Reid's Palace Madeira

'Reids Palace' watercolour (c) Tessa Spanton

(The colours in the original painting are nicer. I'll take another photo when the weather is brighter, it's very grey in London today)

At last this painting is finished. It was the last of the sequence described below and was about 3/4 ready last January when it was time to come home. I have had a break over Christmas and decided to do some more work on it.

This 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.

 I chose roughly the same time each day, around 11 am, to work outside. First I made 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.

                      
                         Reids Palace Maderia Aquarelle pencil (c) Tessa Spanton

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.

In a previous post I showed paintings that I had done of the other side of Reids. here