I've seen this view of Beziers many times on postcards and always thought it would make a fine painting subject. When we finally found exactly where the view was from, we climbed to a higher terrace and included the wintry plain trees which I think add to the composition. We were on an exploratory walk [...]
January - and we're both busy planning dates for workshops and classes (Painting and Cooking) plus fine-tuning our plans for this years' Painting Holidays in France. At this time of year we're often on the look out for new venues to paint from. There are some beautiful locations in old Béziers up around the cathedral [...]
Follow this step-by-step free painting tutorial that Simon did of a rare snowy day in the South of France. 'In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow In the bleak midwinter, long ago' It was a rare [...]
Ever since I started travelling more earnestly - back in a previous century - I've done my best to keep a travel journal. Looking back at them now, some were just a series of rough dates and towns, purely a reminder of where I'd actually been. On a motorcycle trip overland to Kathmandu in 2005/6 [...]
Fishing boats on the Costa Brava - Calella de Palafrugell, to be exact. A small seaside village nestling into the beautiful stretch of coastline just over the Spanish border. A great place for a painting holiday. In this tutorial I've rendered the scene in various techniques starting with a very loose pencil sketch which [...]
Our first Painting Holiday guests arrived at the end of May, as temperatures began to rise - four ladies from America: Kasia and Mary Jo travelling together from just outside Washington and Emanda, with her mother Sandra, all the way from Texas. Coincidentally, they'd spent a few days enjoying the sights of Paris before taking [...]
Cadaqués: A watercolour tutorial. A pretty village set on the coast of the Costa Brava in Spain. Salvador Dali often visited Cadaqués as a young man and later set up a home in Port Lligat, a small village in the next bay. Cadaqués is beautiful place to visit and explore with fascinating back streets and [...]
Painting workshops in France and Spring is in the air. You can always tell, when old friends return to these warmer climes from their Northern winter hibernations and all are keen to draw and paint sunlit scenes. Freshly brewed coffee and a fine selection of chocolate biscuits also help.. For the past two weeks several [...]
This picturesque village is set on the shores of the Étang de Thau, a large lagoon with openings to the Mediterranean at Marseillan, an ancient Roman port and Sete known as the 'Venice of the Languedoc'. The area is known for its excellent oysters and mussels and you can enjoy a plateful with a [...]
2 point perspective. Loosely explained from a French cafe.. So, you've sat yourself down in a shady square, ordered 'un cafe, s'il vous plait..' and taken out your sketch book - and you realise that the scene opposite isn't a simple one point perspective. It looks complicated. What to do? I've put this tutorial [...]
