edge of the huge kitchen tower. Incidentally, there is a tunnel connecting the kitchen to the hall. Just to make sure the food doesn’t arrive at the table too cold! If you want to know, the building on the right was the chapel. Perhaps you may know that this castle was one of the settings for the novel ‘Ivanhoe’ by Walter Scott in 1819. As I’ve not read the book , I can’t tell you much more, apart from the fact that Ivanhoe was a medieval knight.

Another Castle, not in Ruins

From a painting by John Piper

Now, just to finish off with, this is a real castle, not in ruins. As I recall, we picked up a postcard in Renishaw Hall, a painting by John Piper, one of my favourite artists. Incidentally, this is my version in acrylic. And, if you want to look at a folly in my own local area, see here for another plein air sketch.

5 Replies to “Painting a Castle in Ruins”

  1. I find painting in flat dull light a chore and like you was on holiday and trying to visit some new sites. I had to work in the early morning and there even was drizzle. By the time afternoon arrived the sun was out, but I was doing other things.
    And painting ruins presents itself with problems when the perspective has crumbled away and without good lighting there aren’t any shadows to help differentiate the shapes. You did well.

    1. Thank you so much, Graham. I’m glad that there are difficulties for other people when painting ruins – I thought it was just me!

Let me know what you think !