9 September 2026
I'm off to Italy next week for my last retreat of 2026 and I'm getting all sorts of things ready. One of them is, of course, my palettes. One of the questions I get asked a lot is how I decide which c...
1 September 2026
A couple of weeks ago, while hiking with friends in Val Ferret on the Italian side of the Mont Blanc massif, I made a decision that will surprise no one who knows me. An hour in, we stopped to shed ou...
11 August 2026
My first watercolour retreat in Spain — Cabo de Gata, September 2027. Four years ago I moved to Spain. I've been painting here ever since — and quietly planning the day I could share it with you. ...
8 August 2026
How to paint sunflowers in watercolour – loose, bold and full of light. If you've ever wanted to paint a field of sunflowers but dreaded the thought of rendering every single petal, this lesson is f...
1 July 2026
Potters pink is very pretty, dusty pink with an old world feel. It granulates beautifully and is very lightfast. While pretty on its own, it’s a super versatile colour to use in all sorts of ways. J...
24 June 2026
Here's a deceptively simple painting delivers maximum impact for minimal effort — a wet-in-wet background and a limited palette do most of the work, while the result glows with light and looks far m...
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...
9 June 2026
Five times at Périgord Retreats, and the magic is still there.. Every single time I hop on the train in southern France and get whisked through French countryside and villages to Gourdon Station — ...
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 ...