summer flowers & an old fence post
16 June 2026
There's something irresistibly paintable about a weathered fence post half-swallowed by summer wildflowers. It's the contrast that does it — rough, sun-bleached wood against the soft, fleeting delic...
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painting zebras in watercolour
3 June 2026
Ater spending time in South Africa recently, surrounded by the kind of wildlife you only see there, I came home with many sketches of zebras, giraffes, warthogs, baboons and more and a strong urge to ...
why your watercolours look different from the tutorial (and what actually helps)
30 April 2026
Another long one — grab that coffee again. This is a question I hear constantly, and I want to answer it honestly. Because the truth is slightly uncomfortable: when your painting doesn't match the t...
painting the valley of the red gods
28 April 2026
There's something particular about returning to a place you loved when you were young. The Valley of the Red Gods, tucked into the Western Cape of South Africa, is one of those places for me — and f...
a bluebell forest in watercolour (without painting a single bluebell)
11 April 2026
There's something about bluebells. That hazy, glowing carpet of purple-blue that appears for just a few weeks each spring, always in the kind of light that makes you want to stand very still. It's one...
how to paint primroses without getting lost in the detail
2 April 2026
Aren't primroses just made to be painted? That deep violet with the yellow centres, and if you look closely, so many beautiful colour variations within each petal. They're the first really intense col...
how to actually progress in watercolour
30 March 2026
This is a detailed post — grab a coffee. I get asked about this a lot, and it deserves a proper answer. I'm often asked some version of the same question: how do I actually progress in watercolour? ...
moroccan spice bags : gouache ink resist
26 March 2026
I'm just back from Marrakech, and honestly, I'm still processing it. The colour alone is enough to keep a painter busy for months — saffron yellow, paprika red, the deep earthy tones of cumin and tu...
an olive branch in watercolour
12 February 2026
There’s something wonderfully calming about painting botanicals. You don’t need to rush — you can slow right down and paint one leaf at a time, dipping in and out of the painting whenever you fi...