Author: Michele Clamp

This step by step Eilean Donan Castle watercolor painting is in muted tones. It’s always a favorite and there isn’t a view of this that isn’t worth painting. I especially loved the warm ochres of the castle contrasting with the blues of the sky and water. This watercolor castle tutorial was great fun to do. If you try it I’d love to see what you do!

The Castle Drawing is Simple and in Outline

We only want an indication of the castle and its surroundings on the paper. So no detail in the walls and very few windows or twiddly bits. There are also no pencil marks in the sky or the water. We’ll put the clouds and the reflections in as we paint.

Work out your color mixes ahead of time

Before even starting to paint the castle watercolor I did some color swatches on a piece of scrap paper. This allows me to do some planning and thinking ahead of time. When you’re in the middle of a watercolor painting there’s very little time to waste. The paint is drying and you have to get those marks right before they dry. So anything we can work out before we get the brushes wet the better.

I’ve also included Munsell notation for the colors. This isn’t really necessary (although I find it very useful) as long as you try and match that color as close as you can from the reference.

My process is I match the important areas to the Munsell system and practice hitting the right hue, value, and chroma. I can always tell if the color palette will result in a harmonious picture from the result. Definitely looked good for this one.

I you want to know more about how the Munsell color system can help click through to this post. It also includes information about the online ChromaMagic tool which helps you see color more accurately.

Start your Castle Watercolor Painting with the Sky

I started with the sky and worked it wet in wet. This keeps the edges of the clouds soft. While the paper is still wet you can drop in slightly darker color to indicate the shadows on the undersides of the clouds.

The background mountains went in next. These are suprisingly dark but I kept the colors muted towards grey. They form a good backdrop to the castle itself and the dark color provides a nice contrast.

Castle Watercolor Painting – First Layer for the Walls

We’re going to paint the castle itself in layers. I’ve painted a few watercolor castles and I find this gives a great effect. So we don’t want any detail in this first layer. This will be the base layer of the walls. You can add some texture into this by using a water spray bottle or splattering some water with your brush.

Painting the Water and Reflections

The water and reflections needs to be soft so I made the paper wet with a clean brush full of water. I then brushed in the reflections of the sky and the castle walls and dragged them down slightly to get the reflection effect. As the paper is wet when we do this the colors meld together. This isn’t the final step in the reflections yet but I wanted to get something on the paper to be able to judge the rest of it more easily.

Now the Magic Happens! The Shadows

This is where the magic happens! It’s the best bit! The painting has been looking a little flat up to this point. We’ve put all the first layers in but we have no darks in there! These are what will give a sense of three dimensions to the castle and add some interest to the painting.

The shadows are put in simply with a darker wash of ultramarine and burnt sienna. The darks go in on the side of the castle away from the light (the right) and also under the arches of the bridge. I also start to put in some shadows for the rocks at the base of the building.

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Finishing the Castle – Windows and Doors

Things are looking a lot better now. Phew! Now the main shadows are in and working I can put in the details for the windows, chimneys and doors. Note that if the previous step hasn’t worked and you don’t have something that’s reading as three-dimensional no amount of detail will fix it. I know – I’ve been there many times.

And go careful with the details. The windows may look dark but they only need to be a shade or two darker than the walls. They’ll really stand out and catch the eye if you put them in close to black.

Final Steps in your Castle Watercolor Painting

I was fairly happy at this point but I knew that the water and reflections were too light. I washed over the water again with a glaze of blue, light and dark brown. This gives the water a definite value change compared to the sky and makes the painting’s composition more harmonious. As a final touch I took a very dry synthetic brush and dragged horizontally through the reflection area. This has to be done while the paint is still wet and gives an effect of ripples on the water.

Final Thoughts….

This was a really enjoyable watercolor painting to paint. There were a few hairy moments along the way (aren’t there always) but it all came together in the end. I still really like the color scheme. Only a few colors used but they work together well.

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And Before You Go – Another Castle Watercolor Painting!

I didn’t video this painting but I have another version that can be viewed below, on my video page or on my youtube channel.