Greetings of the season/s

I hope you are well, having a meaningful festive period, and I hope my timing isn’t bad.

 

One of those days where I embrace the reckless part of my personality and decided to paint in a spot where I knew the incoming tide would cut me off.  There was also a strong wind, with gusts of 40 mph or more. But having been trapped indoors by even worse weather for most recent days, I had a compulsion to go and do something meaningful regardless of consequences.  In the end I charged the gauntlet over wet rocks at the best moment, and thankfully avoided broken spine/equipment, etc.  Highly exhilirating! As was the painting before.  Might have to do that again sometime.  Didn’t actually quite have time to ‘finish’ the painting, and all was done extremely quickly while battling the wind  – and a bit of light rain, which came on heavy soon after finishing so that was lucky too.  But actually I quite like the ‘result’ of this one.  As ever that is no doubt influenced by the nature of the experience.  It is perhaps my favourite thing in life; to feel and even see some success from a process that is so fast that you have entirely trusted in first impression, instinct and spontaneous response, while under the jurisdiction of the mighty elements.

 

…. It seems to have been a whole year since I last posted a blog.
I have a few new things to announce, and a lot of new paintings done, of course.  Some very memorable experiences, mad, frustrating and life-affirming.  And there were plenty of days where inspiration was lacking, when much walking but no painting occurred.  Difficult days.  I’m sure you know them.
As the years pass, painting becomes ever more important to me just as a practice of presence, of getting me outside where things always seem better and always bring some perspective,  ‘atmospheric’ and other sorts.

 

New for 2026 – Mentorship

Have you heard yet of ‘Mastrius’?  It is an art mentorship programme/business, based in Canada but now operating in tens of countries worldwide.  I was recently invited to join their list of painting mentors, and will be starting in February, if enough people sign up.
The gist is we meet up once a month, via Zoom, for two hours, and I will provide personalised mentorship.  Meetings will be every fourth Tuesday of the month, at 7 – 9pm UK time.  This is within a small group, of 8 students maximum but in my case likely smaller.
That’s the main part, but there’s more included in a  subscription.  Part of the idea is that the group provides mutual peer support as well as the tutor mentorship, so it’s a social thing, and there are monthly demos/presentations (by other artists) and a monthly student group meet-up, forum, video resources, etc.
Can you see this being useful to you maybe, or just fun?  Please click on the image below for my own  page on the website, and of course do contact me if you have any questions about it.

….Or follow this link for Mastrius Homepage to discover what it’s all about more broadly.  They also have a Youtube account you could check out.  https://www.mastrius.com/

…. By the way, I remain available to teach (or ‘mentor’) on an entirely one-to-one basis via Zoom, in case you’d prefer that.

 

Four day (non-residential) course, Stroud, Gloucestershire, at Raw Umber Studios. March 2026, £480

Please CLICK HERE for full details of this, my only indoor-based course of 2026.  In fact the longest purely studio-based course I think I’ve done.   Being indoors makes it a bit easier to focus particularly on the technical side of things.   As always, I really look forward to passing on what I’ve learned, and to sharing in the pleasure of new company.  I’d be delighted if you’d join me.
Raw Umber Studios is a high quality, non-profit art school, the likes of which are rare in these times.  And if you don’t know it, Stroud is a welcoming, quite arty/green/independent/hip old town, making a nice base,  also being surrounded immediately by walkable hills topped with commons and great views.  On the edge of the Cotswolds, at the meeting of five valleys, it is served by rail and close to the M5 motorway.
Please contact me if you have any questions at all about the course.

 

New videos

I am producing some more videos this year.  There is currently one new free (unnarrated) demo on Ytube, HERE, to get me back into the swing.  I’m in the middle of finalising a couple of others, which will be better, and probably for sale, hopefully quite soon and I’ll be adding links to my website here for those.  The new Youtube one is quarter-imperial size for a change, but the others will be my usual larger size.

 

‘Plein Air Painting With…’ and ‘Studio Painting With…’ videos

These are now available to buy directly, via my Video Tuition page.

If you’ve bought either of these two videos previous to January 2026:
They will be available at their previous/current location (where they’ve been for about 7+ years) until March 2026.  After this time they will cease to be available at their old location.  I’ve had to do this in order to make the videos financially viable.  Thank you if you’ve purchased these videos.  If you have, please now either download them in order to keep them on your own hard drive, by going to where you stream them from (i.e. Vimeo) and logging in as normal.  You’ll find a Download link with each video.  Or, once they’re no longer on Vimeo if you’d like to retain access to them for streaming then I hope to be able to make them available to you at their new location, but I’ll just need to you to send me some proof of purchase:  Probably you can search your email inbox for the email you’ll have had from me at time of purchase.

 

My year outside

I’ll not post every single painting this time as it makes it too long, and this is probably too long still!  All (decent) efforts can of course be found for sale on my Plein Air Gallery page.

So here are some highlights of my year, including from my local haunts in the East Neuk, my short holiday in Northumberland in Spring, and a brief painting/camping trip to the Isle of Skye in early Summer.  It’s not in chronological order.  I’ve not this time included the easel/scene shots, but you can always find me on Instagram where those are included along with the painting on each post.  Often short video snippets too.  (You don’t have to have a subscription to Instagram in order to view Instagram pages, just do a google search for Instagram along with my name and you should find my page easily.)

 

A challenging face-lit background of St Andrews, among other aspects, made this one interesting.  I always try to do things somehow differently each time, at least in one way or other.  I think I did that.  This was ab0ut my last of the ‘busy’ season, and I was pleased with it – and pleased to be pleased with one of my last of the season!  I’d had three on the trot before this that had gone badly.  Had some bad luck with weather too.  It’s pretty hard when you repeatedly go to significant physical efforts, spend time, and come away with not even an enjoyable experience, never mind a painting worth looking at.   This day also started with me waiting for rain to stop and then a strong rainbow over St Andrews, followed by a slippery muddy walk to get here.  Then… I actually painted pretty well!  Sigh of relief….  It happens.
…. Reminds me, this year I had a lengthy written exchange with a distant Facebook painter friend, who was going through a very bad patch. I was doing my best to give the encouragement that I know we ALL need, at times – to push on through.  Or have a break for a while. Or, indeed, to quit once and for all – or for now.  There’s nothing wrong with endings; the time may have come – as he was feeling, but not happily.  We don’t know that we’re ‘supposed’ to be doing anything for ever.  That’s always in the back of my own mind, and quite often pretty close to the front.  Pleased to say though, he’s now back producing beautiful paintings and enjoying it again.  I’ve been through all that, more than once, and I don’t panic about it any more.

 

Painted in the afternoon, after painting The Old Man of Storr in the morning.  In both places I was surrounded by hoards of tourists, the likes of which I’ve never experienced before in a landscape setting.  The east coast of Skye seems to have a conveyor belt of coach trips of international tourists, and I was amazed that I was able to paint while in continual conversation with people from China, USA and Europe, who for some reason sometimes wanted to have their picture taken with me.  Mind you, a kind lady from the US asked me if I’d like a pic of myself, which actually was useful since I did need an update to my very old ‘profile’ photo (Thank you, Mackenzie Starkey!).  I had bagpipes as a constant soundtrack behind me, where the main attraction is actually looking the other way from this cliff view, where there’s a very high and dramatic waterfall.

 

This one was very memorable for me.  Stood in the most exposed possible position overlooking a massive expanse of the northeast of Skye.  Like painting in a wind tunnel, with my easel pegged to the ground, and still one hand simultaneously holding board down and clasping palette throughout.  I must have looked like an idiot.  This painting is all about that light effect, but I had to completely paint that from memory, after the most fleetingly short moment that it actually occurred.  I had had an exasperatingly frustrating morning up higher, at ‘The Quiraing’, where weather was appallingly unaccommodating.  Then, after giving myself a firm pep talk I braced again, for this.  It’s an amazing place, but this was probably typical weather; in fact often it will be far worse!  At least the whole area wasn’t shrouded in low cloud and rain, so I’m grateful for not having a wasted journey.   So anyway, a challenging situation, and this light effect was painted from just two or three fleeting seconds of Nature’s pure inspiration seared into my mind’s eye, which then never returned throughout the whole painting time.  Rough result, yeah.  Highly.  But if this is a painting I get to keep for the memories until I die, then that’ll be fine with me.

 

I was lucky when I got here.  That it wasn’t completely lost in cloud!  That happens often here, including about a decade ago when I first came to the Isle of Skye and this location.  Also, although there were a few midges, they were not too bad, whereas they had been unbearable on my previous visit.    Masses of tourists though, who flocked past continually and some chatted to me – but first they had to walk up cautiously off the path to where I sat – yes, I had to sit for the first time in many a year because the slope of the ground except on the path itself was quite extreme.  It is a really special subject to witness, and I felt I did a reasonable job with the painting.  Do you see the tiny figures on the path?  Just a couple, added for a sense of the vast scale of these odd rock formations (that’s called ‘The Cathedral’ to the left of the ‘old man’.  In reality there were many more people along that well worn path.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After four years, this one fell into place at last.  I needed the tide, wind, sun direction and my availability to all coincide in order to paint this subject how I wanted it.  I think ‘sunshine and showers’ might be my favourite weather situation of all; at least in terms of summer weather.  It’s when you get the best clouds, for one thing.   This lighthouse is just a stroll from The Lady’s Tower, and even more exposed.  I haven’t painted at Elie all that much, but got a few in this year.  It is probably the most reliably windy spot in the East Neuk, so that does limit opportunities.  Here are a couple more from Elie:

 

 

I think the fastest painting of my year.  I was later than planned at the scene, which I’d found the day before.  This was on our annual holiday, so I don’t always take priority!  Not knowing the area well, from what I could tell the sun was *about* to come round and light the front facing aspects of the castle.  I totally didn’t want that, so raced like hell to get this done, with barely any pencil drawing.  I thought it awful and a pity, at the time.  A while later and I quite liked it.  And in the end, the sun still hadn’t quite come round even as I was leaving the scene.

The previous day I did this one, from a slightly further away spot, down closer to sea level:

 

We managed to fit in a visit to Holy Island the next day, and here was my effort.  An amazing place, but actually struggled to find great composition options in the limited time I had.  There were many spots with just too many people, for one thing.  I thought this was a bit different at least.  Could have sworn I was using a bluer colour for the shadow on the castle.  Every single painting, though, such things happen.  All have bits (usually many) that don’t go to plan.  My eyes were deceiving me, presumably owing to what was a very bright sun at the time.  Maybe I’d just come from a warm mix and had some still on my brush… All these things are done and over with in seconds. I’d thought I was putting down almost pure Ultramarine there.  Frustrating, but that’s watercolour… or at least, that’s my watercolour.

 

Another that I’d waited a long time for: High tide, low evening sun.  Has to be at the right time of year, too.
It was very cold, down in the shadow of the low cliff, perched precariously on rocks very near to splashing incoming tide.  Luckily the sea wasn’t rough.  A challenging subject just to draw – which I never actually enjoy, always rush, and have never yet actually got very right!  But all in all, though I left unhappy at the time, it’s one I’m reasonably pleased with now.
None of this is easy after all, and got to give myself a break.  This was also done pretty fast in terms of the painting.  Using the ‘suncalc’ website and my tide times phone app – and knowing the location fairly well now –  I was able to arrive at pretty much the right time, allowing for drawing it out, and then only having about an hour with the sun on the building in the right place before finally it lowers over the horizon.  And of course, it was also one where I wasn’t going to turn up until an evening that reliably forecast the sun staying out!  Tide position, time of year for correct sun position, and right weather forecast in fact do not all align very often at all.

I also painted this scene, from a close spot, in early Spring – in the early morning light –

St Monans, early spring, sun rising.

 

 

A different kind of beach.  One very slow precarious walk across many seaweed covered rocks to get to this spot.  Spot the raven.

 

There’s a popular tidal pool here (one of three in the East Neuk villages), but it’s covered by the tide at this point. I love that nearest house, which looks in reality kind of like a dolls house or something.  It’s a distinctively ‘east neuk’ scene.  I had to move my easel three times during the painting, as I needed to be close to the water’s edge for the composition to work.

 

First time I think I’ve seen bales stacked in this way.  And an afternoon of an inspiring sky.  I love painting this type of cloudscape, but the fact is, these occur more often further inland.  A lot of our skies here, coming in off the sea, are actually disappointing to me.  It’s one thing that I hadn’t foreseen before moving here.  Often we get either almost pure blue sky, or larger masses of unbroken cloud.  Just the way it is in this particular area.  The farmer came to check me out during this.  No problem.  His uncle had been a painter, I wasn’t standing on any crops, and he said the kids can be a problem for him so he came to see what was going on.

 

And a few of my local muses, which I return to paint at least once a year…

 

 

 

 

Dedham Hall course from this Spring

Had a really good time on my week-long course at Dedham this spring.  I met some lovely people.  Here are a few photos, with thanks and credit to Daryl and Caroline.  And thank you to Jim and Wendy for the usual perfect hosting and all round positive and beauty-filled experience, enjoyed by all.

 

 

 

 

Finally; other things ongoing.

I made a bit more progress with my ongoing book project a while back.  Possibly there’ll be a bit more time before the winter’s out, and it’s actually shaping up now.  Might get it finished next winter!!
The other thing is, I’m trying to have a go at some oil painting again, and also some acrylics, and gouache.  There is not enough time!  I have literally done about one of each so far, but this is how I plan to use my winters when I cannot get out to paint outdoors. I do struggle badly with motivation when working in the studio, with photo references.  I’ve never had a ‘studio’ that is welcoming, which doesn’t help.  A cold, bleak and dark spare room where I have to avoid banging my head, which is always a mess and not very well lit despite efforts with strong daylight bulbs.  Another problem is that changing medium necessitates a tedious move-around of all the ‘furniture’ in the limited space.  Also with every tutor session, Zoom session, video recording session, etc.  Whinge, whinge….  It is a dream so far unfulfilled though – a nice ‘studio’, with enough space!  You might know the feeling.
I hope to one day be able to add these other mediums to my teaching work.   So far I’ve done a couple of oil paintings that I think are okay, but I’m trying to keep things very experimental, so no two are even close to the same approach, style, etc yet.  That’s probably good, I think, but I’ve got a VERY long way to go before I’ve got my own, intuitive ‘way’ with it.   I’m using water-mixable oils, by the way, and making it up as I go along.

Until NEXT TIME.

Thank you for your ongoing interest and for reading this!  Hopefully quite soon (not in a whole year’s time!)  I will be posting again.
And introducing my first ‘Paint & heckle’….   

‘PAINT & HECKLE’
This will be a two-hour ticketed Zoom demo event, with a limited number of tickets and the idea of having a convivial old chat about any and all things painting – whilst I do the demo.  If there’s enough interest and it goes well then I hope to make it a  more regular thing.  Tickets £15.

UPDATE –
*** YOU CAN NOW BUY TICKETS TO THIS ON MY WEBSITE ‘TUITION’ PAGE.  CLICK HERE ***

 

All the best to you for the New Year, and maybe even a very slightly less mad world in 2026…. ?  Fingers crossed.

Look after yourselves and each other,
Jem.

And as always, there were many days this year when things really didn’t work out….