First sketch – watercolour pencil on damp acrylic gesso.

7th August.

I’m one Bambi short of a Disney at this stage! This is the bright underpainting, the network of subtext colours that will support the heavier ones to follow. All of them are pouring paints.

The Grim phase. This is where I have to trust myself to make magic.

That path will have to go!

Closer – garden full of foliage with a pond and a surreal tree lamp, yes?

The blue sky leaned everything towards the picturesque so it had to go.

10th August.

Sky adjusted using Titanium white, and the treeline re-imagined away from unbelievable reality. Garden with pond.

I think I learned a lot about my style while making paintings of sweeping landscapes. It came as a surprise to find the skills were transferrable and big brushstrokes with little detail worked just as well for vegetation as for those wide skies and low horizons.

SCH 2024