sardinian coastal tower
21 November 2024
I'm on holiday in Sardinia at the moment, enjoying swimming in the sea and sketching seascapes. All along the coast of Sardinia are these historic watch towers. They were to protect the inhabitants fr...
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venice at sunset
7 November 2024
A very famous scene in this lesson - Venice at sunset. I was lucky enough to go on a solo sketching trip to Venice a few years ago and I did sketch the Grand Canal at sunset one evening. It was magica...
mushroom season
24 October 2024
It's that time of year when our forest walks take forever as I have to stop at every mushroom not matter how small. There's so many different ones this year because we've had a very wet autumn and, al...
nightscape in watercolour
10 October 2024
A few weeks ago I painted an imaginary nightscape in my sketchbook. It was so much fun I thought I'd like to do it again on a piece of fine art paper. I know that each time I do this kind of scene it ...
a yellow bicycle
3 October 2024
This week we paint a very cheerful yellow bicycle. One that has been left to end its days in the garden and in the sun. I always find these so charming! The bicycle itself is so pretty, but what reall...
an old wooden barn
26 September 2024
Here's the type of scene I really love. So simple in composition, so you're free to have a lot of fun with the washes and textures. It's possible to paint a scene like this again and again, changing t...
watercolour over coloured pencils
17 September 2024
This is one of the 'what if...' experiments I've been doing lately. As an artist I do them all the time. This one is ... what if I do a coloured pencil drawing and then add watercolour on top? You're ...
Autumn in Dublin Bay
12 September 2024
We're continuing with the still water theme and reflections this week and painting a very pretty autumn scene from a bay on Lake Wānaka which is near my home in New Zealand. This is one of my favouri...
using salt for texture in watercolours
10 September 2024
One way I enjoy adding marks and texture to my watercolours is by adding salt into the wet wash. I don't use anything fancy, normal table salt works well. Using salt to add blooms and sparkles in wate...