I committed myself to revisiting this view of La Placa Reial in Barcelona whilst I was away on holiday, and before last week’s horrific attacks. Unsurprisingly, those events did play on my mind whilst painting. Like many locals and visitors, we enjoyed many a walk on Las Ramblas and the bustling network surrounding streets and… Read More
Carrying on from where I left off last week, I've been really enjoying working in my sketchbooks. Here're a few pages and close-ups of some of my efforts. We only made it back from back from France earlier today, after spending a wonderful few days in Dieppe, so apologies that this post is so brief.… Read More
In an effort to shake off my current watercolour malaise, I’ve brought some inspiration on holiday with me in the form of Joseph Zbukvic’s brilliant book ‘Mastering Mood and Atmosphere in Watercolour’. I find it a wonderfully insightful book, rich with practical advice and examples from one of the best watercolour artists working today. He… Read More
I suppose it’s been a long time coming but I’ve finally hit a watercolour wall of disillusionment! For a few weeks now I’ve been struggling to get excited about my painting. Subject matters that I usually look forward too now hold no appeal whatsoever and when I do see an image or view – I… Read More
As an avowed bargain hunter, I take great pleasure in browsing the rich and varied offerings of the local charity shops. Sadly it’s something I rarely have the time or opportunity to do much of these days (which is probably no bad thing!). I did, however, have a few spare moments the other day and… Read More
I often find that a really successful painting works from whatever distance you view it from. Invariably, it will usually work better from a distance but often it will draw you in to look closer and still not disappoint. Less successful works however usually only work from a single viewpoint. This week’s efforts certainly fall into… Read More
Sunday 9th July saw the 6th annual Brunswick Square Art Fair – a celebration of the local community’s creativity. I visited this event last year and had tentatively earmarked it as a future possibility. As I’d done so much mounting and framing for my recent open house exhibition, it made sense to grasp another opportunity… Read More
Continuing my efforts to seek out local delights (well, the things that delight me at least) I went in pursuit of something a little less flimsy and chocolate-boxy than last week’s post. I don’t know why, and don’t think it’s a rule of thumb of any sort, but the painting I featured in last week’s… Read More
In my recent plein-air post I mentioned that I hoped to do some more paintings of my hometown. During the recent few days of beautiful weather, the time felt right to tackle this view of Brighton seafront. It was based on some photographs that I took recently during a wonderful evening’s walk along the seafront,… Read More
I subscribe to receive various emails and updates from Winsor and Newton, and openly confess to having an affinity to them as my watercolour ‘brand of choice’. So it was with great interest that I watched Christopher Le Brun, President of London’s Royal Academy of Art speaking about watercolour in Winsor and Newton’s most recent… Read More
