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1) In the image above,  a cauliflower or backrun has developed because you have added wet paint to a drying area. (Although there may be occasions when you want this effect or texture –  eg. in foliage or a leaf or petal edge –  it would be a problem in certain paintings, e.g of a blueContinue reading “Correcting Watercolour”

One thing you can do which enhances your painting enormously is to avoid hard edges around every object or figure. Hard edges make each thing look cut out and stuck on, and give a harsh “painting by numbers” feel. In reality, when you look at a scene you don’t see the edges of each thingContinue reading “Lost and Found Edges”

Limited Palette – what can it do for you? Whether you are painting in watercolours, oils, acrylics or pastels, one of the best ways to produce a harmonious painting – and  make your life SO much easier – is to limit the number of paint colours which you use in any one painting. You needContinue reading “Limited Palette”

One of the easiest ways I know to create a coloured sketch quickly is to rough it out in pencil, lightly add fairly fine pen work ( using a fineliner), add a few scribbles of oil pastel for colur and texture where it would be useful, and complete your work with watercolour washes. The oilContinue reading “Pen and wash”

Inspiration is whatever moves you to create a painting or artwork – and you can find it anywhere! If you are a person who is visually aware, you will constantly be taking in images and impressions from the outside world, ie outside yourself. Whatever you see that day may hold an image which impresses you,Continue reading “Inspiration!”

Once you are out in Nature the view can be vast! How to capture some of that on paper? There are three ways you can tackle this: 1) Choose a focal area ( a house, a tree, a tub of flowers, a boat…) and place it off-centre on your page, both vertically and horizontally. StartContinue reading “Sketching outdoors”