Sue Netherton

Thoughts about Creating a Painting Inspiration for painting – Cornwall! The sea, the landscape and the wildlife call out to be recorded. It's much easier to take a photo, but a painting explores the subject further and the artist creates a unique aspect of the subject. I have lived in the countryside for most of my life, so the subjects closest to my heart are natural ones or the farmland that man has tended through the millennia. My personal approach is through the media of either oil, acrylic, pastels or watercolour. Sometimes I make a detailed painting and on other occasions I like to experiment with looser, more impressionist effects, especially with acrylics. Colours and the way they interact is exciting. I love the challenge of painting moving water and it appears in many of my paintings, whether as a flowing river or the sea. Trees, hedges, fields, flowers, birds and animals – all of these are worthy subjects. Apart from a GCE O' level in Art obtained a good while ago, I have no qualifications. Many leading artists did not attend art school. We can learn from other artists and from our own experience. I hope that by reading this, you will understand that art is about your observation and feeling for what you have seen. Turning this inspiration into a painting then involves chiefly practising a craft that you have learned. I hope that by reading this, you will understand that you can do it too!