The watercolour painting courses I’m running next year in August and October are based in Cromford in the Derbyshire peak.
Month: August 2010
Painting People
Sometimes you just feel inspired and today a challenge on redbubble (a photo/art sharing site) took my fancy. The brief was to paint “People”. I keep a folder of images and photos of people in various situations, some that I’ve taken myself and some cuttings from papers and magazines to provide reference material and inspiration.
Les Fleurs dans les Paysages…
Seasons of mists….
Looking around in the hedgerows and in the garden, you can’t help but notice how Autumnal things are looking. Perhaps it’s because we’ve had such a dry summer, but there are seed heads and berries everywhere. And among them is the Honesty with its dark twigs and silvery discs.
Late summer garden and hints of Autumn

Always on the lookout as I am for painting subjects, the changing seasons are ultra apparent to me. Even in my small garden, I can see the changes happening from day to day.
Cosmos and scabious- the bigger picture.
These two flowers are growing side by side in the garden at the moment. ( It’s such a shame that such a beautiful flower as the scabious should have a name so closely resembling a nasty disease!) It is a glorious flower in its form and colour, but not the easiest to paint in watercolour I have found.
Painting cosmos in the studio.
I’ve been working on the cosmos the last few days. Having completely ignored my resolution about not attempting finished paintings and spending more time studying the subject using different media, etc. etc. I went and embarked straight away on a huge painting again! Well huge for me…half imperial size. And so it’s taken me ages to finish, and I’m still not completely satisfied.