Ever since I started travelling more earnestly - back in a previous century - I've done my best to keep a travel journal. Looking back at them now, some were just a series of rough dates and towns, purely a reminder of where I'd actually been. On a motorcycle trip overland to Kathmandu in 2005/6 [...]
Fishing boats on the Costa Brava - Calella de Palafrugell, to be exact. A small seaside village nestling into the beautiful stretch of coastline just over the Spanish border. A great place for a painting holiday. In this tutorial I've rendered the scene in various techniques starting with a very loose pencil sketch which [...]
Cadaqués: A watercolour tutorial. A pretty village set on the coast of the Costa Brava in Spain. Salvador Dali often visited Cadaqués as a young man and later set up a home in Port Lligat, a small village in the next bay. Cadaqués is beautiful place to visit and explore with fascinating back streets and [...]
This picturesque village is set on the shores of the Étang de Thau, a large lagoon with openings to the Mediterranean at Marseillan, an ancient Roman port and Sete known as the 'Venice of the Languedoc'. The area is known for its excellent oysters and mussels and you can enjoy a plateful with a [...]
2 point perspective. Loosely explained from a French cafe.. So, you've sat yourself down in a shady square, ordered 'un cafe, s'il vous plait..' and taken out your sketch book - and you realise that the scene opposite isn't a simple one point perspective. It looks complicated. What to do? I've put this tutorial [...]
Perspective drawing. A huge topic. Probably best explained with a series of drawings. A student confessed to me the other day that whenever she went out sketching, perspective drawing was always a problem. She always sat exactly opposite her subject in order to minimise the perspective. Clever eh? I suggested we ran through some [...]
Step by step Watercolour tutorial of the village of Villeneuvette. This will be one of our en plein air locations this summer for our Painting Holidays in France. It looks so different in the winter months. Sunny but cold. You'll find the full history of this fascinating location on our Blog. Click here [...]
Ah, the joys of dog ownership....Millie, our Springer Spaniel is our constant companion whether galloping around the vineyards or lounging in an old armchair in the studio. She's 3 years old and so long overdue for a proper 'sitting'. In this digital age it's so easy to take lots of reference photos until you're happy [...]
Gondolas. It could only be Venice. Here's a tutorial I've put together based on this wonderful photograph courtesy of Google Images. It's slightly enhanced colour wise but I like it for it's graphic composition. Start with a good horizontal line for the sea level, the rest can be freehand sketching. I've omitted the pontoons [...]
This tutorial is based on a scene at the village of Ventenac-en-Minervois on the Canal du Midi which was constructed between 1666 to 1681. Click through to find the full step by step tutorial showing the reference photograph and all the stages from an initial pencil sketch through to final watercolour painting.
