A Virtual Art Holiday Part Two: The Long Road In

Painting the long road to hidden wonders. It's amazing how similar two different journeys can be.

A Different Kind Of Painting

The process of this watercolour painting was quite different to my usual habits. I’d consider myself not the most imaginative of thinkers: I can’t conjure up brand new innovations or fully formed expressions in my head. I imagine in little snippets, carried away by a melancholy piece of music or an emotion, or just a...

Art Diaries: Chilean Wildlife

Today I decided to do some quick and loose sketches of Chilean wildlife from my trip. Sketching in watercolour is great fun: it loosens up the wrists and allows you to create a quick impression of what it is your painting. There were several amazing wildlife spots that we stumbled upon. Of course, if you...

Art Diaries: Plein Air Painting in Patagonia

It almost happened without me noticing. All of a sudden I felt a searing hot pain in my fingers. No longer absorbed in what I was doing, I noticed how numb my hands were. That’s what happens when you remove your gloves for plein air painting at -2 degrees Celsius. It's cold, and it hurts....

The Art Of Waiting

Unless you're exceptionally lucky, you have to rely on other people to get your art out there. What I mean by this is that you can't fly solo. You can't just lock yourself up in your studio, paint all day and hope it will sell. You have to rely on a wide scope of people...

Art Diaries: Abstract Isn’t Enough

So, when I sat down to paint a couple of days ago, I knew I wasn’t going to have a plan for it. I’ve been touching on abstraction a lot recently, perhaps because I’m looking for a new direction, or perhaps because I’m just a bit stuck. And when I go down the path of...

Why I Love Watercolours

If I had to choose to only ever paint in one medium again, I'd find myself torn between my two loves, oils and watercolours. It's a pretty 50/50 split in the works that I do, and both mediums have their advantages and disadvantages. Both are notoriously tricky to master, as well. I think for me,...

Painting the Night Sky

It might be mid winter, but in Malta, we're pretty lucky with our long hours or sunlight, mild winters and relatively steady climate. What this island is unfortunately not very good for is stargazing, as there's far too much light pollution - apart from in a few hard-to-get-to places - to see anything more than...

Cosmic Thoughts – Expression

No matter what medium you use to paint cosmic scenes – be it oils or watercolours in my case – they are full of inimitable expressiveness. Van Gogh painted his mythical night sky, Starry Night, using oils so thick it made the painting feel tactile. It’s as if Van Gogh was inviting you to touch...

A Baby Boom for the Booming Parrot – The Kakapo

I always love reading about conservation success stories, they fill me with hope and the drive to continue painting, researching, and just generally getting involved in nature. I find the kakapo's heartwarming story particularly moving, partly because of my love of New Zealand and it's stunning wildlife, partly because it shows just what we can...