learning

How to Start a Painting

How to Start a Painting

Some people agonize over starting their paintings, which is a shame really because it’s like setting off on an adventure – but the best sort of adventure. You don’t have to scale heights, get wet, lost or hungry, you don’t even have to leave home. But you ARE venturing into the unknown with very little idea of what will result from the experience.

Photo Transfers

Learn how to do Photo Transfers.

Materials used: Heavy Gel Medium onto Laserjet Photocopy on photocopying paper

Then Soft Gel Gloss to stick the Photo-skin to the painting surface.

Questions to ask...

New Beginnings...

New Beginnings...

I also really enjoyed letting loose with drawing and using dry media a lot more in my paintings when I was working on the large sized paintings. This added a playful looseness which I really liked and prevented me working in a straight-line towards finishing when after each painting session I would draw and scribble over the painting. Coming back into it the next day I would cover a lot of the drawing over but the little remnants that peeped through were really fun suggesting a naivety which I liked.

Is there ‘Precious’ in your Studio?

Is there ‘Precious’ in your Studio?

Finally, the insistent call of the outside world drags us away and we close the studio door on that tangled grid-locked mess of paint, hope, and self-belief. As we square up to the dishwasher and the dusting that secret smile is now a nagging sense of dread. Am I good enough? Why can’t I figure this out? I’ve killed my precious ….

Finishing a Painting

Finishing a Painting

Watch the finishing stage of this mixed media painting with photo collage. In this video I demonstrate how I finished the painting, analysed what it needed and made final changes.

Learning to make Art without Fear

Learning to make Art without Fear

So how do we get the confidence in the beginning when we don’t know that much? We have success. How do we have success when we’re beginning? We need bite-size chunks, roadmaps, guides – frameworks that keep us on track, keep us safe while allowing us to make decisions and learn.

My Why - Why do I paint and Why do I teach?

My Why - Why do I paint and Why do I teach?

When I was growing up there was no such thing as a ‘why’. Well, we didn’t know we all had one or at least there was no drive to examine our motives and find out. I remember doing quite a lot of motive examination directed by the nuns – but I always fell short and found myself counting down to the next confessional to cleanse my soul.

Stop trying to finish your paintings?

Stop trying to finish your paintings?

the more I know about my practice the more I realise it’s important not to THINK about finishing while I’m painting, and actually to defer finishing for as long as I can.

Be Battle-Ready with your Painting Process

Be Battle-Ready with your Painting Process

Another confession: when I stepped into the studio yesterday on our return and looked at my 4 large paintings leaning against the wall, I felt slightly anxious. How can I move them forward? how can I find some clarity? Can I actually do this?

How A Self-Doubter Became A BELIEVER

How A Self-Doubter Became A BELIEVER

At what point did I decide to stand up, fluff up my feathers and start squarking? (Is that a word?) On reflection two momentous events happened that woke me up. Firstly, my father died.

Painting is My Teacher

Painting is My Teacher

Some paintings have given me learning that has freed me up completely, adjusted my thinking and changed the narrative that plays in my head. One in particular I will always be grateful for as it gave me an anchor that ever since has kept me secure and absolutely embedded in the knowledge that whatever I do in a painting it will all be for the good.

Expert Mistakes

Expert Mistakes

An expert is someone who has made all the mistakes in a narrow field. Yes, I believe this to be true and I love it. This takes the Expert off their lofty pedestal and reduces them to a blundering someone who makes lots of mistakes – just like me!

5 Top Tips to Making Better Art

5 Top Tips to Making Better Art

We have all stood before a painting which has a lovely part in it and tried to make the painting fit around that little area. If you believe that you can create that effect again or are even capable of better, you will be able to take a risk and move the painting forward.

Create or Clean?

Create or Clean?

These are all details of life that normally I would be hiding from my best friends, family and especially people I don’t know – what would they all think? After all, aren’t we measured by the state of our sinkholes? But, I have reached the stage of disgustingness that I am actually proud of.

Learning to Paint, play Tennis & Video

Learning to Paint, play Tennis & Video

Watching them grapple with new techniques and ways of working has made me reflect on learning as a journey. I have gone on many learning journeys over the years and they have been as varied as the learnings that took place within them. When I was in my 40’s I decided I would learn to play tennis. Most people just pick up a tennis racquet sometime in their childhood or adolescence and start playing. I remember picking up the racquet but the playing part just naturally didn’t follow.

Pivot towards Positivity

Pivot towards Positivity

Things only got worse. In a matter of days we were in national lockdown, my partners business closed and the kids at home for school. For a couple of days it felt surreal, as if we were playing out some blockbuster movie (without the paycheck). Email after email came through cancelling all activities and planned events for the foreseeable future. Normality was on hold and whatever we are living in now is it until who knows when.