Hi so today I am trying something different, it has taken me all morning to get this far , but here I am sharing a video, from YouTube and it's now on my blog. I am not the most technical person, so I hope this works, and I hope it is helpful.  Please do watch the video, but I have also taken stills from it to explain what I am doing. Firstly I have a new phone holder , so hopefully I can record more of my painting process as time goes on . I grabbed a painting from my 'reject' box and proceeded to try to improve it. So the first still shows my painting before I started .   ..read more

After what feels like a long grey winter here in the UK Spring really does feel just around the corner. Painting is a way of really looking, and seeing, and feeling the sunshine....for that is a gift     After lots and lots of rain Devon has been blessed with some sunshine recently and suddenly everything has burst into life. The trees are beginning to bud, the hedgerows are bursting with flowers ,  young green shoots are everywhere , the bees, and birds are all around. I am lucky to be surrounded by all this green and have decided to share with you my step by step painti ..read more

Hi , I am sitting in my new studio, the weather for the past couple of days has been dreary and light levels have been low, it doesn't really help to lift your mood. However we must do what we can.   For me my most valuable asset is my location, I can get straight out into the countryside, I see that glimmer of light, those glorious sunsets , it is a pleasure to walk up my lane. Soak up the views and see the colours. This photo was taken earlier this week, it was a real treat to watch the sun go down over the hedgerows. So onto this weeks subject. I was thrilled to see the reaction to th ..read more

I try to start each day with a walk , to clear my head and get my muscles moving.   But this blog is about a simple sea painting  Not this one, but something much more minimal Many of you know I love the sea, and I like to paint in paynes grey, from time to time. It takes the guess work out of painting now and then, so you can concentrate on the scene. So first I sketched where the horizon was and the waves and a few marks on the beach where the sun was catching the sand   This is the reference photo I was using. Then I wet the sand part and dropped in some masking fluid w ..read more

Hi everyone, Thursdays seem to come around so quickly, and I realise it is time to write another blog. I seem to twitter on about the weather or the state of things, and life trundles on.   I hope wherever you are in the world that you can take joy in being outside, I walked with a few friends yesterday and we marvelled as the mist lifted and the reservoir came into focus, those steely greys were as beautiful as the bright blue skies, of a just a few days before.   Then a familiar walk up my trusty hill, and I say hello to a tree or view I see daily, but that changes constantly. &n ..read more

Today is Thursday, and the day to write my blog, years as well as weeks have feelings associated to them as the seasons change. Even without the dreadful things that are happening in the world,  this time of year always feels a bit sad, I passed my Christmas wreath by the back door, fading gradually  I felt those sad mid winter blues that I think we can all be prone to around now.  However, as I wandered around my garden I can see signs of Spring  When I manage to drag my January blues up the hill for my walk I marvel at the beauty I am lucky enough to see not far from m ..read more

Nothing heralds the start of Spring like a daffodil. They are such cheerful blooms, I can't resist picking up a bunch when I do my shopping, they really brighten up the studio. They are 'Springing' up all over the place, in the garden, on the verges and the hedgerows.  So I thought today I would show you how I painted this little bunch....but let me warn you now, they may look bright, cheerful and welcoming, but they are not easy to paint. First I chose the ones I wanted to immortalise in paint and sketched them onto watercolour paper. Then I sprayed the paper, and dropped ( rather than ..read more

It's been a real pea souper this morning , but now the sun is shining and I can see the flowers beginning to pop up through the cold soilI like to  look towards the earth for signs of Spring  Perhaps some of you are wondering whether to get out your watercolours, perhaps the washing up is calling you instead, or you have a pile of ironing to do...In my experience, I think if you give yourself permission to do something just for you, it will be ok. So I thought I would revisit a simple snowdrop, perhaps entice some of you to have a go.   It involves negative painting as the snow ..read more

I am slowly getting back to normal after a hectic couple of weeks I am very busy working on commissions . I am also in the process of sorting our new house out after the move and getting ready to move mum into a flat nearby. Note to self never attempt two moves in the same year >>    I have also. Lots of new challenges and thought processes and so when I need to unwind I love to paint in Payne's Grey Firstly it means I have no colour choices to make, None of that figuring out what to do, if you paint like me ( very untidily ) I often find myself thinking the colour will be yell ..read more

Perhaps it's the time of year, or perhaps it's my age, but I have been looking back , at when I first began to promote my work as a watercolour artist. I looked through my oldest blogs to see how things have changed and thought I would post my very first blog from 2016 , they were certainly shorter and more to the point back then, January 17, 2016 First post Hi everyone so this is my first blog post on my new website. I am so pleased you have taken the time to look at what I do. I am a self taught artist who paints from a small cob cottage in a village nestled in the lanes and rolling hi ..read more