Ann’s Journal

  It is crazy how time has just whizzed by. I  cannot believe that my last post was when I came back from my trip to China.  That experience  felt like a personal cross roads - travelling to the other side of the world with  people I had not met before and  not...

I am back from an incredible visit to China where I was invited to participate in a cultural and art exchange with a group of 8 UK and 8 Chinese artists.We were based mainly at The Nanxi Academy which is situated in a dramatic landscape in the Yandang mountains in...

Here are the findings for my research into finding more eco- friendly alternatives to cling- film for creating texture in watercolour . Clearly these are only single samples and as we all know these kind of experiments can vary widely each time according to how the...

 Following on from my previous post I am looking at how we can cut down or replace cling-film as a paint texture-making technique. Clearly, any ‘single use’ material that we use instead is not ideal. Even if it is supposedly recyclable – the recycling plants cannot...

 I am getting increasingly anxious about all the news regarding climate change and plastic. I am also feeling guilty because over many years I have not only used but promoted the use of cling -film (plastic, shrink or glad wrap) as a way of creating texture in my...

I had a lovely time last week meeting lots of visitors to my studio, chatting about art, life , gardening and inevitably the rainy weather! And of course selling paintings! Now I am sitting in my studio deciding what to do next.. It has been a very busy couple of...

It's getting close to the start of my Spring Exhibition so I am frantically finishing off paintings, putting them in frames and mounts and sorting out my prints . I have had a few new card designs printed too, and I am constantly checking supplies of my new DVD as...

I have been visiting the woods recently in order to try and get 'back to nature'. I feel as if I have got into a lazy habit of always painting in the studio without enough plein air work. It is easy to convince yourself that a photo and sketchy scribble will do and...

The cover of my latest dvd has been finalised- and here it is! The painting used for the cover is one of a series of river scenes that I have made based on a local river that I see on daily walks. I have enjoyed watching this scene change with the seasons as the...

  EXPERIMENTAL WATERCOLOUR WORKSHOP - my new DVD is based on some of the contents of my 'Watercolour Workshop' book which was published last year. It reinforces the book and vice versa with new interpretations and techniques. It isn't necessary to have both...