Hi again.

I hope you’re off to a good start to the year.

It’s been pretty rough weather here in Crail for quite a while.  Here’s the beach yesterday when I went for a walk, tide quite ‘out’ at the time but the sea still rough.

Anyway, this is a quick follow up to my recent blog post to let you know about my new – ticketed – venture, and also a quick reminder of a few other things I’ve got going on in the first part of this year.  Firstly the new one,

 ‘PAINT & HECKLE’
Live and interactive Zoom demo evening, ‘from the studio’.

Thursday February 19th, 7 – 9pm
(UK time – that’s 11am US Pacific time, 2pm US Eastern time, 6am Sydney/AU time)

Price: £15  (places limited to 20 maximum)

Please click HERE to buy tickets

Join me – IN JUST A FEW WEEKS – for a fun, interactive experience and general chat about all things watercolour, as I attempt at the same time to paint a decent demo, explaining my thinking as I go, as usual.
This event will NOT be recorded and will NOT therefore appear on Youtube or anywhere else at a later date.  It is a live event only, where you don’t need to worry about whatever you might call out, or what you’re wearing (well, not much)!

In essence, this is a demo event.  But with me encouraging you to chat with me.  You might ask questions about anything to do with painting, not necessarily pertinent to the particular moment in the demo.  That’s fine. I’ll roll with it (as they say).  There may be some time at the end for other questions or chat too; we’ll have to see how much is left after the main demo, if any.  If there’s time I could potentially demonstrate other little things in answer to queries – etc.
I haven’t decided what I’ll be painting yet, by the way.  I prefer to decide very close to the time, to make sure I’m into the idea at that moment.  But it’ll be a new scene to me and therefore a genuine challenge and ‘watercolour adventure’, which is what I always do for demo painting these days.
I will email my photo reference/s to all attendees in advance of the evening, so you can easily follow from home what I’m working from.  I will probably also share my screen to discuss it at times during the demo, and definitely before I start it.

Further details about how this will work:

I will be ‘spotlighted’ in the app so my camera will appear large in the centre of the screen.  But you will be visible to other participants unless you switch  your camera to ‘off’ within the meeting.  That is absolutely fine with me if you prefer  to do that and is entirely up to you.
I will have all participants ‘muted’ when I get started with the demo, but you absolutely can unmute yourselves at any point.  Please do!, but then remember to mute yourself again after speaking to ensure no accidental background noise comes through; snoring, etc. (& definitely no food munching because that WILL put me off).

We will see how it goes!
And don’t worry, you don’t HAVE to heckle.  I had to call it something, didn’t I?  I’ve seen elsewhere ‘paint and chat’ has been done as a title for similar things, and more than once, but I thought that pretty much fit the bill to be honest so this is just my version.
I mostly want to convey that this is a relaxed and informal demo event which I hope will be genuine fun, and should be just as much so always via Zoom as I always intend a demo to be when I visit an art group in person.
As I say, I’ll have myself ‘spotlighted’ in Zoom, so will be the one filling the screen, most of the time just with my board and palette.  But I’ll chatting ‘to camera’ as I welcome you at the start, and also screen-sharing to discuss my references, so you’ll see me and maybe a few other faces on the screen at different points.

Following ticket purchase you will receive the Zoom event link by email.
Please look after that email so that you can find it on the evening of Feb 19th.  There will also be an option in the email to add the event to your calendar, if you do such things.
On the evening please click the link to join the event on time – or preferably a few minutes early – as it will start on time.  I look forward to welcoming you to my studio!  So yeah, feel free to bring any questions or irreverence you may have.

Rough at Roome Bay.  Plein air in my home village of Crail on Christmas eve.

Mastrius (click here for homepage)

My Mentorship at Mastrius. 
Skies Workshop, at Mastrius. 
I was recently invited to become a painting mentor at Mastrius, and my mentorship group will be starting on Tuesday February the 24th.
If this sounds like it might be for you, you can enrol now.
I have also now also arranged to lead a Zoom-based workshop – on my methods for Skies and clouds, also via Mastrius, which will be on February 17th.   You can still join me for either of these.
I wrote a bit more about Mastrius on my previous blog post (link to that at bottom), but you can find full details on Mastrius’ website, by clicking on the links above here – and of course do get in touch if you have any enquiry.

Four day Studio-based course in March, at Raw Umber Studios, Stroud, Gloucestershire. 

Thursday, 12 March 2026 – Sunday, 15 March 2026

This course is four whole days (10am – 5pm) of intensive and fun watercolour landscape.
I’m looking forward to a fully studio-based course – a bit of a change, for me!

Please find full course description, and Materials List, by clicking on the link above.

As with all my tuition and other things mentioned above, I will look forward to meeting you, working with you, and sharing as fully as possible all I have learned about painting landscape in watercolour.

Note that the course is non-residential.
Stroud is an attractive town on the edge of the Cotswolds, with good travel connections.
Raw Umber also have a ‘student handbook’ which they can send you that includes advice from other students including accommodation recommendations.
Raw Umber Studios is a high quality art school, run as non-profit.  A rare kind of place.  If you have a look at their website you’ll note that they have a specialism in portrait and figure, and I am their first watercolour landscape course tutor.
They’ve also produced a quality ‘paint-off’ type programme, the first episode of which you can see for free on youtube – and also get to see the studio we’ll be in – here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zflNxhFb-Os

Video tuition

My two videos are now directly purchase-able from the Video Tuition page of my website.
I’ve also added a third, which is the first video I ever made, previously only available on DVD and not for several years.  For any completists!  That one features just one demo painting, but a few other useful things I think.  It is £7 plus VAT.
More details on that and the link to buy it are here:
https://jembowdenart.gumroad.com/l/springeveninghedgerow

I have recently recorded a couple more new demo videos, but will be doing more again.  When I have something I’m happy enough with I’ll edit and make available for sale, and that should be later in the year.

Finally….

my previous (recent) blog post, in case you missed it – full of paintings!

https://www.jembowdenwatercolour.co.uk/2025/12/22/here-and-now-with-watercolours-and-wild-nature/

Of course, let me know if you have any questions about anything, either here in the comments or by email:  jembowdenwatercolour@gmail.com

Cheers for now,
Jem

A safe haven.?