Susie Hodge talks to watercolourist, Caroline Ward-Raatikainen about her painting practices
‘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 in situ, where my own eye and hand decide what’s important and what makes that time and place special to me. If I’m working en plein air, 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.
‘The inspiration for my work is always out in the nearby landscapes of silver birch, pine and fir forests where I live. It isn’t so much about creating a likeness of my surroundings, but about finding a way to connect with it, so working en plein air is at the core of what I do; it’s just wonderful to be surrounded by trees.’
A reductive process
‘When I start a work, I’m trying to encapsulate the essence and atmosphere of the forest in that season – in summer it may be the warm light reflecting off the glowing bark of silver birch trunks, or in winter it could be stark spaces created by heavy snowfall on branches. The transformation of the seasons is dramatic and fascinating here – it’s often hard to recognise the same place with only a few months in between visits.
‘I look for what I would describe as rhythm, pattern or harmony that emerge from what can seem like the chaos of
