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Welcome to my watercolour & soft pastel painting blog. To try and make things as easy to find as possible I have split the blog into three very rough categories. These are as follows:

  • Watercolour & Soft Pastel Painting: Tips, Techniques & Approach – Looking for an insight into my working practice or just want to pick up a few tips. This section contains helpful articles on my approach to painting and the various techniques I use in my work plus a selection of my Arty thoughts, Philosophies & Ramblings.
  • New Art, Exhibitions, Art Fairs & General Ramblings! - Random thoughts or rants about the state of the world in general plus those things that came to me in the middle of the night that I had an overwhelming urge to tell everyone – it happens!
  • The Shiny New Thing Section! - This section of my blog is where you will find reviews on the latest website additions such as new art materials, workshops etc plus critical reviews on any new products or services I may have tried out recently that I think you may find helpful in your artistic journey…

Enjoy!

Watercolour & Soft Pastel Painting:

Tips, Techniques & Approach

A Recipe For Successful Paintings

Learning to painting well is difficult but there are a few things I have learned over the years that you can do to increase your number of successes. Here’s my recipe for successful paintings!

A Little Encouragement For The Newbies!..

Learning to paint is a steep learning curve and it can seem sometimes like you are never going to reach the top of that curve. Here is a little advice for those of you who are finding it a bit discouraging.

Watercolour Materials 1,2,3! – Part 3: Watercolour Paints Made Simple!

Choosing the correct watercolour paints can be a bit of a nightmare and if you get it wrong it can set you back eons so here’s some practical advice on getting it right….

Watercolour Materials 1,2,3! – Part 4: Watercolour Brushes Made Simple!

Learn which brushes you need to produce great watercolours as well as a host of tips on picking the right brushes for you in the latest instalment of my Watercolour Materials Vlog series

Watercolour Materials 1,2,3! – Part 2: Watercolour Paper Made Simple!

Which watercolour paper do you need when you start painting watercolours, what do all those terms mean? Find out in the latest instalment of my Watercolour Materials Vlog series

Watercolour Materials 1,2,3! – Part 1: What You Need & What You Don’t!

Benefit from over thirty years of mistakes that I have made and see the watercolour materials & kit choices I have finally settled on as a professional but more importantly - Why!

Try the K.I.S.S Watercolour Challenge!

Take the K.I.S.S watercolour challenge and learn why keeping things simple will help to make you a much better painter…

5 Simple Ways to Improve Your Watercolours Instantly!

Learn five simple things you can do to this week to improve your watercolour paintings instantly or at the very least extremely quickly…

How to Choose The Right Watercolour Paper For You

Choosing which watercolour paper to use is a subject that seems to cause a great deal of consternation for those new to the medium of watercolour. This doesn’t have to be the case though…

Can Everyone Please Stand Up!

One question I get asked by students a lot is how I achieve the looseness in my watercolours. Today I’m going to let you in on the one thing that will help you loosen your paintings up instantly…

Are You Struggling with Watercolour – Part 2

Part two of my Struggling With Watercolour vlog series. Everybody struggles with the medium at some point but much of the time we do this needlessly, learn why!

Are You Struggling with Watercolour? Here’s Why!

Why is watercolour so difficult? Truth be told we all struggle with it from time to time but there are things you can do to tip the odds in your favour and make things a little easier!

So Why Do I Paint Landscapes?..

So you may have wondered…Why did I choose to paint landscapes? What’s the reason behind all this and why I don’t want to paint your grandma or your puppy!

Watercolour Mediums – What They Do & How To Use Them

Learn about the watercolour mediums that are available, what they do and how you can incorporate them into your paintings

Three Watercolour Masters at Work!!

Watch three of the worlds foremost watercolour artist at work - together! Joseph Zbukvic, Herman Pekel & Alvaro Castagnet get together to produce a huge painting of…

New Art, Exhibitions, Art Fairs & General Ramblings!

New Watercolour Series – Beaches!

As an island nation we all have an affinity with the sea here in the U.K. I love being beside the sea and recently created a new series of paintings entitled ‘Beaches’ exploring the remote beaches space & big skies we have all round us.

Looking For A Watercolour OR Soft Pastel Landscape Painting Workshop?…

This year I will be holding a number of watercolour & Soft Pastel painting workshops exploring a range of different landscape painting techniques at Brantwood, Coniston. Places are available…

New Artistic Venture: Art Cumbria

I recently was asked to become part of a new artistic venture set up for artists here in Cumbria called Art Cumbria. We offer exhibiting opportunities exclusively for artist in the North West

Selected for Fabriano In Watercolour 2016

Each year Fabriano, Italy, holds a prestigious international artistic exhibition dedicated to watercolour painting, Fabriano In Acquarelle - This year I have been asked to exhibit…

Wild Thing! A Little Walk On The Wild Side

Even to this day I still have a bit of an obsession with the big cats and as a kid I used to spend hours & hours doing little pencil sketches of Jaguars, Tigers and so on…

Hitting 40 – Ouch!!

People react to hitting 40 in a number of ways. Some have a meltdown and become extremely depressed and others will go all out in an attempt to prove they are still young…

The Shiny New Things Section!

New Exclusive Greg Howard Unison Pastel Sets

Unison pastels have always provided me with quality & consistency which is why these new exclusive Greg Howard Unison pastel sets are a very exciting addition to my website…

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