Normally when you design a planting scheme you need to get the structure right- this is the right proportion of volumes and shapes. Next is tone – creating a mix of deep dark foliage plants, light airy plants, making sure the leaf textures and light reflective qualities of each plant make a good contrast. My oil painting teacher, Jason Tremlet, suggests looking at your composition with blurred eyesight so as not to be distracted by colour.
But then there is colour. Glorious colour. It is not really a matter of painting by numbers. Indeed often particular colour scheme might be what a client wants more than anything else. But generally the colour comes last- and when it does we can look to everything in nature to help us with our colour combinations – jellyfish in a bay, a sunset, the muted tones of a sea landscape in the late afternoon as well as the obvious colours of particular flowers.
Normally when you design a planting scheme you need to get the structure right- this is the right proportion of volumes and shapes. Next is tone – creating a mix of deep dark foliage plants, light airy plants, making sure the leaf textures and light reflective qualities of each plant make a good contrast. My oil painting teacher, Jason Tremlet, suggests looking at your composition with blurred eyesight so as not to be distracted by colour.
But then there is colour. Glorious colour. It is not really a matter of painting by numbers. Indeed often particular colour scheme might be what a client wants more than anything else. But generally the colour comes last- and when it does we can look to everything in nature to help us with our colour combinations – jellyfish in a bay, a sunset, the muted tones of a sea landscape in the late afternoon as well as the obvious colours of particular flowers.
