One of the Ruins that Henry Knocked about a Bit!

Oh dear.... never mind, you got a good result (without all the distractions posed by other people!). I think the painting of the abbey ruins is not necessarily helped by the addition of the figures, and the car, which are relatively crudely (?) painted; or painted in a somewhat different style, to be more fair. But if what you intended was a plein-air sketch, to which perhaps you will return with a more considered painting, then that doesn't matter at all (and probably doesn't matter anyway!). The stars of the painting are the two great windows, in the mass of the architecture - I recognize the wish to give scale to them, but I don't think it was needed here. You have a real sense of mass and structure, which I think could have stood on its own and convincingly have occupied and dominated the picture plane.

I think your story of being at the wrong place gives the car and the people relevance!

Thanks for your considered response Robert. I agree with your comments about the car and the figures. They were added quickly (crudely) after i’d spent quite a long time working on the Abbey - lots of angles and intricate detail which I think I managed quite well. I just got the feeling, as rain was approaching, that the building on its own looked rather lifeless and so I put in the car and a couple of figures. I doubt whether i’ll go back to it. Now if I was capable of achieving a picture like the one Edward Wesson did all those years ago, I guess I would.

Oops! I agree that the painting of the abbey is excellent but the car and people superfluous and draw the eye from the main structure though I probably wouldn’t have mentioned it if Robert hadn’t beaten me to it! It looks a very paintable old building and I would say overall it’s a successful painting. Also an eye catching title Denis.