Paint In The Style Of: a July of acrylics
Each session, we borrow a great painter's eyes for the day. This July it's acrylics — the Impressionists (Monet) and David Hockney — plus £6 tasters to get you brave.
Blog
Notes from the studio.
Studio process, plein-air painting, teaching, the Cornish Cycling Sketcher, and the reflective side of building a creative life — published as I go.
Latest posts
Newest first. Each post lives at its own clean URL and feeds the RSS.
-
-
The Drone in the Box
I have a Potensic Atom SE drone. Under 249 grams. 31 minutes flight time. Folds down small enough to fit in a cycling pack.
-
The Cornish Cycling Sketcher
Why I stopped driving to the view, and started earning it. Ride to the spot, paint the spot, ride home — the most honest way I've found to make work outdoors.
-
Be Yourself, Actually
I was listening to an Adam Buxton podcast — Emma Diddy, as it happened — and she used a phrase that was slightly coarse and completely right. Something you’d only say to…
-
You Own More Than You Think
The drone was in its box for fourteen months.
-
Draw Something Every Day. Seriously. Just One Thing.
Not a grand artistic statement. Not a finished piece. Just a mark, every day, that proves you showed up.
-
Your Brain Is Wired to Miss the Good Stuff. Art Is the Fix.
Your brain is a survival machine. It's been filtering out beauty since the Stone Age.
-
Why Your Body Has to Move Before Your Creativity Can
The mind/body/soul connection isn't a wellness cliché — it's a creative operating system.
-
What Teaching Art Has Taught Me About Learning Everything
The moment a student picks up a brush for the first time tells you everything about how humans approach change.
-
Shiny Is Wet, Matte Is Dry
The one habit that fixes most watercolour mistakes — and it costs you nothing but a second of looking.
-
Stop Seeing Colour, Start Seeing Value
The five-tone trick that does more for your painting than any colour you'll ever mix.
-
A Plein-Air Kit That Fits on a Bike
Everything you need to paint outdoors, and nothing you don't, packed small enough to ride with.
-
Urban Sketching on Location
Pen, ink, a little wash, and the courage to work fast in front of strangers.
-
Cornwall's Painting Hotspots: Where to Set Up and What to Look For
A painter's guide to the Cornish coast — St Ives, Bedruthan, Wheal Coates, Charlestown, Fowey, Kynance — and how to paint each one without painting the postcard.
-
The Picture-Book Shelf
The books behind the Children's Book Workshop — and why the best picture books are a masterclass in everything art school forgets to teach.
-
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain — the Exercises, in Public
"I can't draw a straight line" is not a verdict. It's a habit. Here are the exercises that break it — free, and in the open.
-
Impasto St. Michael's Mount Study
An exploration of impasto layering with a palette knife and colour theory exercise experimenting with techniques and their results for a future large scale painting.
-
Children's Book Illustration — Finding Your Character
Every character starts with a single line. These sketches are from an ongoing picture book project — building personality through gesture and expression.
-
You Don't Have Creative Block. You Have Creative Clog.
Everyone talks about creative block.
-
Journey To A Career In Creativity: Phase #2
Hello, and welcome.
