Someone approached me the other of about the possibility of painting Thatch Cottage in my…
Thatch Cottage, Hartlip
And here it is, the first of a series of paintings based on my home village of Hartlip. This is Thatch Cottage, a cottage that’s been rethatched only in the last couple of weeks and is looking great, especially that fancy pattern along the top with the shadows underneath it.
I took a photo of just the roof against the sky after deciding it was the roof and not the cottage that was to be the star. The nearest chimney is at a funny angle in the photo and I’ve kept it at that angle in the painting. I’m pretty sure it’s not at a funny angle in real life. There are trees in real life behind the cottage on the right but I left them out – that’s what happens when you make a plan rather than just starting painting and seeing how it goes.
Colours in this one were raw sienna (a no brainier given that we’re talking about a thatched roof) plus Prussian blue and quinacridone magenta. So it’s in the key of green cool: cool blue, cool yellow and cool red. I heard the other day on YouTube that the darkest darks come from three warms or three cools, which is a useful rule to remember and means that the darks on this one can be really dark. Most importantly from a colour point of view, though, I’ve deliberately left lots of whites (again something that only comes from setting a plan).
I rate this one a success and it’s up for sale (while on display at the Rose & Crown, 11 Sept 2024). While the thatched roof doesn’t look thatched, the reserved whites on the roof, wall and far chimneys make the sun burst out of this one.
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