Reid's Palace in Aquarelle Pencil

Reids Palace Maderia Aquarelle pencil (c) Tessa Spanton

I started writing this blog 2 years and I day ago. Last year I posted some paintings I had done of Reids Palace To see the post click here

I visited Madeira again last month and did some new paintings while I was there. I drew Reids again, this time from the other side as seen from the Cliff Bay hotel. I chose roughly the same time each day, around 11am, to make some sketches and a tonal study. I spent between 1/2 hour to an hour at a time. Much longer and the lighting had changed. It was sunny so the lighting of the building was good though some days so windy that my papers would have blown away if they hadn't been clipped down.

The image above was done with a blue aquarelle pencil and a little water, inspired by the Portuguese azulejos. Very convenient when working outside as all you need is one blue aquarelle pencil and a small brush that can be filled with water like a fountain pen.

When this was finished I started a watercolour of the same view. The building looks amazing, high up and rising up from the rocks where the sea is pounding below and looking like a pink confection against the backdrop of mountains.

This painting is not quite finished so I'll save it for another post.

I also had the opportunity to visit the gardens at Reids and that too will be for another post.