On our recent visit to Rundale Palace in Latvia the sky was overcast but the flowers in the gardens still had plenty of blooms. This view is from the “French” (ie formal) garden. Taking a photo in which the foreground flowers properly frame the topiary required a certain amount of ungainly stooping, but I think it was worth it for the picture composition.
I was very pleased with the foreground and mid-ground of this painting, but rather disappointed with my watercolour rendition of the palace itself. I did manage to rescue it to some extent by sharpening up some lines with a thin pen, but overall I think the building still lets the rest of the painting down. Perhaps that part of the scene should have been more definitely a pen drawing with a colour wash, except that maybe then the building would have dominated the image even though it is meant to be the backdrop.
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