Squire's Castle

This is the first painting I laid out from a sketch, roughed in, and then painted entirely with a palette knife.  It isn't 100% finished; there are a few little touches I want to add when it's dry, and straighten up a few lines and add a few highlights here and there.  But all in all, I'm pretty happy with the way it came out :)

In case you missed yesterday's post, this is a structure called Squire's Castle that was built in the 1890s by an oil tycoon named Squire.  It was meant to be just the gatehouse for his estate (can you imagine what he had in mind for the main house?).  He abandoned the project, though, and Cleveland Metroparks acquired the property in the 1920s.  Today it's there for anyone to use.  It's just a shell of a building but there are picnic tables and fireplaces inside that you can use, and of course the imagination of a child runs wild in such a place.  It's also surrounded by wonderful hiking trails.

I moved to Tennessee in 2005 and I have to say that the thing I miss the most about Cleveland (besides family) is the "emerald necklace" of parks that surrounds it.  For me, this is the jewel of the lot, and worth a visit if you're in the area.