A brief holiday in the sun. Back to a picturesque old hamlet in France where I ran a plein air workshop last year, and probably will again in future. Although I was on holiday, with these 3 scenes I was also looking for future ‘demo painting’ options so I made sure each was done within […]

Corsham High Street. A slightly strange day weather-wise.  The forecast was pretty good, but early mist hung around, the sun never showed, it was humid and by halfway through my morning painting (Corsham High Street) it started spotting with rain.  The spotting continued and gradually got worse until it was properly raining and we had […]

  Wiltshire is a very beautiful county. I’m getting around it this year thanks to being invited into a painting group, early last year. The group is based in this area, around a core of friends, and exists for reasons of friendship and sharing the pleasure and adventure of painting outdoors. Yet it does include […]

A couple of plein air visits to watery places in recent weeks. The first here was done from a tiny island on the river Avon at Saltford lock, looking downriver and towards the light. The second is an early morning view from Bristol ‘floating harbour’, with a huge red-brick bonded warehouse in the background. Further […]

A recent trip to Shropshire, England, close to the border with Wales. A picturesque, peaceful area with many very old, timber-framed buildings in the towns and villages. This first painting is of the gatehouse to Stokesay castle, which is not really a castle but a fortified medieval manor house, and has several different amazing architectural […]

A momentous day in the UK, but life, and thankfully painting will go on. Visiting a new location is always a pleasure, since exploring and figuring out how to interpret a scene is a big part of the fun. Unfamiliarity with a subject does add to the challenge though, and often it is only after […]

Here is this Thursday’s plein air painting, from beautiful Lacock, where many period dramas (and Harry Potter) are/were filmed. Loads of timber framed buildings everywhere. Did this in the morning, half-way through which the sun came out. I had a similar issue with the light as in my visit to Bideford a fortnight ago; ie. […]

Here is my quick demo from Patchings Art Festival at the weekend, where I was demonstrating at the stand of Alpha Painting Holidays. It was a great experience, although I had to follow a brilliant demonstration by Steve Hall, which was a bit daunting. This was the first time I’d visited Patchings and it was […]

The first here is a painting from the afternoon, in the very picturesque Wiltshire village of Biddestone. My second visit here, and I love the place for its old buildings in interesting arrangements. The scene here is of one half of the village green, and as you can see from the photo, it does have […]

Re-working is something I think is an important part of learning. What I mean is to re-paint a scene, after self-critiqueing an initial attempt at it. Having gained some objectivity from a gap of time, I make notes on what could be done to improve the piece, and how that can be achieved, in terms […]