Teasels and Grasses

Coastal Path - Teasels and Grasses
Mixed Media on Paper
25cm x 18cm (10" x 7")

The Dorset coast is a wonderful place. This picture was inspired by the teasels and grasses on the cliff tops between Durlston Head and St Aldhelm's Head near Swanage.

I posted a similar subject last year (see Experiments with Acrylic Ink).

Both paintings started as experiments with techniques from Ann Blockley's Experimental Landscapes in Watercolour.

This latest piece was more experimental than the first. The initial wash of watercolour and acrylic ink went crazy when I covered it in cling film. The greens and browns were sucked along the folds of the cling film into the sky.

Teasels and Grasses - Initial Wash

It took some pondering to decide on the next step. In the end, the hint of a stalk of grass next to a large teasel head pointed me in the right direction.

I painted the sky in gouache (see Experiments with Gouache)  and used negative painting to establish the shapes of the foliage. I applied the gouache quite roughly to suggest the atmosphere of a cliff top on a blustery day.