Boathouse, De Vesci Estate
This little boathouse is on the grounds of the De Vesci Estate, Abbeyleix. The house, a four storey mansion, was built in 1774 by James Wyatt. The boathouse was probably built some time after this date. Although its overgrown and in need of restoration, it still retains the essence of 18th century estate life. As you can see from the photos I took when I visited the estate, I used a little bit of ‘artistic licence’ to convey how it might have looked in former times.
Inside Boathouse
Boathouse
This is another ‘green’ painting. As you probably know I’m using Alkyd oil colours at the moment. Unfortunately the range of colours are not as extensive as standard oils. So I used a standard Cadmium Yellow with the other Alkyd colours (Yellow Ochre, Raw Umber, Burnt Sienna, Viridian Green and Prussian Blue). They are compatible if a few rules are observed. The greens are warm and rich and quite different from the last painting (here).
I am staying with the ‘green’ theme, in celebration of the arrival of summer, but I intend to try and vary the colours as much as I can. Unlike the last painting this took nearly 3 hours to complete because of the details in the foliage. As you will see in the video (in the next few days) the colours were built up with the lightest colours first, with progressively darker colour overlaid. This is one of the advantages of Alkyd, the under colours begin to dry before the next layers are overpainted. Almost impossible to do with standard oils.
I will have the video in a day or two, see you then.
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This is so beautiful! I particularly admire the light you so wonderfully painted. And the little background story won’t go amiss 🙂
Thank you. I delighted you liked.
Your painting of the boathouse is gorgeous,thank you for sharing the history it makes my mind wander back in time,kind of like a romantic at heart. I do have a question from my daughter who has several oil paintings,she would like to know how to preserve them so the colors do not fade. Thank you again for your wonderful talent.
Thank you Beatrix. My paintings darken, due to the oil, when kept in storage. So from time to time I let them have a few hours in the sunlight. This returns the original colours. I use artist’s quality paint so the pigment does not fade while I’m sun bleaching the oils. At the other end of the scale are student’s quality paints. These are not made to last and some of the pigments used, will eventually fade in strong light. So it really depends on the ‘permanence’ of the paints. Just remember as soon as the painting is touch-dry it should be ‘oiled out’ and when completely dry is then varnished or framed under glass. I think paintings, varnished or under glass, exposed to normal indoor light are going to survive longest. As I said earlier the most common problem is darkening caused by lack of light. I hope this is helpful.
Beautiful ! ! You have been selected for the Most Influential Blogger Award http://wp.me/p24Fh9-fb
Thank you for the nomination, its much appreciated. However, I’ve been nominated previously and on those occasions I did not have the time to fulfil the requirements of the nominations as is the case now. Since then I’ve decided just to accept the nomination with gratitude, appreciation and thanks.
You are very deserving and I appreciate your honesty.
I see a lot of your work is very good, awesome
Thank you.
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