This was my experiment with Langton Prestige, in the studio.  A nice paper, I think, but I would need to adapt my painting approach to it, plus it is considerably more costly than good old Bockingford… Paying the paper tax No paper makes watercolour easy, obviously, so why keep hoping?… Every so often, with […]

In a moderately successful attempt to avoid Bristol rush hour traffic I departed the city early, or so I thought (7am) and began drawing out this view by 8.30am.   On a grass verge of the main road into Lacock – a very picturesque, very medieval village in Wiltshire, for a ‘day off’ with painting […]

Hope you’ve had a good month, out there in the world. It included holiday time for me, and I got down to Cornwall, to a most favourite spot for a bit of relaxation and of course plein air painting.  The above was done on a fantastic day at Booby’s Bay, which is the best […]

Boat & huts at Walberswick. This is a recent painting, of Walberswick, from photos I took on holiday a few years ago.  I took a snap at the first point of pausing, also shown here. I usually don’t paint in many ‘stages’, as per a step-by-step, normally only stopping to allow full drying once […]

Black is back:  I refer to the songster, out there singing in the rain. There’s no more uplifting thing in the world to me than the blackbird’s return each year.  Though I probably look a pretty mad figure if the neighbours saw me, sat out there in the rain literally soaking it up.  Never mind.  […]

Hello again. Better news this month, I now have ‘wheels’.  This means I’ll be able to travel a bit more off the beaten track for plein air painting, and for art group demos, etc.  I visited the Mendip hills the other day, not actually very far from me, but difficult to visit without a car. […]

This time of year is one of my favourites because of how the trees are revealed without foliage.  The painting above is a recent one, and a bit experimental with its use of black in the mix.  Inspired partly by the crows too, which are often a distinct feature of walks in the fields through […]

Competition entries & result. Well, ‘the results are in’ and as promised I’m displaying here all entries to my competition, which was to paint a Lake District scene based largely on my rather dark photograph shown above. Thank you to all entrants for taking part, and I hope you found it […]

I never wanted to annoy the teachers, but is there a better question? What do I want to do – to achieve – in my painting?  And why.  This can seem to be a process of elimination, perhaps being more easy to identify what I don’t want it to be.  I notice things when […]

Dedham Hall Perhaps long overdue, but I had the pleasure a few weeks ago of attending my first ever painting holiday as a paying guest.  This was with Steve Hall, at Dedham Hall in ‘Constable Country’ on the Suffolk/Essex border.  It was a great experience, and having been a fan of Steve’s painting for a […]