Distilling the detail from the landscape to leave enough detail present without going over the top, and then adding just the right amount of information to make a convincing, expressive painting can be quite a daunting task. All that work! But it need not be difficult. Some paintings have more visual information in them than others – it all depends on the subject and your aim for the final painting. My method is to assess the scene, right down to the last blade of grass, before extracting sufficient information to create a winning painting

Initial responses
There’s a very fine balance to this. Dealing with the challenges of working en plein air – the ever-changing light effects and adverse weather, for instance – can take a great deal of concentration, effort and dedication. Having learned the hard way myself, it is best to keep things simple and use media that is quick to set up and work with – if not, you are likely to miss the moment.

In most circumstances I use charcoal and pastel to work my way tonally through an initial idea and make a visual record in the field. However, on occasion, I do take acrylics as well as a variety of small canvas panels, which will easily fit in the back of a rucksack. There’s no use taking all your studio kit out on location, unless you are a glutton for punishment, so it’s best to travel light. My photographic backpack, which is made to carry a tripod, is ideal, as the tripod area carries my easel and the pack has plenty of storage for paints, long brushes and cloths. I find it so much easier to carry my gear on my back and it makes my pochade a thing of the past.

Having gathered information at first hand, I pursue a deeper response to my initial landscape sketches, often by working on larger compositions in my studio. I might develop ideas with a series of paintings, or just one. To maintain the energy and expression felt in the field I have a need to work quickly and thus select to use acrylics –their fast-drying and versatile properties allow me to build layers quickly from the initial wash right through to a heavy bodied impasto application. Knowing your media and using it to express exactly what you feel is half the battle.

Moorland Forms, acrylic on stretched boxed canvas, (76x76cm)

Within the North Yorkshire Moors National Park is a beautiful deep valley with a superb vista that stretches for miles. Known as The Hole of Horcum, it is covered in heather and has superb seasonal colour. This large expressive painting was created to reflect the magnitude of the escarpment

Acrylics – an overview
The rich and subtle blends of colour that can be created with acrylics and their speed of drying are their number one selling point for me. I do not have the time to wait for hours and even days for layers of paint to dry. The binder in acrylic paint is a polymer emulsion, which assists this speed of drying. Retarders can be added to slow down the drying time if you so wish – this is useful for blending and so on – but I prefer to use my own technique of layering glazes in my painting rather than the continuous smooth transition of one paint application into another. These layers build up radiating and interesting colour effects.

Another advantage of acrylics is that they are much less toxic than oils, for example, and there are no fumes. They do not require thinners or any hydrocarbon-based mediums or varnishes. If needs be they can easily be thinned to an almost watercolour-type consistency. At the other end of the scale they can be thickened to a heavy impasto paint to add another dimension to your painting. Heavy body acrylics are useful for heavy applications of pigment without fear of the surface cracking.

Autumn Moors and Valley, acrylic on canvas, (51x51cm)

Distant swirling mists began to filter through the valley floor. I had to work quickly to get the essence of the painting mapped out on location so that I had enough information recorded for a later studio painting that expresses the colour and filtered light of the scene

Acrylic techniques
Some artists are concerned that acrylic pigments dry too quickly and, once dry, the paint is unworkable. For me the quick-drying properties are an advantage because paint layers can be glazed quickly and cleanly, without the worry that any under-painted glazes will be disturbed by subsequent washes.

In a similar way to watercolour or gouache, acrylic paint can be manipulated whilst the paint film is still wet – wet-in-wet techniques, lifting and blotting colour, and so on. However, once dry, acrylic paint is permanent and can only be removed with an ammonia-based product or by rubbing with alcohol. I prefer to work with the marks I have made – I build my paintings in layers and in my work every mark counts.

Acrylics can be used straight from the tube, or mixed with water, on almost any painting surface, including canvas, glass, fabric, wood and other porous materials. They can also be used in combination with other painting media and often are used as an underpainting for oils, but do allow the acrylic layer to dry before completing the work in oils, and don’t alternate layers of oil and acrylic.

Twilight over Ilkley Moor, acrylic on board, (37x37cm)

Palette and mixing
Student colours have more filler than artist-quality ones, which means that the paints are not as bright. I’d rather buy a few good-quality professional colours, as you can’t beat the vibrancy from these paints.

I advocate that you try as many colours as you can, get to know their properties, and find those you can’t do without. Now and then I’ll try a new colour, particularly when depicting scenes from abroad. For example, the tones, colours and tints required for an African scene will be far different from those used to depict scenes of more temperate climates! For a painting that requires a different kind of effect, or further expression,

I often use an interference acrylic medium, such as interference blue mixed with the blue colours only, or a metallic paint such as gold or bronze added to my warm colour mixes. This makes the painting positively shimmer in a certain light or when viewed from certain angles, and there is added interest for the viewer as it appears to change in hue and tone, which always has an engaging visual effect.

It’s important to keep your colour mixes clean. Working with water that looks like mud makes mud-like colour mixes. Make sure you keep several jam jars or large containers for your water nearby and wash your brushes regularly or keep them temporarily in this water because if the paint dries on them, they’ll be ruined.

Moorland Autumn Mists, Ilkley Moor, North Yorkshire, acrylic on canvas, (48x48cm)

Rombalds Moor is a popular destination for outdoor enthusiasts. The textures, colours, shapes and form in the landscape are magical. Here I have concentrated on those inspirational forms, contrasting the man-made with the natural using the parallel constructions of the stone walls and diagonal rough track to lead the eye through the painting

ACRYLIC PAINTS
I keep to the following brands of acrylic paint and have come to know the paints well:

• Liquitex. This heavy body acrylic paint has a higher viscosity and gives superb colour resonance. It’s an ideal choice for me when working on the final layers in any acrylic painting where I really want good opacity and the brush-marks to show in the paint.
• Daler-Rowney System 3 is a smooth, free-flowing paint that has really great colour resonance and viscosity.
• Winsor & Newton Artists’ Acrylic. In my opinion, if you are serious about colour resonance and want to work with a professional range of paints, you cannot go wrong with any of the colours in this range.

I buy the following colours, from all three manufacturers, for my colour mixes:

• Deep magenta
• Quinacridone deep violet
• Napthol crimson
• Alizarin crimson
• Cadmium orange
• Burnt sienna
• Burnt umber
• Raw sienna
• Cadmium yellow deep hue
• Lemon yellow
• Yellow ochre
• Emerald green
• Permanent light blue
• Cerulean blue
• Cobalt blue
• Winsor blue
• Prussian blue
• Ultramarine blue
• French ultramarine
• Payne’s grey
• Titanium white

Robert Dutton exhibits widely and organises his regular full-day workshops close to Harrogate, Yorkshire, and residential art breaks throughout the north of England. For more information visit his website www.rdcreative.co.uk or email Robert at [email protected] Robert’s next residential art break is at Cober Hill, near Scarborough, from April 22 to 25, 2014, where you can join him for four days of professional art tuition, in the studio and in the landscape. It is suitable for all levels of ability.

This feature is taken from the March 2014 issue of The Artist

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