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On one of my trips to France I managed to find time to visit the splendid Palace of Versailles and whilst it was a dull day the buildings were still very impressive. I took many photographs of the exterior and quite a few interior shots of the various rooms and halls within.
A Palace in paint
My abiding impression that day was of the outside architecture which with a dark and rather threatening sky, made for a fairly dramatic look – so I set about trying to convey this on a photo to art computer illustration. I initially used a sketch filter which was contrast enhanced slightly then set about using filters and layers with many saves in between. I used watercolor, dry brush and finally a touch of oil style finish to canvas look and colored it to suit the mood and drama of the overall view.
I included the crowds of tourists and sightseers as they began to assemble near the entrance, more as impressions than clear cut figures so as not to detract from the main subject – the Palace itself and to give scale to the buildings.
The Palace of Versailles is located around16 kilometers west of Paris and it was built by Louis XIV during the 17th century and included a large ornamental park.
I was visiting the Claude Monet house and garden at Giverny around an hour away at the time, so this was a an ideal opportunity to see the Palace. Had it not been such a dull rain threatening day I would never have thought of this style of painting – but overall I’m really pretty pleased with it.
So a good day out as they say . . . .
