The WATERCOLOUR Book : How to Paint Anything is based on my six week course. Having been painting for some time I identified six key areas in which beginners to watercolour struggle, only to realise that these key areas remain a challenge to all artists to a greater or lesser extent.

The book covers all aspects of watercolour painting, from choosing and buying essential equipment to exciting ways in which ordinary inexpensive household items can be adapted to produce amazing results.

Watercolour has the reputation of being the most difficult medium to work in but with this book you will quickly achieve successful results.

I concentrate less on teaching how to paint a particular subject and more on teaching technique, giving you the ability to paint any subject you like. There are exercises to help you gain confidence and better understand the paint and its unique qualities. This is the secret to painting in watercolour. Everything has been broken down and explained to help you build up a workbook of reference material which you can refer back to in the future. There are step-by-step demonstrations with photographs of my own workbook.

​This is a reference book filled with comprehensive information, advice and explanations for both experienced artists and beginners.

Click the image to take you to Amazon.co.uk or subscribe to my online course for £120 for 12 months. 

There is nothing to lose as I am giving everyone a 14-day money-back guarantee if not satisfied.

For more information about the subscription site, or to sign up, please click here. 
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In my review at the end of 2014 I said I'd not be setting myself any new challenges - that I'd be taking 2015 "one day at a time". I lied. I immediately set myself numerous challenges, as is my way. 
 
Feeling a sense of failure about six months into the year I moved my own goal posts and am ashamed to say that I have still not succeeded in accomplishing some of my goals for the year. 
 
One would think I'd learn from this, but no. I now feel in order to regain some self esteem I must finish the tasks I set myself this year as well as the new (probably unrealistic) targets for 2016.

I bought some aperture cards yesterday without much idea how I would use them. Today however, I've been going through old paintings, failed paintings and this years experimental paintings and discovered endless card making possibilities. See below! Pictures taken with a camera in poor light - sorry, I'm no photographer.

Years ago I used to paint "plein-air" all the time. These days I rarely venture away from the comfort of my studio, which is a shame and something I've been working on rectifying of late. 

The photograph below shows the first stage of my watercolour painting Fireworks at Carcassonne. By clicking the "read more" tab you can see the painting process from the initial sketch, made on location, to the final stages of the painting. 

More of my landscape paintings can be seen in the gallery, Landscape Paintings and in the gallery of  New Paintings.

There is another version of this watercolour painting of Thomas Gainsborough's Statue. I was trying out different colour schemes and formats. Both are currently available for sale. If you are interested in either and would like further details please contact me.

Other examples of my landscape paintings are in the gallery.

The watercolour technique used is "glazing"

You will notice there are some colour/light differences in the pictures.  The first four are photographs and the colours were affected by the time of day that I took the photographs. Goodness knows what caused the odd stripy look, I'm not a photographer!  The final picture was from a scan.

My paintings are also available to view in the Venice Gallery.

There are some colour/light differences in the pictures because the first five are photographs. The colours are affected by the time of day that I took the photographs. Why some of them look purple is beyond me! The final picture is from a scan.

“The reward of art is not fame or success but intoxication.” ~ Cyril Connolly

Watercolour is considered by many to be the most difficult medium to work with because it is unpredictable.  At first I wrongly viewed it as something I must try to control.   However, over the years I have derived great joy from experimenting with this and other water soluble medium.  At the time I couldn't articulate why playing with inks, bleach and a multitude of other things was so much fun. I've since learned that experimenting allows forces beyond our control to have an influence on the work and, by relinquishing a bit of control over the medium, one creates room for unexpected things to happen.