Always a part of my design is the element of a borrowed landscape. I often sit in the site and then start sketching the shapes, highlights and parts of the horizon that my observation offers for me. One of the pleasures of working on the Mornington Peninsula is the wide open spaces that we encounter surrounding the large rural parcels of residential land so the borrowed landscape plays quite a major role in our designs. Once I have finished the sketch I start to edit them down to find at least three prominent features that I want to take with me into the concept. This sketch is from a project in Merricks the horizon meets the water at Westernport Bay so I have decided to reflect the blue of the water in the bay into the colour palette of the planting.