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Cat is currently based in China and demonstrated to us via a Zoom connection.  Although living abroad she likes to paint British woodland scenes in acrylic.  She paints on a black acrylic background, which she says 'conjures the light into existence' and gives the colour more depth.  The first layer of paint may seem a bit dark, ie yellow could look green, but the brightness builds as you add layers and she suggested we 'have a go' and see! Her source photo, which you can see below, was taken in Savernake Woods in Wiltshire.  She drew a grid on the photo and the canvas, which helps to transfer the image and then lightly sketched in the main trees, and then the 'big shapes' of foliage and the area in the distance, with a white pastel pencil.  So much foliage can be daunting, so finding the rough shapes helps to structure the painting.  

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Cat uses Golden fluid acrylic and Liquidex soft body acrylic and she talked about the colours she used for each part of the painting.  Starting with the tree trunks, she used blue, brown and white, mixing the paint on the canvas rather than on the palette.  She has the paint on just the tip of the brush, which gives her more control and holds the brush perpendicular to the canvas.   Cat does not use any water, and dries the water from her brush after any cleaning between colours. In fact, she did not clean her brush when moving from the colours of the sky area to the foliage, feathering the edges, which gives a more soft focus effect.  This first layer she called 'blend and blur', which she says emulates nature more realistically, along with constantly switching colours.  In the foliage she moved from greens to yellow to orange. Some foliage was over the trees and some between, using the negative space to show some of the branches and tree trunks.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the first layer had dried, Cat moved onto the next layer, trying to match the original colour as closely as possible.  She mixed the colours more on the palette this time, using just small  amounts of paint for accuracy.  The paint was put on a little thicker, using more of the flat of the brush. She likes to leave some of the first layer showing through. Cat often stepped back from her painting, to see if it was working.  This second layer was for 'lightening, clarifying and sharpening contrasts'.  While Cat uses this wet-on-dry approach for teaching, she often uses wet-on-wet in her everyday practice, combining the blurring and the strengthening of contrasts as she works and she demonstrated this method on one section. For sharper marks, though, it is better to let the paint dry first. 

 

At the finish of the demo, Cat was excited to show us her favourite colours for showing an autumn pathway - putting dabs of Golden's Vat Orange and Liquitex Muted Grey, mixing on the canvas with a little white.  You can see the very effective result in the photo below. 

 

She said to be loose with your marks and let the brushstrokes show through.  She is so confident in her own mark-making and makes it seem very easy but it must take a lot of practice.   Cat did not manage to complete this painting in the time available, but she showed us another of her wonderful paintings, which uses similar colours and the same technique.  I think a lot of us will be trying out Cat's methods in future for painting woodland scenes!