close up of the undergrowth

close up of the left hand section of undergrowth in the previous painting of a moorland lane

I've been asked how I did the grass and leaves in that last painting - which isn't a simple answer!

I first scribbled the leaves and blades in loosely in pale colours, used a bit of candle wax as a resist to save some of the whites and then worked on the negative spaces, creating further fragments of leaf or grass within them.

I then scribbled loose lines of coloured pencil and white pen to try to describe the tangle of leaves and the depth and overlapping of elements.

This is a section that's about 2.5 inches so you are seeing it larger than life here - and looking very scruffy :>) reduced back down to size it sort of works.

Because I like drawing, I very very rarely do a 'pure' watercolour. I just like to go back in with those final drawn marks and scumbles of colour.

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