Being Brave with Colour

If there’s one thing in modern art making which drives me crazy, it’s the notion that artists should keep to a fixed colour palette in order to be recognisable or consistent. Historically the colours in paintings may have been limited by available pigments, or relative cost but these days we have so much available and […]

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The story of a painting; Unearthed

Ever wondered what happened on a painting before it was finished - how it looked along the way? I wrote a while back about knowing when a painting is finished but sometimes it's hard for me to remember where it began, and quite how many stages…

Sketchbook summer-y

Summer is sketchbook time for me - a time to re-stock the pages which can be the starting point for so many ideas. I enjoy essential time away to become absorbed in a drawing and the feeling of working on something with no judgement on the…

How to make your own charcoal and bistre ink

Making my own charcoal and ink sort of falls in line with stuffing a mushroom - life is too short. But on holiday we sometimes do strange things to fill time and make projects with children! It is a dream of mine to have a compact travelling…

Barbara Rae sketchbooks to inspire

This week I have been looking again at the sketchbook work of Barbara Rae * - if you don't know her work you are in for a treat! Which materials are right for the job? Finding the right materials to work in sketchbooks can be a search.…
Instagram Alice Sheridan

Artist’s block…

"This time I was sure it would be easier" - how wrong could I be? It's not unusual after getting ready for an event to have a bit of downtime. (That seems more forgiving than 'artist's block') Often it takes me time to get going again. A while…

Wanting art for your home that makes you buzz!

What we all want from art is much discussed… Is it something ‘to go with the sofa’ or something that makes us feel rested, or something that challenges us and makes us see things in a new way? Perhaps all of these. Certainly it’s different…

Using black and white for stronger paintings

Making two paintings just using black and white as a tonal painting exercise seemed a natural progression of my new contrast project, even if it is way outside my normal colour comfort zone. What did I hope to learn? Our eyes see high contrast…
the 100 day project

100 days of contrast

After a bit of a break over Easter, there's nothing like a challenge to get you kick started on some new work so when I saw the 100 days project was about to begin again I was ready. This idea was started by @ElleLuna on Instagram: do something…