Carol Bruton's formative years as an artist were spent in Spain, a country she still visits regularly. The strong influence of the starkness of the landscape of Southern Spain with its predominant colours of blue and ochre, is evident in her painting. She has used the burnt earth colours to mould her work. The stucco-quality of the canvasses is the discovery of the artist herself. She found that by using a palette knife to mix limestone with the oil medium, she was able to produce in texture the sensations of her Spanish childhood. This stark earth texture is laid in contrast to the flat sky, leaving a brooding, primitive atmosphere. She also spent much time in the Middle East and Africa, where the open spaces and dry colours of the desert are expressed in the composition and textures of her work.