Recent Tutorials

Today we’re painting something a little different and fun. My horses (Tutorial #56) were so popular we thought we'd give you another animal to try. This time its called “Swanning around”, a picture of a swan taken in the Lake District (UK) and there’s a reflection to deal with so its definitely an intermediate piece. But don’t be afraid to give it a go!  Happy painting …

Welcome back everyone, I thought that now all the new year festivities are over we’d get back to painting something more down to earth and this one is a nice quick one to get the creative juices flowing. We are painting ‘Two in a Canoe’, a great exercise in reflections in water, keeping the shadow areas light enough, whilst staying clearly shadows and it’s and intermediate painting.  It’s a really enjoyable one and you’ll love the finished effect.

HAPPY NEW YEAR ! This weeks tutorial is based on this incredible photo of New York. It's the Statue of Liberty with a beautiful boat in the foreground.  I love the water in this and we use a new technique with our ruler to create a detailed rigging effect on our boat to draw the eye. I know you'll all love this one !

Merry Christmas everyone ! This week we're painting 'It's Snow Fun' a fantastic winter image. Ive turned to the dark side and used some masking fluid ( know, I know) but its really the best way to create that fluffy snow texture as it moves through the air. We then soften things down a little with a damp brush to create those lost edges. Enjoy this during some downtime over Christmas. Happy painting....

I don’t normally do a lot of animals but I took this photo nearby and I loved the fact you could switch in your own background. There’s a nice wet into wet wash with our three colours to start and we move onto some fantastic details and bright tones in the horses themselves whilst preserving the all important whites of the paper. I can’t wait to see what backgrounds you all use. Happy painting.

I'm home ! We're back in Blackpool, Britains most famous seaside town and we are painting this stunning tram scene which is a daily sight here.

The iconic Blackpool tower fills the skyline behind and we will use lots of wet into wet adding some lovely detail in our tram lines. We will have lots of fun with this one.

This week we’re painting this fantastic busker. It’s a great painting to understand shadows, the hat he’s wearing creates a great shadow straight across the face and allows us to show the features of his face in both light and shadow using warm and cool shades to bring forward the subject matter where needed. You’ll love this one.

This fantastic picture of a girl riding a bike is todays tutorial. It has a great shadow cast onto the pavement where we will use some lovely darks to create a deep yet colourful shadow. There’s some lovely fine detail to do on the bike and we have to keep some areas sharp using our dry brush techniques and some softer using wet into wet. This is a gorgeous painting to hang on any wall, I know you’ll love doing this one.

Today we’re painting “Blue boat”, this is a boat with lovely reflections, sat on a bed of sand in a natural marina. It’s a great way to practice getting colours right for reflections and shadows along with a little bit of detail. Its great for all levels so grab your brushes and enjoy." Below is a short preview of the full tutorial that can be watched with our monthly and annual memberships. Join now to watch in full.

Today we’re painting “Just Looking”, I took this photo early morning and love how the man is just standing, gazing into the water. There’s a great opportunity here to use deep background shades to make the main subject ‘pop’ off the page. Grab your brushes and enjoy.

Today we’re painting “The Long Shadows”, this is one of my favourite things to do, big long shadows cast from direct sunlight, and two detailed figures walking with a soft out of focus pavement behind them. This is so much fun because you can hang this painting in any direction, you’ll see what I mean at the end, but before you sign it, decide which way up you are going to have it. Enjoy!

Today we’re painting “lost in thought” a single figure, sat alone on a quayside contemplating life (we think). This is a great painting to dip into when you have a spare hour to paint. It’s a brilliant piece to try several times to improve your techniques and lays the foundation for the larger paintings we do. Theres use of highlights, shadows, wet into wet and dry brush techniques. You’ll enjoy seeing the improvements each time you do this one. Enjoy.

This week you’re painting one of grahams most requested paintings. We’re painting a horse and Carriage, mid ride in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. This is Grahams longest tutorial so make sure you’re comfy if you’re going to do this in one sitting. It’s a great way to use light and shadow to create shapes that jump off the paper. Colourful, beautiful and interesting, this is a great way to hone the skills we’ve learnt to create your very own masterpiece.

We've got three brand new, great tutorials this month. This “fisherman from the quayside” gives us opportunity to really use light and dark tones to create dramatic shadows and light areas to show the angle of the sun. There’s also some detail, but not too much, in the fisherman himself in order to make sure he looks grounded to the quayside and enjoying his days fishing. It’s great to be back and I hope you enjoy.

Today we’re in London with something that feels a little alien to us all right now. It’s a photo of a man sat outside a cafe relaxing. We’ve got some great use of lights and darks to create shadows around his bag and under the table as well as preserving all the highlights using the white of the paper where it's needed. Hopefully this will become the norm again so, enjoy…

Yeehaw, this week were painting one of my favourites. It’s a rodeo scene of a cowboy riding a bull. This is a really exciting subject as we have to create the effect of dust and movement in the foreground whilst keeping our focus on the bull and cowboy. Were using our pallet of three to start and moving on to all six colours for the detail, you’re gonna love this one…

Today we're in the world famous Liverpool. This is a photo of my own with great shadows to really show perspective in the painting. It’s two people ‘walking and talking’ in everyday life, a typical everyday scene that could be from anywhere in the world.  We are going to use three colours for our initial wash, and then six colours for our detail. You’ll really enjoy this one.

Today we’re back in the pub. This is a photo I took many years ago in Kew, London and is one I love painting because of the intense light coming through the windows and reflecting on the tables. We’ve got several people in the shot and they add some interest and detail, but were trying to catch the atmosphere and overall feeling of the traditional British Pub. Enjoy !

We are going to Spain... This week we have a more in depth tutorial that focuses on two women sat on a wall looking out to sea. It's a great exercise in using wet in wet technique as we need a nice blurred background from which we can build detail into the main focus which is the two women discussing "What's out there?"

This week we're having a little fun. This is a composition of my own with a woman, hands on hips, looking on with disdain at a little dog spraying her luggage.  It's a light hearted but great beginner/intermediate tutorial for you all to have some fun with. The reference image doesn't have a dog in it but I thought adding it made it a better composition, plus you get the chance to choose your own dog, search for one on google, or use the one in the reference drawing. I'd love to see a few different types of dogs in the gallery so go crazy and indulge yourself.

Welcome to Tenerife, This week we're painting from a photo Graham took of three men going out on a boat for a days fishing. It's a scene you see a lot in the small fishing ports and is great fun for all levels of artist. We use the three base colours for our under wash and move to all six for our more detailed work. This is a great painting and I hope you really enjoy it.

Bonjour, we're in France. A typical small cafe, to be specific, with a couple sitting enjoying a drink. This is a great painting for all levels and we've had some long tutorials recently so this is nice change of pace running a little shorter at just over an hour. It's a great use of colours in the shadows and washes then using precision to create the pavement and the shutter effects. I hope you really enjoy it.

We're in Charleston, South Carolina, and we're outside the famous Poogans Smokehouse. This is a challenging and in depth painting that creates a wonderful finished painting worthy of anyones wall. I've broken it down in to several sections and we will work through it logically, Don't worry about counting those bricks in the background, I'll show you a great way to create the brick effect. It's a really fun painting that you'll really enjoy.

This week we're in France. This is a photo of my wife Pauline gardening on a trip to France a couple of years ago. This presents some challenges, it has some fantastic colours throughout, but we have to keep the painting balanced to create realism. It's a really fun painting to follow along with. We will use three colours initially and then progress to using all six to add details throughout, there's no blurred backgrounds, which means lots of detail, but I know you'll really enjoy this one.

This could be anywhere in the world, it's a painting of a couple holding hands walking down a promenade next to a beautiful blue and green sea. We use lots of colours in our shadows, whilst retaining the highlights using the white of the paper. Our background wash creates a grounding for our subjects feet through the use of the sunlight casting shadows and the lovely blurred background is created using wet in wet technique. It's a really fun painting that you'll really enjoy.

This painting is a little different. We have two people, two trees, two pigeons, it's two in Tenerife. An advanced tutorial for those who really want to get stuck into using multiple washes using our base three colours and then using all six colours to create a deeper more detailed tone for our subjects. We break this down into multiple sections to create a methodical approach to the painting. Enjoy.

We're in Memphis. Beale Street, the world famous home of Jazz and we're painting Sonny Mac mid performance. This painting only uses three colours to create lovely darks and a shallow depth of field for our background. Then we split the painting of Sonny himself up into nice easy sections before coming in with the final detail at the end. This is a really challenging tutorial but the result is an incredible painting you'll be really proud of.

We're on holiday in Tenerife watching the boats go by, but this group of fisherman have come back with nothing so that's exactly what were calling this one, "back with nothing". This painting uses lots of the tip of our large brush as well as some fun background washes that bring really vibrant movement to the foreground. Plus we have a nice out of focus feel to the sea behind the boat. The hero of the piece is the two fisherman dragging back their empty net. Enjoy

This week we're in South Carolina and painting a fantastic photo by Lorri Wilson. It's a great look at using wet into wet technique for creating interesting backgrounds and has some finer detail in the figure and items she's carrying, It's going to be a fantastic one to paint and perfect for those long Autumn nights. Enjoy.

This weeks tutorials is a lovely image of a woman walking her two dogs on a beach. Its's a great tutorial for beginners as it uses simple lines and shapes to create the effect of the sea and horizon. There is a lot of wet into wet and using the brush lightly to create the wash over the sky and water.  We can get stuck in and really enjoy this one !

This tutorial is a lovely image of two musicians in a market square somewhere in sunny Spain. In the painting there is lots of wet into wet, lots of dry brush technique and also the importance of leaving the white of the paper for the highlights. It's all about brush control, water control and lots of colour. Plenty to get stuck into!

This tutorial is painted from a photograph I took during a visit to the US last year and my first baseball game at the Busch Stadium in St. Louis. It was the St. Louis Cardinals vs the Pittsburgh Pirates. We capture the moment John Jaso hits a home run - full of action and movement and a great subject to paint.

This is a totally different subject for me, it's a night scene in a dimly lit, smoky jazz club, with some great atmosphere. We tackle this one with my usual triad of three colours, and as always the drawing is supplied for you so we can get painting straight away. You're going to need a lot of paint for this one so let's get painting!

This tutorial is a lovely image of two kids playing with a bucket and spade on the beach. A great painting for those of you who like to paint people but don't enjoy painting faces as there is very little detail. This is a tutorial we can all have a go at with confidence.

Hi all, this short painting uses a slightly different technique; working wet onto dry for the first wash, and then working wet onto wet in some of the shadow areas. It is a lovely little painting to do and I hope you are going to enjoy painting along with me.

This tutorial is a lovely image of a rower on the River Thames. Some great early morning light creates some fantastic reflections on the water surface. This is a relatively simple painting but the reflections and capturing movement create some interesting challenges.

This is a short study of a man sleeping in a chair that I would like you to paint again and again to practice your different techniques - brush control, pigment control, wet into wet, dry brush and mark making. This is the type of study you can do when you have a spare half hour, so come on pick up your brush and let's get painting!

This week's tutorial is a young girl pushing a bike celebrating the 4th of July - US Independence Day. There is a lovely field of daisies, lots of nice glows and lots of nice white highlights, combined with the warm yellow sunshine and vibrant reds and greens. This is a great subject so come on and let's get started.

This weeks project features a group of kids playing football on a hot day in a city location, most likely in southern Spain, Portugal or Brazil. What attracted me to this scene was the vibrant colours, strong crisp shadows, high contrast and sense of movement coming from the kids.

Hello everyone and welcome back to my studio. In this tutorial we're going to be painting a beautiful Thai woman, wearing a traditional Thai hat. There is some lovely light and colours in this picture and it is the first real full portrait that we have tackled so it is a great opportunity and challenge for you to get stuck into! Below is a short preview of the full tutorial that can be watched with our monthly and annual memberships. Join now to watch in full.

Hello everyone, here we have a painting tutorial that is jam packed with loads for you to get stuck into! The horses riding at full gallop provide loads of movement for you to capture and the exciting, vibrant colours really bring this race to life. So let's get started!

Here we have a painting of a Cowboy rounding up cattle. This scene has beautiful natural sunlight creating lots of lovely warm tones and shadows. Not too much detail in the background allows us to focus on the Cowboy, the horse and the movement in the cattle. I'm sure you will enjoy this one.

This is a beautiful little image of 4 or 5 guys pulling in their fishing nets. Not too much detail in this one but a lot of atmosphere, with vibrant colours and the almost silhouetted figures on this panoramic view.

This week we have a wonderful study of a lighthouse. Using a simple palette of three colours I show you how to get that lovely big sky, nice looking water, waves crashing against the rocks and a simple study of the lighthouse. You will really enjoy this one!

Here’s a familiar sight for anyone mainly in Australia and the USA. A lovely loose piece with the challenge of painting rushing water. Let’s get stuck in!

Today were doing a study page on an iconic building in Lytham St Annes in the UK. This building is just a few miles from me and is a landmark that signifies the start of the beachfront in Lytham. We’re painting some detail in the foreground here in the sails and building itself and have a nice colourful background to create using wet in wet techniques. Grab your one inch brush and let's get painting!

Venice is rich in interesting buildings and sights for any artist but none more-so than a gondola on the Venetian canals. This is a challenging subject to paint, we have water, buildings, people and reflections to consider but we will start with the background washes and move into the detail with our size 16 brush, let's get our brushes in hand and create something you’ll be proud to hang on your wall.

This is something a little different, I usually focus on people about their everyday lives, but couldn’t resist this image of a fantastic rusty old car sat abandoned in the southern USA.

This is an interesting night scene, probably in Prague. It’s darker than my usual paintings, and we’re going to use the colours to mix some interesting shades and create a warm feel at the focal point of the painting. I want to create feel of a balmy evening and bring the street vendors’ stall to life.

This is a really fun piece to paint, creating the feeling of movement within a painting.

We will start with a background wash using wet in wet to build a nice blurry feel, creating that lovely out of focus feel so that the hero of the painting stands out.

This is a great painting to try if you want to paint something with a little “action”.

We will create a feeling of pace and power for the horse using various shades of golds, reds and blues. This give us a real sense that were in the heart of the action.