Category Archives: Learn

Tumbler

Ordinary, extraordinary I love primary and bright colours. The secret to a good painting is not perhaps the colour you use, but more the tone you apply the colour.  Using painted newspaper to set-up the big shapes I used watercolour to add tone to the image and make the ice in the glass stand out.Continue reading “Tumbler”

Caterpillar

Ugly or what. This is a puss moth cesura vinula!  I used to be a pure watercolourist. I sometimes hated the wishy-washy images that I produced. I started to mix things up with acrylic and gouache but recently I have found collage and text adds something that makes give watercolour a bit of impact. IContinue reading “Caterpillar”

The recipe

I started baking during lockdown, like a lot of people! I used to bake cakes for my dad to take to work in his lunch, when I was at school. I guess the cooking bug never it just lay dormant. My Favourite Lemon cake recipe 275g self raising flour 225g caster sugar 225g butter 3Continue reading “The recipe”

Rodney Kingston Workshop – Portraits in Oils

Rodney Kingston was on Portrait and landscape artist of the year, and I went to a workshop with him at the Woodley and Early Arts Group to have him teach his method for painting portraits in oils. I first met him at the Woodley and Early arts group demo evening using Nitram liquid charcoal. IContinue reading “Rodney Kingston Workshop – Portraits in Oils”

Sticky Paint

If you follow me on Instagram you will have seen that I have been on a Jake Winkle Watercolour workshop. Jake Winkle’s watercolour workshop was a master class of wet-in-wet technique. A technique that I have been trying very hard to replicate for years. Jake’s secret is to use sticky paint! Painting wet into wetContinue reading “Sticky Paint”

Simple figure painting exercise

I have decided to make my 64 million Artist posts and video’s available as tutorials. One of my favourite exercises was creating figures from watercolour splashes. Figure painting can be difficult, and people often make the figures too large and unbelievable. Adding a random element to figures will help your work enormously to look moreContinue reading “Simple figure painting exercise”

Tackling Artist Block

It happens to us all – Unable to draw or paint to our satisfaction…What do you do? I’m not afraid to admit I have a pile of failed paintings. Mostly watercolours that I have either given up on or lost the interest in finishing. I’ve had days when I can’t draw for toffee, or evenContinue reading “Tackling Artist Block”

Can you make brushes for Watercolour?

I spent the month of January creating arty things as part of the 64 Million Artists January challenge prompts. This led me to ask myself lots of questions about my art practice, including can I make art green? Can it be sustainable? One of my favourite challenges was (re)imagine – taking something and giving itContinue reading “Can you make brushes for Watercolour?”

Daily sketching is a habit worth thinking about for the New Year!

I like to keep a variety of sketchbooks on the go in sizes from A6 to A3. My favourite manufacturer is Windsor and Newton whose wiro-bound sketchbooks come in various sizes and textures. The only way to improve their sketchbooks is with a piece of elastic to keep the pages closed while out sketching inContinue reading “Daily sketching is a habit worth thinking about for the New Year!”