When I started my latest beach access commission, I knew it was going to challenge me.
My usual paintings are botanical florals, where I spend hours observing petals, leaves and the delicate details found in nature. This painting was different. It was a coastal scene filled with sand, weathered textures and grasses moving through the landscape.
When I took the reference photos, the grasses were dry and had a very different feeling to them. I wanted to capture the freshness and movement I associate with coastal grasses, so I returned to the beach and spent time observing the area again.
When I went back, the grasses had changed with the season. They were fuller and much more inspiring. I took photos to guide my painting, but I also knew I would need to make creative decisions about how to bring them together on the canvas.
This was an exciting part of the process because, although I had never painted these grasses before, years of painting have taught me how to approach something new.
Experimenting Before Committing
Before beginning on the final painting, I spent a short time experimenting on canvas paper.
I tested different brushes and marks, exploring what would best capture the movement and delicate structure of the grasses. Through that process, I discovered that my dagger brush - which is rarely used for my botanicals - was going to be my best friend for this section of the painting.
Building the Grasses
The grasses took around five days of painting and were built through several layers.
I began with a loose underpainting of greens, browns and yellows, creating a foundation of colour and depth.
From there, I developed the larger grass forms, adding darker tones, mid-tones and more variation. As I worked, I stepped back and assessed the overall balance of the painting. At one stage, the grasses were becoming too uniform. They looked too evenly shaped and arranged, rather than like the natural randomness found in nature.
So I adjusted them. I changed the heights and shapes, added areas of sand between the grasses, and created more variation to allow the eye to move through the scene.
The final stage was adding hundreds of fine grass blades with my dagger brush. Each mark helped create the movement, direction and natural rhythm of the grasses.
What I love about painting is that every subject has its own challenges. The process is not about already knowing exactly what to do. It is about having the skills, experience and observation to work through those challenges.
After years of painting, I’ve learned that any subject can become paintable when you slow down, look closely and truly see.
