Angry Art?
A long time ago, when I first began teaching art, I suggested to a class that we try our hand…
When the bubble pops…
La Finca Paradiso is a green oasis in the Almerian desert; a 33 acre bubble of tranquility where we make time stand still…
Look To Your Paper
JMW Turner painted one of his most famous sunsets* on tinted paper, so I thought I'd have a go, too!…
Straining wistful eyes into vacancy…
It's about that time when the New Year starts to feel a lot like the old one and I'm tempted…
The Art Before Christmas
It's the last art class before Christmas and everyone has that 'end of term' feeling - you know, when you're…
The Big Hole In My Blog
When I browsed the blog pages on my website the other day, I was shocked to discover that I hadn't…
Failure?
A long time ago, when I ran evening classes at the local college, I taught a student who only ever worked on…
Gesso Stories
As the Christmas season approached, we tried something very different at my watercolour classes. By prepping the paper with gesso and then…
Exhibition?
I did this drawing somewhere between Lugo and Ferreira. I can't remember where exactly because the roadsigns were unreliable and…
The Other Woman
“It’s a benign addiction,” says Chris, “Or it’s the other woman, quite often. You can’t pay attention to your nearest…
Where Your Art Really Begins
I was gazing over a student's shoulder at a work that I can most charitably describe as 'experimental.' "I just waved…
Imagining The Landscape
Vague, hazy distances or intricate, closeup details; a hillside habitation or the veins on a leaf; clouds, blades of grass,…