These scenes were painted at the top floor of a London house, it is surrounded by a small terrace of delightful flowers. The theme that I was given was Arcadia so I started with a dense and mountainous oak forest that gradually descends into Italian vistas as you go round the room. The landscapes eventually open up into a view of the sea inspired by the sketches and memories of the of the Tyrrhenian coast and her Islands.

Genuine feel

Mark Bengue sorted out the strange architecture and rounded off the corners of the room. Caterina Enni and I plastered the room in lime to give it a more genuine feel than the standard plaster board finish.

Five shades

I drew/painted the landscape out with Caterina in five tones of grey to establish the big shapes and then premixed five sets of colours which were used to block in the trees and the vistas. Many brighter and darker colours were added to these ranges of colours as the details became more important.