The Upper Step

‘The Upper Step’  is a painting from the imagination and memory… as well as being inspired by everyday life in the village. It’s a bit of an omage to the recycled tins used as planters in Greece.

What Greek village doesn’t have splendid displays of geraniums and potted plants on every street corner? And the pots come in all shapes and colours and sizes, including recycled olive oil tins and feta tins like the one featured in this painting! The 16/17 litre tins make particularly handy pots for plants, with a few holes punched in the bottom for drainage. They can be easily painted and spruced up each year with another coat of paint and last a surprisingly long time before the bottoms rust and they fall apart!

This mixed media painting was created with layers of acrylic paint, wax and ink on watercolour paper. The first layers of paint were embossed with a variety of tools to create a slightly raised texture. The initial image was also drawn into the wet paint at this point. When dry, several layers of paint and wax were applied and scratched into to give a slightly weathered look. Finally, black ink was applied with a stick to define some of the elements.