Barnard Castle

This was a very topical piece when I painted it as the hapless Dominic Cummings had just hit the news in the middle of the Covid 19 pandemic claiming he drove to Barnard Castle to ‘test his eyesight’.

The interesting thing about this piece is not so much what I put in as what I left out. I spent ages trying to decide whether to put a Specsavers sign in or not. Adding it would have elevated the piece to a work of satire but leaving it out kept it a traditional landscape. I think if I hadn’t been pleased with the castle I would have added the sign but as it turned out to be one of my earliest architectural success stories I didn’t want to cheapen it by playing for laughs. Ironically now I have a few more paintings and a bit more confidence under my belt I probably would add the sign.

The castle itself worked well on this painting. I was very pleased with the structure, the shadowing and the realism. The trees and the foreground rocks turned out well too. Sky is possibly a little bluer than it needs to be but nothing too jarring.

What didn’t work so well here was the water. I felt it was a little laboured and too overworked. There’s too much titanium white in it. A more transparent white would have worked better. Also a more gradual change between the different elements of water would have added a subtlety to the painting.

Overall though it works ok, I’m pleased enough with it to list it for sale.

Roanna Carleton Taylor