ANNA PERLIN WINS HEAT FIVE OF SKY ARTS LANDSCAPE ARTIST OF THE YEAR 2016
by Cass Art
Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year 2016 returned to our screens for another gripping episode this week as a new round of artists stepped up to the easel for a chance to be crowned this year’s Artist of the Year.
Anna Perlin impressed the judges with her rendition of Wray Castle, crowning her Heat Five Winner this week.
As an established artist and print maker, Anna creates her distinctive work from her Hertfordshire studio. She is inspired by the environment around her, particularly the British landscape, people and places she visits, which are continuing themes in her work.
Graduating in Textile design and marketing in 2001, Anna initially worked in the retail world before realising that she didn't want to regret not taking her passion for art further. She has been a full time artist ever since and her work has been exhibited widely, including a show at the Mall Galleries.
We caught up with Anna to find out more about her vibrant landscapes and how she injects a sense of seasonal atmosphere into her work…
Hi Anna! Congratulations on winning your heat. How did you find the whole experience at Sky Arts?

What materials do you use to achieve your work - Do you have any brands which you prefer?
My work is mixed media in a true sense. The first few layers of painting are acrylics and then I play around with adding paper and fabric collage, drawing with charcoal and oil pastels as well as layering in more acrylic paints or oil paints mixed with cold wax medium. I've just started using oil bars as well which give some really nice textured marks.
I use a lot of Winsor and Newton products as they're good quality whatever your budget. I also use Rosemary & Co brushes as they're excellent.

I'll start off by taking my camera out on a walk, or going to find something I've seen that captured me, and I will take loads of photos. Then when I'm home, I stick the photos up on my studio wall as well as lots of magazine tears of pictures and colour combinations I've liked that give me the 'feeling' of what my camera has captured.
I always paint an all over colour on the canvas first so I'm not working on white. I use different coloured backgrounds depending on the feel I'm trying to get – I like using a dark background to highlight brights, such as a sunny day or flowers. A pale background can give subtle tones or a bright background can create interest into a very tonal landscape. I then use acrylics to map out the painting and at some point - I'll start adding in all the mixed media.

At the time I was pleased. They were such strange conditions to be doing a painting under and I had managed to create something in 4 hours that looked vaguely finished and that upheld my style and approach to painting. Then to top it all, it got selected for the semi-finals which was fantastic.
Afterwards I couldn't really remember what I'd painted though and I hadn't taken any photos, so when I received my piece back and I had a really good look at it, I was disappointed with how it compared to my studio pieces which I can pour days and days of thought into. Knowing that people would be judging my normal work based on that painting is hard as you want to put your best forward and I know it falls short of my best, but in the end how can I be unhappy with something that gave me the opportunity this painting did?!

Feeling Inspired?
Read our exclusive interviews with Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year 2016 heat winners every week on the Cass Art Blog.
Heat winners Philip Edwards and Titus Agbara are now live.
Explore mixed media painting and the layering of oil bars like Anna’s work with our selection of materials on the Cass Art website.
Catch the fourth episode of Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year 2016 on Tuesday 15th November on Sky Arts from 8pm.