It's taken me four days to do this but I've finished sleekifying this website. It seems that every time I thought I was finishes, I'd walk away...
Posts that are not about paintings
Lessons In Classical Drawing, Juliette Aristides – Book Review
So, as I said yesterday, I'm not painting today but instead putting up this book review. It's for Lessons In Classical Drawing by Juliette...
Finding Your Style In Pastel, Jean Hirons- Book Review
Time for a book review. This one's been at the top of my wishlist for a while now and I was reading an online review of it in which the reviewer...
Jackson’s Art Prize Extended Longlist
Today's big news is that The Wrong Kind Of Snow has made it on to the Jacksons Art Prize extended longlist. Out of 16,280 entries, only 4,200...
Landscape Artist Of The Year Submissions
I got an email from Cast It Reach yesterday telling me that, while the closing date for LAOTY submissions is still 23 March, the judges will start...
Painting What You Want To See, Charles Reid – Book Review
And here's yet another book review. This wasn't a Christmas present - just a book that suddenly became available brand new at a sensible price on...
The Pastel Book, Bill Creevy – Book Review
Here's the third of the three art books I got for Christmas. It's a 176 page long paperback. I was attracted to it not just by the positive reviews...
Watercolour Techniques For The Artist, Richard Pikesley- Book Review
Here's the second of the three books that I got for Christmas. It's a book on watercolours by Richard Pikesley, a 160 page paperback. People only...
Portrait Revolution, Julia Kay – Book Review
So here's the first book review from my Christmas stash. Being in a post-Christmas slump, I started with a book that was all about inspiration...
The 2025 Artistic Actuary Video
Now that all my 2025 artwork is in the public domain, it's time to release the 2025 video. As usual, everything in portrait format gets a harsh...
The 2026 Christmas Haul
Not much to report this year. I have these three new books: reviews to follow in due course. And some silicone mats that I can use to paint at my...
Portrait Artist Of The Year 2026 Entry
That's one more pre-Christmas job out of the way. I've put in my entry for Portrait Artist Of The Year. I've gone for watercolours again. The...
Billy Showell’s Botanical Painting In Watercolour
It's a book review today. This is a book that I spotted in the shops on my most recent trip to London. I've never really given botanical painting a...
Jackson’s Art Prize 2026
No painting today but I have submitted these two works for the Jackson’s Art Prize 2026. Both have been taken down from the shop window for now. ...
Then Came The Lawyers, Then Came The Rules
Someone in the village laid down a challenge. He asked if I could paint a portrait of his husband David in the style of Amedeo Modigliani. After...
Polystyrene Chips!
I keep talking about these and there must be people out there who have no idea what I'm talking about. These are polystyrene chips, used for...
Soft Pastel Mark Making
No painting again today. I'm playing in an online correspondence chess tournament at the moment. I've won one of my eight games but the other...
A Trip To The National Portrait Gallery
I took the day off today to head to London and to potter around the National Portrait Gallery. It's all very well keeping busy in retirement,...
The New YouTube Six
And here is the complete collection, made up of: Liz Chaderton Ben Askins, The Working Week Pete Green, Greeno Eats Dan Rourke,...
Liz Chaderton
Time for another marker portrait of a YouTuber and today it's professional artist and author Liz Chaderton. Her YouTube channel can be found here...