The Painting Game the latest

Oh what a struggle to move from looking to something else.  That something could be analysing shapes back to their limits, somehow finding the essence of the image, expressing emotions, or something as yet unrealised.Reading about…

The painting game – beyond looking

I have always worked with dye on fabric, but I am now experimenting with acrylic and oil paint as an alternative source of colour. In my textile work, I used the dye in a very natural, expressive and abstract way.  It has been challenging for…

Winter Blue sketches

A series to be of winter landscape studies inspired by my local landscape.  All around 180 mm square and acrylic on stretched paper.I like to do these at the end of the painting session when I feel the need for a bit of a play!

STUDIO PRACTICE

         Back in the studio and starting this series of oil sketches on board from a Newmarket visit with the Society of Equestrian Artists a few years ago.  I am working as loosely as I can here to capture…
Woman in a tub pastel Degas
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Drawn in colour Degas from the Burrell Collection at the National Gallery, London

Degas and his use of pastels  National Gallery London This was a fascinating exhibition of Degas drawings, which showed  how working methods change with fashion and with available materials. During the second half of the 19th century,…
Knabstrup charcoal drawing Diana Hand
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How to work with an exhibition brief

 There is nothing like an exhibition brief for developing ideas.  It is the fulcrum for focussing on what one's real energy and interests currently are.  For this exhibition "Wild Spaces" at the Whitehouse Gallery, Kircudbright,…
Ali smith Autumn

Working from the heart

Working from the heart can be a difficult leap of faith when one is on a learning curve.  At the end of 2017, after a year of studying, including  social media marketing and goal setting, I began to feel like an automaton, or, more topically,…
Oil painting of nude model

My life as an artist

My life as an artist During my life as an artist, a passion for the act of drawing and painting has led me through a long winding road of psychological twists and turns, emotional bumps in the road, some unexpected diversions and very many…

Alan McGowan class

This week I shall be working on the portrait with Alan McGowan, the Edinburgh-based figurative artist.  Alan works works in a free and expressive style.  This apparently improvisatory style is actually based on a rigorous knowledge of anatomy. …
Martin Campos demo

Painting with Martin Campos

In July I went to Cork in Ireland to study with Martin Campos, teacher at Philadelphia College of Art.  Martin is a figurative painter, who specialises in the human figure, and he is a wonderful draughtsman and painter.  But I like the way…