Preview our most recent tutorials

Every two weeks there is a new tutorial for you to enjoy.

Fun, challenging and something you'll be proud to say is your painting.

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PEOPLE BASED TUTORIALS:

Apr 20 2024

145. COFFEE TIME

This week we’re painting a still life. It’s one of my favourite times of the day especially if the coffee is made in a lovely cafetière, and that’s what we have here, a bright white espresso cup for those lovely bright tones and our worn down silver cafetière for some loose reflections. Using simple shapes in the whole painting keeps detail to a minimum and you can focus on really staying loose. Enjoy…

Apr 8 2024

143. WOMAN IN A HEAD SCARF

After our advanced tutorial last time we’re doing a simple, single figure. This is what I start with on my in-person workshops. We have one focal point being the woman, and we can let our background run a little so we’re genuinely not too focused on background details. We do just one wash, and this is perfect for beginners and intermediate students alike. I really hope you enjoy this as it’s a great way to have some fun with your background and try to make your single figure the star of the painting. Enjoy…

Mar 24 2024

142. SUNSHINE MUSIC – PREVIEW

Let’s get back to painting some figures, and this week we’ve got one of my favourite topics. Buskers make great subjects for “studies of light and shadow” because they are usually in the direct sunlight and so focused on their music there is an intensity and focus about what they’re doing, and that’s what we have to capture. This guy also has a great hat that masks the face but gives us great highlights and so we are going to do one wash only using the bright whites of the paper for our highlights, no first wash, no little adjustments, just one pass creates the entire painting. This is quite advanced so if you’re starting out, either slow the video down to half speed or watch 20 mins then go back and paint that section, take a break and repeat. Take your time here and really preserve those highlights. Enjoy…

Mar 10 2024

141. YELLOW IRIS – PREVIEW

Happy Mothers day to everyone in the UK! And what better way to spend your free afternoon than painting a little something just for you. This is a departure from our normal figures and we’ve gone for a yellow iris with lots of wet into wet to make our smooth soft edges in the background and a little more crisp and detailed work inside our main flower for focus, just make you background darker than your flower here, and this is a great way to relax for an hour and a half…

Feb 25 2024

140. GIRL WITH THE STRIPED TOP

This week we’re doing this fantastic painting of “Girl with the striped top”. This uses our normal process of a three colour first wash and using our 6 colours to add depth and tone to our main subject, then we add the dark top background which makes our highlights pop off the page and finally add a little texture to our foreground. You’ll really love this one and you can do it a few times to really master highlights. Enjoy…

Feb 11 2024

139. SUNSHINE MESSAGES

This week we’re doing a really quick single wash painting. It’s called ‘sunshine messages’ and is a photo of something we see everyday, a lady sat outside catching up on social life by phone! The challenge here is preserving whites correctly, look for your soft lines and crisp lines to keep those highlights as bright as you can, try it a few times and see if you can improve each time. It’s a nice easy piece to get us ready for some of my more complicated paintings coming up. Enjoy...

Jan 28 2024

138. DAD AND SON FISHING – PREVIEW

This week is a beautiful image of a father and son fishing from the steps in Tenerife. This is a great tutorial for all abilities and is broken down into easy sections. You can start with the usual light wash followed by focusing on our two fisherman, then the sea and the dark background steps make our two fishermen lift off the page and become the stars of the painting. You’ll all enjoy this one.

Jan 14 2024

137. ENJOYING HIS PINT – PREVIEW

Remember when we were ‘Back in the pub’ well this image is a close up from that very painting that were going to do in more detail. He’s looking quite sombre as he contemplates life over a good old British Pint. Lot’s of light to use here, in fact its the most important element, use it to accent where the brights hit his face and the table in front of him is important as it bounce light back onto him too. Use those deep tones to create a rich, wood effect, and don’t forget to let the soft furnishings feel nice and rounded. This is great for all levels.

Dec 30 2023

136. YELLOW BEETLE – PREVIEW

And now for something totally different… Yellow Beetle is a fabulous painting that everyone can complete. No figures here but plenty of detail to add as we create this beautiful image from Mexico. Lots of wet into wet with a little bit of wet into dry for our crisp details and we add a final layer of dark detail to really accentuate the colours and highlights here. This is a great tutorial for all abilities and a fun way to start your new year.

Dec 15 2023

135. SNOW SHADOWS – PREVIEW

It’s Christmas season and what better way to celebrate than painting our winter scene. This is ‘Snow Shadows’ and is a beautiful composition of my own using two photos to create this stunning snow painting. This year we aren’t using any masking fluids, we’re going old school and using the paper to create our highlights. Plenty of colour is still used in our surroundings to accent the whites, a great painting for all abilities. Merry Christmas everyone.

Dec 2 2023

134. OXFORD CYCLIST – PREVIEW

This is our second painting in our cycling series and is faster paced and has a little more detail. We kept our Charleston cyclist very loose but here we’re spending some more time focusing on the bike detail, still loose, but a little more focused and precise. Plus our background matches more with our reference. We’re trying to improve our observations and retain detail from our reference photo this time whilst moving slightly faster to ‘keep it loose’. We’re not fine art painting just adding a little more precision here. Enjoy…

Nov 17 2023

133. TWO OLD FRIENDS – PREVIEW

It’s highlights week, so we are painting “Two old friends”. This image was chosen specifically to give all of my fabulous members some real practice on your highlights, It’s a stunning, bright subject with tonnes of white sunlit areas, so be bold and go for the best highlights you’ve ever created. Remember it’s easier to add layers than take away layers so slow and steady wins the race here, watch a section, rewind and watch it again as you do it. You’ll love it the results if you PTW (preserve those whites) enjoy everyone…

Nov 3 2023

132. CYCLING IN CHARLESTON

This week we start a three part series on one of my favourite subjects, cycling. This week is our beginner piece where I take a little more time on a beautiful image from Charleston in 2017. But we won’t do the second instalment straight away, so next time will be something involving people and we will revisit cycling in a month or so. Here though we really focus on highlights and using colourful shadows to create depth in the image. Don’t get bogged down in every detail, keep it loose, especially in the background, less is more here. Enjoy…

Oct 8 2023

130. TEXTING

This week we are painting ‘texting’. After our last few tutorials I thought it would be nice to do a simple beginners piece with just a single figure. This is the type of painting that I do at my in person workshops and is broken into a first wash and then three sections, the top background, the woman and then finally the foreground.  The result is this beautiful painting with lots of retained highlights and a bright colourful main subject. Give it a go a few times as it’s only 50 minutes. Enjoy...

Sep 24 2023

129. CHECKING THE BILL

This week we are "Checking the bill" with this wonderfully busy cafe scene.  We break it down into 3 sections, the top background, the people and finally the chairs and foreground, giving it a nice easy to follow structure.  This is an intermediate to advanced painting but will be great fun as its a challenge to recreate accurately, but don’t try to repeat every line, use shapes and shadows to form your darks and keep those whites preserved. Enjoy...

Sep 10 2023

128. COUPLE’S SHADOW

This week were doing a great piece for our beginners and anyone wanting to practice their vibrant shadow work. This is a photo taken from an unusual perspective that casts shadows diagonally towards us so they’re important in our composition. We also use a ruler to create some very straight pavement (sidewalk) lines that go through our shadows but behind our subjects which finishes our painting using a new technique. You’ll enjoy this one and it is just over an hour so it is one you can do a few times.

Aug 26 2023

127. AFTERNOON BOWLS

Fancy a Great British tradition? Well today is your day, we’re going Bowling but this is Crown Green bowling and a photo taken mid afternoon to create a lovely, active photo for something that’s quite a calming activity. We have so many whites to preserve here but you have to keep some colours in here too to show our reflected greens and our blue top lady. This is a great painting if you’re at an intermediate level but is good for all to try, keep your lines sharp and your backgrounds soft. Enjoy…

Aug 12 2023

126. CASTING

After our advanced tutorial last time I thought we’d do something a little easy going this week, so I’ve chosen a subject I like to paint and is easy to repeat. ‘Casting’ is a great beginner/intermediate piece for our core skills, making sure our lights are preserved well and using a vibrant yellow to bring our main subject forward. The sky and foreground are great practice for blending colours to achieve some variation in the colours. Give this one a go a few times if you have some time. Enjoy…

Jul 28 2023

125. BUBBLES – PREVIEW

125! Yes it's our 125th tutorial this week, so I saved a real favourite of mine for this one. This is "Bubbles" and it’s a photo of my nephews daughter taken a few years ago now. Perfect as a really interesting and advanced subject for you all to try, this is all about that cheeky face and the white, crisp bubble outlines that make this truly shine as a painting. Happy 125th tutorial everyone...

Jul 16 2023

124. WALKING ON THE BEACH – PREVIEW

This week's tutorial is a reminder that summer is here (even though the UK isn't really seeing it) and this is a great reminder of those lazy days just walking down the beach with the sea lapping at your feet. This is an intermediate level piece and relies on a loose touch to create some lovely movement and texture in our sea and sand with some nice sharp lines to define our figure. Enjoy...

Jul 1 2023

123. VENICE SCENE

This week it’s just one wash, yep you heard right, only one wash of all six colours directly onto a wet canvas to create this great Venice Gondola scene. We then use some lifting off to help enhance our highlights. This is one of our really simple paintings to really encourage our new members to give this painting a go several times to see your progress each time. You’ll really enjoy trying this and seeing your water and pigment controls improve as you go…

Dec 3 2022

108. QUAYSIDE FISHING

Who doesn’t love a man fishing? Our main subject is looking down wishfully into the water hoping for that little nibble on the fishing line whilst relaxing in a great pose for practising your skin tones. With bright sunshine and some deep colours in the quayside and on the man himself this is a great way to relax a little after our last few large and long paintings! Enjoy…

Nov 19 2022

107. PORTOBELLO ROAD MARKET

Get comfortable. Todays painting is one of the hardest projects yet. It’s a busy scene with lots of small marks to help form the shapes of the people in the distance, but you must preserve those whites between, this will help to keep those lovely highlights in between as the sunlight bounces down. This one is a world famous market in London called “Portobello Road” enjoy…

Nov 5 2022

106. STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO

The streets of San Francisco are famous for there undulating nature and we have a challenge here for our students, the perspective changes due to the nature of the hill but you’ll see as we paint along that it’s still using our normal techniques to create this effect. This is a really fabulous painting to display if you can master it, an interesting location, a great bustling scene and some vibrant colours, what more could you ask for…

Nov 21 2020

55. BLACKPOOL TRAM – PREVIEW

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.

Nov 8 2020

54. THE STREET BUSKER – PREVIEW

This week we’re painting this fantastic 'street 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.

Oct 25 2020

53. HER FIRST BIKE – PREVIEW

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.

Sep 27 2020

51. JUST LOOKING – PREVIEW

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.

Sep 13 2020

50. THE LONG SHADOWS – PREVIEW

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!

Aug 30 2020

49. LOST IN THOUGHT – PREVIEW

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.

Aug 16 2020

48. CARRIAGE RIDE IN DALLAS – PREVIEW

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.

Aug 2 2020

47. FISHING FROM THE QUAY – PREVIEW

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.

Jul 5 2020

46. LONDON STREET CAFE – PREVIEW

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…

Jun 7 2020

45. RODEO – PREVIEW

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…

May 2 2020

44. WALKING AND TALKING – PREVIEW

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!"

Apr 4 2020

43. BACK IN THE PUB – PREVIEW

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 !"

Mar 14 2020

42. WHATS OUT THERE – PREVIEW

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 "Whats out there?"

Feb 29 2020

41. DONT DO THAT – PREVIEW

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.

Feb 15 2020

40. THREE MEN WENT TO SEA – PREVIEW

Welcome to Tenerife, This week we're painting from a photo I 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.

Feb 1 2020

39. TETE A TETE – PREVIEW

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.

Jan 18 2020

38. POOGANS SMOKEHOUSE – PREVIEW

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.

Jan 4 2020

37. FRENCH GARDEN – PREVIEW

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.

Dec 21 2019

36. HAND IN HAND – PREVIEW

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.

Dec 7 2019

35. TWO IN TENERIFE – PREVIEW

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.

Nov 23 2019

34. SONNY MACK – PREVIEW

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.

Nov 9 2019

33. BACK WITH NOTHING – PREVIEW

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.

Oct 26 2019

32. GOODBYE SUMMER – PREVIEW

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.

Oct 12 2019

31. THE DOG WALKER – PREVIEW

This weeks tutorial is a lovely image of a woman walking her two dogs on a sandy 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 !

Sep 28 2019

30. BUSKERS IN THE SUN – PREVIEW

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!

Aug 31 2019

28. SMOKY JAZZ – PREVIEW

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!