As an actuary, I'm feeling professionally bound to disclose that I've made some tweaks today to the spreadsheet that chooses three random colours...
Posts that are not about paintings
Turner’s Apprentice, A Watercolour Masterclass: Tony Smibert – Book Review
Still making my way through my pile of birthday books and today it's this work by Tony Smibert. It's a 144 page paperback in landscape format. ...
Watercolour The Natural World: Tim Pond – Book Review
This should be interesting. A book on painting the natural world, featuring lots of different flora and fauna in lots of different habitats. It's...
Hazel Soan’s Art Of The Limited Palette – Book Review
This is one gorgeous looking book. It's a 192-page hardback and the name of the book in the top right has been embossed. I can't stop running my...
The Landscape Painter’s Workbook: Mitchell Albala – Book Review
Now here's a book I've been looking forward to. It's Mitch's second book. The first got rave reviews but was very oils focused. This one is...
Supergranulating Swatches
Before having my first go with the shire supergranulators, I thought I'd swatch both of my supergranulating sets. This is in the back of an old...
Drawing Scenery: Landscapes And Seascapes: Jack Hamm – Book Review
This is the third of the classic Jack Hamm books in my collection. There's a fourth one out there on cartooning that I won't be bothering with....
Line And Wash Painting: Liz Chaderton – Book Review
Another book review, and today it’s Liz Chaderton's book on line and wash painting, something I wanted to read before I head outside for some dash...
Sketching Techniques For Artists: Alex Hillkurtz – Book Review
In the end I got eight books for my birthday. Six of them are already here in front of me; two aren't published until August, so I know exactly...
Polychromos Swatching
So I've done a huge swatch of those Polychromos coloured pencils and here it is. They look good. Even the cobalt green and rose carmine will...
Birthday Stash 4/4: Everything Else
And then there's all this other stuff: - a backpack big enough to fit the big white plastic bits that come with my easel. No more lugging two...
Birthday Stash 3/4: Polychromos Coloured Pencils
And there's more. A set of 36 Polychromos coloured pencils, a case with room to expand to 60 pencils and a couple of pads of cartridge paper. ...
Birthday Stash 2/4: Fineliners
Next up are these fineliner pens, complete with pen case and extra smooth watercolour paper to use them on. The case is big enough to also fit the...
Birthday Stash 1/4: Schmincke Supergranulating Watercolours
So it's my birthday and I've got a lot of new art gear. Jeepers. So much that I've split it all over four posts, three of which will set me off...
Tidying Up The Shop Windows
I've not done any painting for a while, although obviously the weather's had a lot to do with this. I've not been completely idle, though, and...
Third Stone From The Sun
It was too hot yesterday to be outside painting. So I spent the day indoors watching YouTube videos of people swatching the colours from the super...
Blackpool Pleasure Beach
My second episode as a wildcard at Landscape Artist Of The Year was screened in February 2023 but here's what I had to say after filming in June...
H1 2022 Poll Results
Thanks to everyone that voted in the latest poll. It's time for me to talk about the results. There have been 27 responses so far, and I've never...
The H1 2022 Poll
I'm needing some help again please guys. It's been a busy year so far and I could do with finding out which of my works are most popular. I'd...
Contemporary Figures In Watercolour: Leo Crane & Joseph Butler – Book Review
This is a really good looking book. It's 128 pages long and not just a hard app back but a hardback where all the words on the cover have been...