Lessons in the landscape

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

■ Create different textures with knives, brushes and your fingers

■ How to handle different consistencies and mixes of paint

Springtime is a season of bright, fresh colours. It is when nature bursts into life in an inviting explosion for the senses. Fields of rapeseed are now a regular feature in the UK landscape and, whether you are on foot, in a car or looking out of a plane window, huge bands of intense bright yellow can be a breathtaking sight and bring pleasure to your day.

The subject for this demonstration is the rapeseed fields near my home in Stourbridge. As well as using brushes and fingers, we are going to explore different ways of applying paint with a palette knife. This can vary from thick and