Kitchen confidential

I often see raised eyebrows when I mention that I love using soft pastels in my sketchbook. Watercolours are a popular choice, being portable and easy to use, but pastels and pastel pencils feel more

SOMETIMES THE INSPIRATION FOR YOUR NEXT PAINTING can be right in front of you – literally. Trying to find the correct subject with great lighting and composition is quite an art: a lot of images won’t

In my opinion, British summers are rather fantastic, especially when spent in a garden. Even if you’re not naturally green-fingered, being a painter gives you a wonderful opportunity to enjoy and enga

Extremes in dark and light are effective tools in creating punchy focal points. I have painted lots of sunny, acrylic street scenes – mainly backlit – and really enjoyed dabbing in the sparkly highlig

Awarded The Artist prize at the annual Royal Institute of Oil Painters’ (ROI) exhibition, self-taught Belgian artist, Valérie Pirlot works predominately in the great outdoors. Depicting the essence of

Follow along as Eliza Ivanova explains her process for colouring artwork digitally without losing that innate sketchbook charm