Time for a long, drawn out coloured pencil painting. I started this one on the Thursday, left it for a day, and finished on the Saturday. The...
Posts that are not about paintings
The Art Of Portraiture, Stephen Bauman – Book Review
So here's the last of my four arty birthday books. I've saved this one to the end because there's something about it that suggests it's going to be...
David Bellamy’s Arabian Light- Book Review
Time for another book review and it’s David Bellamy's second travelogue book. I read and reviewed Arctic Light a while back and so much of what I...
The Artist’s Complete Guide To Figure Drawing, Anthony Ryder – Book Review
I’ve just finished the second of the four books I got for my birthday and am ready to review it now. I'm taking my time over these books, reading...
Updated MGraham Swatches
Two posts on one day! It's been a while since I extended my MGraham palette to six colours and a revised set of swatches is long overdue, so I've...
2025 Birthday Stash: Books
The dust has finally settled and I can reveal that there were four art books in my birthday stash this year. Here they all are. All four will be...
Watercolour And Beyond, David Bellamy – Book Review
And here's the first of my birthday books to be reviewed. It's a 160 page paperback. It arrived on Monday and took me five evenings to read,...
2025 Birthday Stash: More Crystalline Watercolours
More birthday art gear stash. I was given some cash and spent a big chunk of it on some more crystalline watercolours. I have five new colours:...
2025 Birthday Stash: Oil Pastels
It's that time of year again. And today I was delighted to receive this set of 125 Sennelier oil pastels, a big numerical upgrade on my existing...
A Trip To The Tate Modern
It's still too hot for me to be painting so I thought I'd keep the blog ticking over with a report on my trip to the Tate Modern yesterday. The...
Recognition II
Gary Delaney has spotted his portrait and has some nice things to say.
New! Random Slideshows
I was in one of those moods today and I ended up spending a few hours creating some pages on the website where people can see random slideshows...
The Art Of Brusho, Carrie McKenzie – Book Review
Let's do a book review before kicking back and enjoying Saturday evening. I read this one yesterday. It's a 103 page paperback, quite short by...
Real Men Wax
Not much artwork this week but I did spend yesterday applying wax to some unframeable paintings. I got the idea from a Liz Chaderton video earlier...
Azo Orange Has Joined The Team!
While I'm partway through today's painting and waiting for a layer to dry, I thought I'd take the chance to introduce a new recruit. I've had the...
Watercolor Techniques, Michael Reardon: Book Review
Before I get on to reviewing this book, a quick plug for the Camel Camel Camel website. For all the books and CDs that I put in my Amazon...
Drawing Dramatic Landscapes, Robert Dutton – Book Review
This book's been offered at quite a cheap price on Amazon for a while now, so I thought I'd give it a go. I was attracted to it by Robert's...
Amazon Associate Scheme
It's taken me all day but I've joined the Amazon Associates Scheme and I've added the appropriate links to all of the book review posts on this...
Line & Wash In The Urban Landscape, Neil Whitehead – Book Review
The Enterprise Crew collection has been moving more quickly than the bathroom work, so I've had enough time on my hands to buy, study and read...
Facial Expressions For Artists, Oliver Sin – Book Review
While this bathroom's being fitted, I'm not just painting portraits with the markers: I thought I'd also get some CPD in, so I've been reading this...