Sea Holly from Lourinhõ
The colours for Week 27 are Periwinkle, Steel Grey, Chartreuse & Dark Olive
We’ve loved exploring the coastal areas of Portugal, taking day trips from our base, a converted mill close to the beautiful white sandy beaches of Lourinhõ. We are about to set off for Porto after a weekend in the mountains near Sertã The Vibrant Horizons retreat starts next Monday and I look forward to teaching the art program inspired by the Portuguese landscapes.
We’ve been doing a lot of walking on the coastlines and long stretches of beach where Giant Sea Holly grows abundantly in the dunes. These purple, sage and grey structural plants are striking, and I chose them for this week’s colour prompt. The genus Eryngium covers all Sea Holly, known for their thistle-like, silvery or blue tinted flower heads adorned with a ruff of showy bracts. It’s a biennial, belongs to the carrot family and originates from the Caucasus region: Turkey, Armenia and Georgia.
Giant Sea Holly is commonly known as Miss Willmott's Ghost. It’s named after Ellen Willmott, a legendary Victorian gardener and one of the most influential horticulturists of her time. Willmott was known for her extensive travels and her habit of secretly scattering seeds of Eryngium giganteum in gardens she visited. The plant would then appear unexpectedly in these locations years later, like a ghostly reminder of her presence. This mischievous gardening practice, combined with the plant's silvery, spectral appearance, earned it the nickname that gardeners still use today.
Read more about Miss Wilmott here and watch a video about the plant here.
“Giant Sea Holly”, photograph, Esté MacLeod, 2025
Colour Combination
The chosen colours this week are Periwinkle, Steel Grey, Chartreuse & Dark Olive. Use the colours along with a contrasting dark and neutral light colour if you wish. Create an artwork in any medium or style.
I love seeing what you’ve create. If you’re posting on Instagram, please tag #coloricombo and #estemacleod and join us in the private Facebook group Creative Prompts.
Floral Fusion
Love flowers? In case you missed it, Floral Fusion is a three week long course that is offered for the final time as a scheduled course. There are three modules in this packed course, each dedicated to a selection of mediums and combination of techniques and inspired by a specific art style and era. You will explore different creative processes and create fabulous floral artworks.
Floral Fusion consists of 10 hours of recorded and edited lessons and is running for the final time from 30 June to 20 July with 12 months’ access to all content afterwards.