Category: Blog

Another salt and saran wrap background sparks the idea to put a hedgehog amongst the leaves which seemed to have arisen from the loose paint I threw around with gay abandon. So here he is in all his glory, with his friend the dragonfly!

It’s been very blustery here lately, the wind being the latest trick the weather has had up its sleeve for us, following on from drought, weeks of frost, torrential rain and hail – all in May! But the swallows continue to share their aerial displays with us, and delight us that they are back forRead more ⟶

We have a lovely collection of pansies in our garden. Nothing spectacular, but they self-seed every year and every year they come back with their lovely colours and cheerful faces! So every year I have to paint them, of course! So here is a tutorial for Pansies for Spring!

This painting came about by chance, as is often the case. I made a few backgrounds using salt and saran wrap (clingfilm) and this one struck me at first as a bit dark and possibly difficult to paint on. But then I realised that a few dragonflies would be just the ticket, and would lookRead more ⟶

In this tutorial I talk about how to make a simple textured background for your painting, and then how to position the subject easily and effectively on top of that background. Then I show you how to paint a robin in a loose but realistic style, accompanied by his flowery branch of blossom. Why notRead more ⟶

These little cuties grew out of the page after I found a fallen birds’ nest in the garden. I picked up a Staedtler liner pen and sketched some bird-like shapes sitting on twiggy branches, and then coloured them in with loose, splashy watercolor brush-strokes. A satisfying way to spend half an hour – and everyRead more ⟶

Ink and Wash Flowers – Easy Floral Design – Step by Step Tutorial to Inspire Creativity Breaking away from the tightness of line drawing and “colouring in” even if only temporarily, can break an artist’s block and bring you back into the world of painting. Release your inhibitions and expectations and just play with colourRead more ⟶

As promised, another pen and ink tutorial, with a colour wash in watercolour bringing the geranium to life. We have a few geraniums which are determined to struggle into flower despite this very cold spring. Although they look complicated to paint, they can be simplified to individual flowers, the leaves can be thinned out aRead more ⟶

Why is it that often, the hardest part about painting is deciding what to paint, then running out of excuses or reasons to not get started? Why do I suddenly experience an irresistable urge to dust the furniture when I know a painting is waiting impatiently to be born? Today I wanted to do somethingRead more ⟶

I want to give credit to Old Holland for producing this lovely blue colour which I’ve used to great effect in the background of this painting. It’s Caribbean Blue and is available from their suppliers which you can find if you go to their website at https://www.oldholland.com/watercolours/ The splashing of paint onto a watery stretchedRead more ⟶

I was asked to paint a little girl by a client and this painting is the result of a few weeks of thinking and planning the composition and the sketch. It’s now available for you to follow along to as a tutorial on YouTube if you want to have a go. This painting doesn’t requireRead more ⟶

Always a favourite, the hummingbird makes his appearance today in a new coat of many colours! An imagination of a hummingbird, enjoying his favourite treat, the nectar from the hibiscus flower! Many of you will be living in parts of the world where these lovely flowers grow in abundance, and when I lived in theRead more ⟶

Another pretty blue flower which blooms in profusion here all around our house and along the roadsides is the Forget-me-not. Although the flowers are tiny and unassuming, I thought they would make a pretty painting, using watercolour pencils for the flowers, and paint for the leaves. This is the first time I’ve tried a techniqueRead more ⟶

“I’ll sweeten thy sad grave: thou shalt not lack the flower that’s like thy face, pale primrose, nor the azured hare-bell, like thy veins.”– Cymbeline, Act IV, Scene 2 I decided on a whim today to paint a sprig of bluebells. They must be flowering in England, I thought. One of the things I missRead more ⟶

It’s often recommended these days to use Sap Green and Olive Green to paint leaves and trees, which is very different from the way I was taught a hundred years ago. The tradition in watercolour in the second half of the 20th century was to never use green straight from a tube, and my paintingsRead more ⟶

I often use line in my watercolour paintings, in the form of calligraphic marks towards the end, which I feel help bring the work to life. But recently I’ve rediscovered an interest in the actual process of line and wash, using either pen and ink or watercolour pencil and wash. In the effort to getRead more ⟶

I was working on a YouTube video yesterday when suddenly there was a thud on the French door window next to my desk. I looked up, and to my dismay and despite the bird cutouts on the window to help prevent this, I realised that a small bird had mistakenly flown into the glass andRead more ⟶