The Blog

I’m learning to not mess with my paintings. What I’m trying to do in a conscious way is to lay down a stroke of paint and then leave it...

Shadows can be tricky to paint. It’s not so much their shape, which is often clearly defined. The problem comes with mixing the right...

How neutral colours make better paintings We don’t live in a high colour intensity world… so why paint it that way? I am sure you are...

How to expand your colour range by using less colours! If you have followed this blog for a while you will know that I am constantly...

How to create colour harmony by using a “mother color” in all mixes. What is colour harmony? Some paintings thrive on a heady mix of...

Do you never have enough space for new colours on your sketching palette? This is a common problem, so let me show you one neat solution....

I’ve always admired the amazing light effects that the Australian artist Colley Whisson achieves in his oil paintings. They seem to glow...

I’ve just been to the wonderful new exhibition at the National Gallery in London called “After Impressionism – Inventing Modern Art”. ...

I had a wonderful opportunity to get outdoors and paint today as I’ve been based for a few days down at the coast. The weather is great –...

My six most hard-working colours, and why I chose them! I have used the Portable Painter 12 pan watercolour palette for quite a while now...

Now and again something comes along that splits the artistic community in two. Call it the “marmite” effect if you like. It’s something...

I was asked a few days ago by a reader of this blog if I could share the colours I use on my palette and how I make some of the colour...

I read this quote from Pablo Picasso the other day: They’ll sell you thousands of greens. Veronese green and emerald green and cadmium...