Sketches

When starting a painting I always start with a plan and work out my design in a sketchbook. Sometimes my sketches are spontaneous others are inspired by fresh flowers, wallpaper prints, botanical drawings etc. Sketching is so important to me and it allows me to be completely creative and experimental with form and design. I often find the best way to find a good composition is just to draw freely and then crop the image. The two images below have been cropped from my original sketches.