The Blog

Diagonal lines bring energy and movement to any painting. Vertical and horizontal lines are stabilizing and indicate calm and peace. So...

There is a classic art book called “Carlson’s Guide to Landscape Painting” by John F Carlson which was written in the middle of the last...

I’m in the middle of writing a watercolour course for Artefacto.school online which I’m really enjoying. I’m also painting some larger...

One of the main building blocks of composition is the idea of counterchange. So, what is this? And why is it so powerful? And, more...

(and how to make sure yours don’t!) What is the number 1 priority for a good painting? Is it to do with colour? Or subject matter, or...

It is so easy to paint a boring picture! I’m sure we all have failed paintings tucked away somewhere that just didn’t work out right....

If you have ever gone outdoors to paint en plein air, or if you are using a photo for your reference, I am sure you will recognise the...

Here’s a fascinating way to boost your creativity and your imagination. I have recently been re-reading a watercolour painting book from...

Let me show you how I rescued this Plein air painting from the point of disaster. I’m on a painting trip (and 25th wedding anniversary...

The abstract- expressionist painter Hans Hofmann (1880-1966) once wrote: “ The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so...

I’ve recently written a series of articles for the Leisure Painter magazine in the UK on the subject of composition, and these have...

I’d like to show you one of the ways I use to create my paintings. In this example I am painting in water-mixable oils but the process...

Just wanted to let you know that I have the first of 4 articles now out in the Leisure Painter Magazine in the UK. (The first article...

Here’s a short video that shows how I sometimes get radical and cut a composition down to make it work better. And I mean physically cut!...

Have you ever heard of Rabatment? I confess that I had never come across this term until I watched a Youtube tutorial last week by the...

Every good painting should be about something. And this something should be communicated to the viewer. Paintings are about...

I don’t know about you, but I am always searching to find out what makes a good painting. I know that some of mine work out just fine and...

I was looking through Google images the other day for paintings by the Impressionists and came across the work of Gustave Caillebotte. He...