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 […]

Time has flown, and this month has been a very full one. I was joined by 14 people for my painting holiday in the Wye Valley with Alpha Painting Holidays (www.alphapaintingholidays.co.uk), which went really well, owing to great company, great organisation by Alpha, and grea… good weather.  And great food!  Here are a few photos […]

Well, you can keep your heatwaves, thank you. We took a short break in Pembrokeshire during the searing heat of last week.  As always I’d intended to paint a few plein airs whilst exploring a new area to me, but find heat one of the worst things.  Very short periods, okay, lovely, […]

I’ve had a full and enjoyable month, with some more new experiences, as ever in this, my first year as full time artist/tutor. I was so pleased to be invited to run a workshop at Windrush in May (http://www.jamesfletcherwatson.com/courses.asp). Encouragingly the course filled up last year, and I think the day went well as everyone seemed […]

A couple of weeks ago I visited Swansea Art Society for a demo and while there managed to visit The Mumbles (headland/small rocky islands with a lighthouse), where Swansea Bay meets the Gower peninsula.   I only had time to take photos, so the above painting is worked from those.  I hope to visit the […]

The plein air season has probably been here for a while, but the first chance I had to get out was a Sunday at the end of March, and a visit to Bath it was. I’ve seen this view before and knew it was the one I wanted to do.  It’s quite wide though, as […]

It’s that time of year again, when I’m always hoping I might pull off a decent last minute painting to enter into one of the popular competitions. But even if I did, I wouldn’t have the confidence that I’m seeing it objectively enough to be right about it so soon after painting. How are […]

I like to work sometimes with a quite vague, simple idea of a composition, and allow surprises to take the painting in a slightly different direction.  It’s a way of getting some practise at a particular subject whilst keeping it fresh and enjoyable.  Also, any training in ‘adapting to circumstances’ with watercolour is time well […]

Step by Step – Southwold fisherman’s huts and boat. I thought I’d share the process behind this recent painting. The composition was chosen from hundreds of photographs I took on a visit to Southwold and Walberswick a couple of years ago.  I didn’t feel much amendment was needed to the composition, although I did […]