Lamb coming to life in watercolour Hello! I am so excited! Actually I am excited and disappointed but I will explain why in this blog post. I have just made the toughest decision to cancel all of my upcoming art events including my demonstration and workshop at Broadway Arts Festival 2020 and I was attending Patchings Art Festival  in summer. However governments all over the world are offering advise on the Corona Virus and self isolation along with social distancing seems to be a common theme. So I am really sorry for anyone that was hoping to see me in action personally this year. BU ..read more

 Mothers Day Bouquet Daffodils and Pussy Willow in Watercolour Jean Haines Online Art School I have been quiet. Very quiet. And it has made me think of a time when my Step Mother always used to say " What is Jean up to ?" because she knew if I went really quiet for some time I was coming up with something new. And I have been working on just that. Something incredibly new and exciting. It hit me during the time I was unable to travel how difficult it is keeping up with the demand for my workshops internationally. I have tried lengthening my tours, expanded the number of workshops I h ..read more

"Hope" Snowdrops 2020 Whenever I see the first snowdrops each year they give me hope of what is to come.  They always seem to bloom just when winter is at its' worst, with cold grey days needing some cheer. I know these tiny white flowers will soon be followed by clusters of cheerful yellow daffodils in my garden which will lead me into early Summer flowers full of vibrant colour. Maybe we need the dull days to help us enjoy the sunny ones far more. As in, perhaps, we need those days when our paintings don't go as we expected. Those times really make us appreciate when our artistic idea ..read more

Poinsettia in Watercolour Where oh where does the time go? Well here is December 2019 and next week is Christmas. In fact Christmas Day is now only one week away. With all my good intentions of being on my blog more often I had studio and computer problems which meant that wish for me didn't come true. But I camefon my blog today for one thing only. To wish you the very best of Christmases.   I am aware that this isnfot the easiest of times for so many. We miss loved ones and friends so very much who are no longer with us. For us, this year has seen quite a few unexpected extremely ..read more

Mushroom Cat Created with Mushroom Ink INKTOBER 2019  I first discovered the value of painting with mushroom ink some time ago when we first moved into our cottage. I found  mushrooms in our woodland garden that resembled judges wigs. When I read up about them I was thrilled to learn that this fungi was used by monks years ago for calligraphy and after reading up on the subject I decided I would try painting with the same ink. The above painting of a cat is created using mushroom ink from inkcap mushrooms. I have now learnt how to prepare the ink from the mushrooms and how to avoid any ..read more

Mushroom Ink Portrait Shakespeare? Hello and thank you for so many lovely messages especially by email telling me how happy friends are to see me back on my blog. And I am back! So here is a really fun post, in fact it is a fun guy (fungi ) portrait !  Its the time of year when foraging really does pay dividends for an artist as there is so much inspiration to see daily that tempts our brushes. But at this time of year there is also far more to benefit our studios in the form of natural dyes and inks. In the woodland section of our garden there are many ink cap mushrooms. Known as j ..read more

"Taking the Lead" Latest horse racing painting in watercolour Copyright Jean Haines I feel as though I am walking into a room without a clue as to whether anyone will be in it or not.  Why?  Its' been so long since I wrote on my blog and I'm wondering if anyone is still here to read my posts! I am so sorry.  I had an email from a blog reader recently asking where I was. I am here, just not finding time to write here lately. Not for any other reason than that I am really hectic with my offline life. I could blame our two new puppies for taking up a lot of my time because they do. My ..read more

 Two paintings of Phlox in Watercolour on my easelOne complete, another as a work in progress  This time last year my book " Atmospheric Flowers in Watercolour" was launched and I loved being at Patchings Art Festival to sign books and demonstrate my techniques. It was fantastic. This year I am sitting in my garden again painting florals and loving each plant as it comes into flower. In my flower book there is a chapter on how to paint white subjects and complex shapes. The phlox flowers were perfect for this demonstration as they met both challenges as a subject. I worked the background aroun ..read more

"Sweet"Sweet pea in watercolour  Sadly I have had to cancel my demonstrations at Patchings Art Festival 2019 and I will not be attending this week. It is such a shame as I had so much that was new to share but I have been advised not to travel too far from home at the moment. I had a small health blip a few weeks ago and although everything seems to have settled again I just couldn't take the risk of letting everyone down at the last minute. Ironically, since I cancelled the event my health seems to be rocketing into the far better zone which is really infuriating!  Patchings always has been a ..read more

"Quiet Reflection"Waterlilies in Watercolour I feel I should start this blog post by thanking everyone who follows me and who reads my posts. There was a time I could over load my blog with up to three posts a day, this slowed down over time to several posts a week. Then I started travelling and when I was on tour time often went by with very long periods between posts. At the beginning of this year I was really poorly and my spirits took a nose dive. I hardly shared on my blog at all during that time. But luckily I had written my latest book. " Paint Yourself Positive".  I have taken time to ..read more