An Expressionist Dunstaffnage Castle

For my second painting in the Expressionist style, I looked at the artist Gabriele Münter, and noticed how many of her paintings are of houses on hills, and the like. I thought of a picture I took maybe half an hour before the photo reference I used in the last picture, one of Dunstaffnage Castle itself. It was autumn when I visited the place with my friend, but as it turned out, that didn't have a strong enough impression on me when I chose to paint it, and so, it doesn't look much like any season at all. Maybe like early autumn.
An important point about Expressionist painting is that it's not a painting of the artists impression, but one of their own expression. Their inner feelings and emotions about the scene before them, rather than their impression of it.
I always liked castles and ruins, and their diversity fascinate me. I am also an archaeologist, and I had my reasons for wanting to become that. Castles and ruins give different impressions - some are sad, mournful, even desperate and I'd like nothing more than to restore them to their original glory. Some seem not to give the slightest bit of care to the fact that they are crumbling, and stand proud and intimidating still.

Dunstaffnage struck me as a bit of both, but mostly as a very impressive castle built well and with good defensive strategy. I painted this on a fairly large canvas, F8 in size, with acrylics. It took a few sittings and several hours. I had the fortune of having good natural light as well as a lamp, though after painting in the evening, I went back and re-did the grass because it looked too garishly yellow-green. The sky had bit of a touch-up as well. The odd yellow blob to the right side was a tree with autumn leaves. Oddly enough, without meaning to, it gives something of a depth to the painting.
There was also something mystical about the castle, about its strong walls and odd angles, and what with everything we found around it, and how magical the entire journey was, I couldn't resist painting something in that picture that's usually relegated firmly to outside the fine art galleries. The clue is in the name of the painting, "Clouds over Dunstaffnage Castle".

This was the first painting since the course began that I gave away. Feels odd not to have it at home, but it was a late birthday gift for the friend with whom I shared the trip.