Bruce Mulcahy RSMA

Bruce works almost entirely on the spot using any of the opaque paint types - oil, gouache and acrylic - which seem well-suited to outdoor work as they allow the painting to be changed if conditions change and provide a great variety of marks to suggest natural textures and effects. His paintings begin with a very general sketch on the surface to be painted, placing the main shapes of the subject as they need to be and then moving immediately into paint. When painting Bruce tries to think only of colours, their location and relevant marks suggested by the subject rather than of what it is supposed to be - water, rock, sky etc. As the paint is opaque, a single layer of the right colour in the right place can be the only layer necessary - if he is lucky