The Edge of the Broad

Throughout his career Cotman was never afraid to try new techniques, often combining them to his advantage. The paste medium he developed allowed him to manipulate watercolour paint to a greater extent and he often wiped out or scraped his paint too. In the late 1830s he started to experiment with monochrome in watercolour, creating restrained but surprising compositions. In this watercolour, which probably dates from the late 1830s, he has combined black and white with expertly-placed red and yellow touches.