On a knife’s edge

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

■ Practise a variety of techniques to paint different effects

■ How to handle painting knives

■ Build colour-mixing techniques for flower painting

As someone who likes to derive a lot of artistic inspiration from their surroundings, I have always enjoyed picturesque scenery and striking landscapes. For this issue, I have taken inspiration from some of the wonderful wildflower meadows that I have viewed during the summer months.

A visit to the outskirts of Hartington in Derbyshire in the early summer provided a grand display of wildflower hedgerows and meadows, with displays of poppies and other flowers adorning front gardens. I also decided to visit our local wildflower farm, Naturescape (www.naturescape.co.uk), which is located just a short drive from my studio, and took photographs as reference to create artwork.

Knives and acrylics

This series has explored working with oil paints and their properties when using palette knives to create a