AFTER announcements regarding our forthcoming exhibition, acting Chair, Judith Sullivan, introduced Carole Baker to give her presentation on Landscapes in Acrylics.

Carole explained that her practise was to use on-site watercolour sketches to prepare a painting plan which defined the composition, tonal content and palette of colours that would be used in her studio painting. She likes to use a limited palette, usually only six colours.

While giving her explanation, Carole mixed a colour that would be complementary to the predominant colour of her final painting and applied it to her white canvas.

Rather than using an impasto technique, Carole uses multiple thin layers of broken colour so that the overpainted layers all contribute to the final painting.

Referring to her sketches, she applied the first layer of her highland landscape, blocking in the sky, distant mountains and foreground rocky stream.

Each layer had to dry before it could be overpainted but the scumbling technique, using a lightly loaded brush, meant the thin layers dried quite quickly. Adjustments to the colours and shapes were made with each subsequent layer and smaller brushes were used as more detail was applied.

By the end of the session, the painting was near completion and Carole was thanked for the demonstration and her helpful advice.