This was a very interesting project to do, and the first time I have used wax crayons since kindergarten. It was a wax resist. It started life as an A4, but I cut the final drawing to a square. The bright colours making up the wax drawing of the bright green leaves and luscious ripe berries contrasted sharply with the Payne’s Grey washes making up the background, giving the whole image a night time / sombre air.

The name “Nightlock” popped in my head due to my enjoyment of the novels by Suzanne Collins, possibly due to my postulating how she came up with the name for her “deadly berries found near water”, until I realized that she married “Deadly Nightshade’s” berries with poisonous water plant, “Hemlock”.

This made up the second prize that I contributed to the Medieval Fayre Market, 2018 (I usually contribute to the game prize as a participating stall as well as the grand prize).

It took just 6 hours to complete, and was a fun / light-hearted piece done with a view to trying out a new technique.