Glendalough

A year ago today, we were in Ireland at a monastic site called Glendalough. One of the most striking things about the site is this tall tower with a door that's about ten feet off the ground. These type of buildings were originally used as bell towers. The door is above the ground because these buildings have very little foundation and a ground level door would weaken the structure. The more romantic reason is that if the Vikings come, you pull up the ladder and hide inside until the Vikings starve you to death.

I liked how this painting is starting. I'm using a new technique on the sky with washy paint that you squeegee around. You build up multiple layers and (hopefully) get a really deep sky with lots of texture