Belton Room Paintings
Today I’m sharing two paintings I did based on some photos I took on my most recent visit to Belton House. Both scenes are from the downstairs (green) library.
[Image ID] A watercolour painting of a corner of the room, where the wall bookcases form the corner and background. Two floor globes, with wooden pedestals, are the main focus of the painting. [description end]
Although these paintings are based on photos, I did not replicate the photographs exactly. As can be seen in the image below, these two globes were a small part of a much wider scene.
[Image ID] My painting is on the left and next to it is a photo of the room that inspired the painting. [description end]
I initially contemplated trying to paint more of the room, but in the end I decided that focusing in on the two globes with a reduced colour scheme of light teal and brown made a more interesting painting.
[Image ID] A watercolour painting of an ornate wall bookcase, which has gold rosettes and columns for decoration near the top, and a central arched niche, which houses a bust, at the bottom.[description end]
This painting is a representation of the large ornamental bookcase which took up the entire wall opposite the window. The process for ‘editing’ the scene I had photographed into a pleasing composition was quite different this time. Whilst for the globes I simply ‘zoomed in’ on one area of the scene, for this bookcase I had to imagine what it would look like from this angle.
[Image ID] My painting is on the left and next to it is a photo of the room that inspired my painting.[description end]
The photograph placed side-by-side here was the best one I had of the bookcase as you couldn’t walk into the room enough to get a ‘straight on’ view of it. The unique perspective from the tilted angle in the photograph was quite interesting, but I felt it took away emphasis from the design of the bookcase. As a result, when I came to paint it, I decided to draw it ‘straight on’.
Both of these paintings were primarily done in watercolour, but I also used a brown brush pen to draw the outlines. I’ve found that using a brush pen instead of a fineliner in some situations creates a more interesting effect due to its ability to seamlessly change between thick and thin strokes. When I’m using a brush pen I make sure to use hot pressed paper as I’ve found that a brush pen does not like to draw well over the bumpy texture of cold pressed.
-
Watercolour paints: Windsor & Newton Cotman
Watercolour paper: Daler Rowney Aquafine Smooth.
Metallic watercolours (for the gold details): Gansai Tambi Starry Colours – particularly ‘Champagne Gold’
Brown Brush Pen: Tombow Fudenosuke Colour in Brown
-
Artwork ©Dragonsflyatsunset 2023, all rights reserved.