Painting 'plein air' - Cathedral Rock and Bunya Mountains NPs
Wondering how to get started with plein air painting? How to find the time? Where to go and what to take? What subjects to paint? Not sure how plein air painting might differ from studio painting, and what it might add to your work? Camping trips are an ideal time to try painting plein air ("in the open air") - there's no rush or hurry, there are no distractions, there's no guilt or the poor excuse of getting back to 'proper' work, and there are ample beautiful landscapes fro
Using pastel pencils, hard pastels and soft pastels together - "Golden Whistler"
Creating a wildlife portrait and not sure at which stage (or part) of the painting you should be using pastel pencils, hard pastels and soft pastels? Confused by the varied recommendations in the 'how-to' pastel books on the order of laying pastels down? Wildlife portraits are pretty straightforward if you remember simply that the focal point (which is usually the eyes) should have the greatest detail, and it doesn't much matter what happens in the rest of the painting. Paste
When unexpected things happen - "Shrike-thrush"
Have you ever encountered that point in a painting where you might either completely ruin it by the next few strokes, or, if you're very lucky, they will make and define the painting for you? Have you ever been unsure whether to stop right there, or to perhaps continue down that less trodden path? Art to me often seems to be to be a struggle between trying not to 'overwork' paintings, and yet still being open to taking 'risks' that might take your art further overall. Inevita
