We can learn a great deal from artists who share their work processes with us via the internet and other platforms. This is wonderful video in which John Wolesley shares his method of watercolor painting for backgrounds called SPLOSHING.

John Wolesley and others have showed us that outside, in nature, marks can also be made on pages by:

• dipping your paper into a pond or lake (the murkier the better) - hang them on a clothesline to dry then work into these wonderful marks that nature has provided

• burying your paper then pulling it out the next day to see what nature has imprinted onto it

• using colour from nature such as petals, bark, soil to make marks on your paper

• scribble on paper with water-soluble products then leave it out in the rain

• leave paper in your letterbox or other places where it might get chewed by insects or animals (letters in my letter box only last a day before there are chew marks by snails evident on them)

These are examples of collaborating with nature.

One activity you might like to try for a background image is to head outside and try at least two of the above "outside art-making processes". John Wollesley is a good example of this approach.