here is a brief window at the end of winter where the landscape feels entirely transitional. The trees are still bare, but the light changes, catching the water and the earth differently. This study of Sells Mill was an attempt to record that specific, shifting energy.
Technically, I’ve continued to explore the boundaries of my mixed-media approach on cold press paper. I used a combination of Faber-Castell Pitt pens, acrylic pens, and Sakura pens to build the scene layer by layer.
The process is a deliberate balance between structured architecture and organic chaos. I used the fine precision of the Sakura and Pitt pens to draft the rigid lines of the historic mill and the dense, tangled thicket of branches in the foreground. For the sky, the water, and the stone façade, I leaned heavily into a pointillist technique. By applying thousands of individual dots of ink and acrylic, the surface begins to vibrate—allowing the cool blues of the late winter sky and the rushing stream to catch a sense of movement.
The paper’s tooth works as a quiet partner here, holding the pigments exactly where they land but allowing the sheer volume of marks to optically blend. It’s a slow, rhythmic way to work that captures the texture of a place without forcing it into a sterile, perfect drawing.
