Caerphilly Castle

In February 2008, I visited my daughter and her husband who were living in England at the time. While there we went to see her best friend who lives in Cardiff, Wales. While in Wales, we visited Caerphilly Castle. It was a very cold day. The ducks and birds stood on the ice which covered a good portion of the moat. It's a lovely old castle that is much a ruin and made for some nice photographs. This painting is from one of the photos I took that day. The painting was painted in oils on a 8x10 canvas panel and was painted in October, 2008. One of the challenges of this painting was the water and the reflection. And, I forgot to mention, the greens! About this time, I realized that I needed to do some color mixing! So, I have made myself some color charts using various blues and yellows to create greens. I have also taken the color charts a little further and added white to the greens created as well as burnt umber. I should have done this before I even started painting! Beginners always buy too much. I have collected a number of tubes of oil paint. So many colors!! I have made a chart of the colors I have. Not being as familiar with the colors as I would like, the chart makes it easy to pick and choose. Some colors are emerging as my favorites, but I'm still a beginner and, who knows, I might revise my favorites as I gain experience.