TREES
‘I used oil paints at art school but about five years ago decided to focus on watercolours. I've taught myself how to use them, which I've liked doing because it's been – and continues to be – a personal and honest journey. Of course there have also been transferable skills from painting in oils, such as composition and use of colour.
‘I work as much as possible en plein air, although in Finland there are periods when painting outside is impossible. However, I do still like to keep the connection with the places I'm painting so I'm out daily on long walks, and when it's too cold or damp to paint, I sketch with pencils, even when the temperature dips to minus 20 degrees, pencils on paper work!
‘If I'm working indoors I use photos I've taken, but just for quick reference. I would much rather rely on sketches done , where my own eye and hand decide what's important and what makes that time, I often do a small sketch first, but then I develop the composition in pencil directly on to the work, because just making a small sketch larger won't necessarily work. During this time I plan what order I'll paint in and apply masking fluid to the areas I'll paint later. I don't rush this planning stage; I like to paint quickly and intuitively but that's only possible if I've put in the time and work to set this up.
