Sketches From The Old Palace, Ely

In between painting my 18x24 inch plein air acrylic of the Palace rear entrance I managed to fill a few pages in my large moleskine watercolour sketchbook.

The Palace has it's very own chapel and so many other interesting views and corners, one could spend a month there gathering interesting sketches and paintings.

After a long day, Joannie and I packed up our materials and walked over, past the Cathedral, for a well earned Italian meal, which was delicious.

The Old Palace, Ely

You may remember my plein air painting above from my recent trip to The Old Palace in Ely (You can read about my day and creative battle here)
Before leaving the palace, the rebel in me had one last attack of bravery and applied textured foliage to the piece with a knife.

This is how I brought the piece home:



On returning home I could see everything was a little 'wonky' probably due to my easel being too small for my canvas and me having to use it backwards which gave everything an unfortunate slant.
This morning I had half an hour or so free before my class arrived, so I set about straightening it all up and then, with no reference, allowed my creativity to dance.

Here is the result as it stands at this time:




...and a close up...




I'm feeling happier about it, I had alot of fun this morning and got so lost in the piece I didn't hear my class pull into the yard.

The Old Palace, Ely

WIP-The Old Palace, Ely

On Wednesday my good friend Joan travelled from Coltishall, to spend a few days painting with me. The first location on our agenda was The Old Palace in Ely. The palace is currently home to Sue Ryder Care and on Thursday they were holding a fundraising event entitled 'Paint the Palace'

It was a beautiful location to paint and both Joan and I were pleased we had decided to take our acrylics along for the day.

I was a little adventurous with the palette choice on my interpretation of the palace door and my piece is unfinished but I found it fun and relaxing to work out of my comfort zone...Until I went to change my water...After that the two side of my brain (yes, I have one!) battled with each other and I found it difficult to move forward which offered another interesting insight to an already enjoyable day!

I have taken photographic references but have since decided I will finish this piece without them, hopefully this will allow the energy and creativity I started the piece with to return without having to battle with the realist side of my brain.