The Emerging of the Cacti!

Today was the time to start picking out the forms of the cacti ...

I began with an underlay of Yellow Ochre and Titanium White to give some inner life to the cactus on the right.

Next I picked out the basic forms of the others, and added some more definition to the rocks and pebbles.

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Before adding any texture and pattern, I went to be inspired by the texture and pattern outside in the Gardens.

The mahonia is flowering in the Winter Garden, and I gloried in its perfume. I love the contrast between the long leaf shapes and the little yellow dots of the flowers. (I use the term 'dots' artistically, not botanically!)

The Himalayan Birches always look magical to me. In the shadows the little gate-like structure in the fence seems to beckon to a secret pathway.

Texture and colour abound on the papery trunks of these beautiful trees.

Here entrancing glimpses of lemony yellow catkins are seen through the rustly russet leaves of the beech hedge.

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I am inspired!

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Back in the glasshouse I swiftly layer in brushstrokes of ochre to give the sand colour to the desert.

This will be toned down later, and the colour broken up with more layers.

More layers are built up on the cacti, in Yellow Ochre and Titanium White, with some Cerulean Blue also.

The directional brushstrokes indicate the slope of the mountains and the texture of the stones .

Tomorrow it will be the mountains!