The Hounds of the Baskerville!

"Baskerville"
By James Swanson/ Traveler Paul
14" x 18" Oil on Linen

The Journey of this Painting.

Release The Hounds!!! as Mr. Burns likes to say.

On this painting journey there are quite a few places I'd like to see just because of a book or movie that I saw.

Traveler Paul

In this next piece we journey from foggy London to the area of Dartmoor to find out about what Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Hound of the Baskervilles" looks like, and met our next Traveler Paul.

Paul's Book

Traveler Paul is an authority on Sir Arthur Colin Doyle and has written a book about it "On the Trail of Arthur Conan Doyle: an Illustrated Devon Tour".


I came across Paul when I was researching Baskerville as an interesting place to see, and came upon "The Baskerville Weekend" and had to check into it.

Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes

The Baskerville Weekend is your chance to experience the stage from where the famous book was written, take carriage rides like Holmes and Watson did, tour the site of Dartmoor from the moors to the Churches and Graveyards,


and feast with Sherlock Holmes himself. It sounds like a great weekend for mysteries and sleuths, and our Traveler Paul is a big part of the weekend.

Paul's photo for his "Moods of Dartmoor" album which I will be working from.

Traveler Paul Notes: The photo was taken on a back road between Postbridge and Cator Court - very close to Laughter Hole and the East Dart River (Bellever) - this is near the location of Laughter Hole House and The Baskerville Dinning Experience.

Traveler Painting "Baskerville"- I really liked Paul's photo gallery of the Dartmoor moods, it gave me a real good sense of the place. The Photo that I worked from I felt caught the whole aspect of Dartmoor for me. I wanted to paint the painting moody, but not scary.

The Sketch: I'm painting this painting as a demo in front of my Oil painting class. I did the sketch of how I was going to layout the painting. the road would lead the viewer around the painting.

I toned the canvas with raw umber and oil and then wiped off areas that were lighter. I started the painting by sketching in my sketch and painting with the dark colors first.

Moving quickly,(it's only a 2 1/2 hour class) I painted in mountains and the middle ground.

Now I've gotten to the sky and foreground. The sky went in very fast and easy, and I like the way it turned out.

Working on the bushes in front. Here the color has to be the strongest to create depth. The things that are the closest have the most contrast in light and dark and color. So I wanted to paint them in first and then work my way back in the painting.

Working my way into the painting- I'm working on the middle ground here, building up paint thickness in the lighter colors. End of class at this point.

This is after I made a few adjustments in color and design.

Details from the Baskerville Painting

The framed Painting

"Baskerville"

By James Swanson/ Traveler Paul
14" x 18" Oil on Linen

Many thanks go out to Paul and my class for putting up with me on this painting.

Our Traveler Paul is writing up a storm he just finished his seventh book- "Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes and Devon: A Complete Tour Guide & Companion". Look for it in your book stores.

Time to be moving on to find another Traveler. If you would like to be a traveler in this series drop me a note or clue to where to find you.

Until next time Cheerio!