Oil

Corvin Castle – Palette Knife and Oil painting 19/300

Creating a castle painting using the palette knife and oil painting was a big challenge for me, I admit. Creating a Corvin Castle painting is the 19th painting in my challenge series. This oil painting is not the first try with oil paints or with the palette knife. In late 2017, I began painting with oil paint while recreating paintings and following painting video tutorials of Leonid Afremov. Ever since that period, I created a series of impressionist oil paintings.

I am happy how those oil artworks look like, and I even started working on creating landscape oil paintings with brush and dissolver and solvents. However, painting with a palette knife remained a favorite painting technique of mine. And I am happy because I dared to experiment with a lot of painting techniques and I could understand all their secrets. This way I know what I like and what I dislike.

For this castle painting in oil and palette knife, I decided to create a Romanian castle artwork, the Corvin Castle, from Hunedoara, Romania. As a matter of fact, this is the third time I am attempting to create a painting of this castle. I tried to create it in acrylic on paper, at first. I was disappointed with my work. A few days ago I got really motivated to create it an oil painting with brush and solvent.

I will show you the result here. See the image below. It was so disheartening. The sky looked terrible and dirty. While the sketch came out well, the oil painting technique looked like horror. For this painting, I used a photograph of the Corvin Castle with the light slightly coming for the right. As you can see the sky looks bad, the castle color is so dirty and everything else is a mess. And when I start with a bad base, I know that everything else I add to the painting is just a waste of paint.

First try on my oil painting – Corvin Castle Painting

Just look at it. If a kid would paint the Corvin Castle would still look better than this. I was angry with this outcome. But somehow I didn’t want to feel defeated. So I tried again! I did a new pencil sketch and started over. But this time I decided to do it the hard way. I picked my small palette knife and began the castle painting. I am grateful I didn’t give up and neither should you.

Tools for creating a castle painting

  • oil paint (Maimeri Oil paint and Romanian paint from “Fondul Plastic”)
  • palette knife
  • canvas sheet (you can also use paper or canvas on a wood frame)
  • pencil for sketch
  • paper towels for cleaning the palette knife

The painting process

I began the castle painting with a pencil sketch. My castle sketch was free-hand, but you can use tracing paper. It’s invisible enough to see the drawing and to transfer it on canvas. I prefer free-hand drawing because it’s improving my drawing skills and I recommend you to do it, too. Otherwise, you will get too comfortable with tracing paper and too dependent on it.

Next, I began painting a sunset sky in oil colors. You basically start with yellow paint strokes and as you go further you add orange, red and purple. Then you add a little red on orange, a little purple in red and so on, to mix just a bit. Remember to wipe the palette knife in between applying so you don’t get the paint dirty.

I could explain more of my process in writing, but I believe you would understand better if you watch the painting video tutorial of the castle painting in oil and palette knife. The step-by-step video tutorial starts with the sketch and includes all the painting steps. So, you can check it out and create your own castle painting.

The painting video tutorial

Here is the palette knife and oil painting of Corvin Castle and I hope you enjoy it. You can subscribe and comment on my youtube channel because I will be creating more paintings videos and with palette knife too.

I hope you like it and thank you for checking it out!

View Comments

  • Hello, your Corvin Castle painting is beautiful. I’ve visited this castle back in 2017, and I found it absolutely gorgeous. Are your paintings for sale?

    Thanks,
    Ryan

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