As is the tradition on Skokholm Island, where I spent 7 wonderful days last week (May 2022), the finder of rare birds paints them for posterity on the toilet wall (These days, due to renovations and modernisation of the observatory buildings, the ‘toilet wall’ is a removable board that hangs on the original toilet wall, […]
Skokholm Island Bird Observatory Paintings Read More »
Good oil paint is expensive, and the last thing you want to do is waste it because it dries out on your palette in between painting sessions. Your paint drying out is wasteful and expensive, but the very fact that you know it will dry out can stop you from squeezing out enough paint onto
How To Stop Your Oil Paint Drying Out On Your Palette Read More »
Whether you paint with oils, acrylics or watercolours, having to leave that last bit of good paint in the tube because you simply can’t get it out, is annoying. Even if paint was cheap, which it isn’t, it always seems very wasteful to me to start a new tube and abandon that last bit of
How To Get All The Paint Out Of A Tube Of Paint Read More »
When I moved into my home in 2008 I decided one of the bedrooms was going to be my art studio. I was having carpets fitted throughout the house, and I spent a while thinking about whether I should carpet my new studio or not, or just leave the bare floor boards uncovered. In the
How To Protect Your Carpet/Floor When You’re Painting Read More »
Life Line The new art student walks into the college studio and is confronted with a naked person. Here is nude person standing in the middle of the room, staring out the window and surrounded by about a dozen easels, occupied by some familiar people who are drawing intently. “Draw what you see,” says the
The Importance of Life Drawing | Guest Post by Artist Bern Ross Read More »
In the northern hemisphere, northern light is said to be the best light in which to create art, and this is true, but why is that? Initially, we might think light is light, right?! …so how can one direction of light be so much better than another? Here are a few reasons: Northern Light Southern
Why Is Northern Light Best For Artists? Read More »
Instead of painting today, I spent the morning trying out some new software called Youtube Movie Maker. This is FREE software that anyone can download, and enables you to create/make/edit YouTube video from your own videos/movies, pictures/photos, audios/musics, texts, lyrics, subtitles, etc. Get the software here. Once you’ve made your video, you can upload it straight to
How To Make Your Own Painting Video Read More »
Barn owls aren’t as widespread in the UK as they once were, diminishing suitable hunting habitat as a result of modern intensive farming methods being just one of the reasons. However, if you go to the right place at the right time of day, you have a very good chance of seeing them, and it’s always
Kingfishers are mesmerising little birds, usually only seen flying past at break-neck speed. Our local wildlife centre here in Cilgerran in west Wales has a healthy population of kingfishers and we’re lucky enough to see them regularly. I’ve painted kingfishers before, but this kingfisher painting was a little different and an exciting challenge. See below the stages as the oil painting progressed from start to finish…
Kingfisher Painting in Oils Read More »
The one thing I would recommend every artist use is a glass palette. You can buy one from a art suppliers, or like me, make your own for free. Find out more below: A glass palette is superior to a wooden or paper palette in many respects: You can of course buy a purpose-made glass
Why A Glass Palette Is The Best Palette You Can Get Read More »
