Plant pot · Easy · about 40 min
Wavy hills
Rolling bands of ochre, terracotta and plum that run all the way round, under a butter sun and a sky full of stars. Landscape, no drawing skill required.
Step 1 of 7
Pale sky
Base the whole outside in pale sky blue, rim included, two thin coats. Leave the inside bare — damp soil lifts paint off from behind.
Colours you’ll need
- Pale sky
- Mustard ochre
- Terracotta
- Plum
- Butter yellow
- White
All 7 steps as a list
1. Pale sky
Base the whole outside in pale sky blue, rim included, two thin coats. Leave the inside bare — damp soil lifts paint off from behind.
2. The far hill
In mustard ochre, paint a wavy band around the pot about a third of the way down, filled in solid below the wave. Keep the wave shallow.
Turn the pot with your other hand and keep the brush still. That is how the wave stays level all the way round.
3. The middle hill
A terracotta band below it, its own wave peaking where the ochre one dips. Overlapping slightly is right, not a mistake.
4. The near hill
Plum along the bottom, the biggest wave of the three, coming up higher on one side than the other.
5. Sun and stars
A small butter-yellow circle in the sky, sitting just above the ochre hill and off to one side — never in the middle. Then a scatter of white dots across the rest of the sky.
Small sun. A big one turns the whole thing into a child's drawing.
6. Catch the crests
A fine white line following the top of the ochre hill and the top of the terracotta one, just inside the edge. It reads as light on the ridge and takes about ten seconds.
7. Line the rim
Fine liner, one plum line around the top edge of the rim, then leave it to dry standing upright.