The golden valley of wheat along the river Slaney was a happy hunting ground for me during the harvest. Here is some wheat just after it was cut, at Ballycarney.
The combine harvester first cuts round the outside of the field, then up-and-down across the whole field. Where the two cuts meet, you get these clumps of straw.
This is the first painting that I felt happy with as a finished product, which someone would perhaps like to hang on their wall.
Unfortunately, the glare of the flash has spoiled this photograph somewhat.
At this stage, I realised that I did not need to paint on paper at all. I painted straight on to the board. First I drew the composition with a marker pen, then put on an 'undercoat' of roughly the colours I wanted. Then I painted the final colour and detail over that.
