Portraits with life

Alla Prima is Italian for “at the first” and in painting terms means completing a painting at once, in a single sitting or session. The overall aim is to capture an immediate impression of the subject

Every painting’s varying subject matter and scale offers us distinct opportunities and challenges. Before I start any project, I like to consider what I want to convey, what opportunities and challeng

SOMETIMES MAKING LIFE SIMPLER FOR YOURSELF and avoiding overthinking a process gets you further. In painting terms, using flat colours does exactly that and it may even prove to hold the key to more c

THIS PORTRAIT BEGAN LIFE as a pile of old magazines: pages full of colour, text and typography just waiting to be reimagined. I’ve always loved how collage can transform the ordinary into something co

THIS ARTIST IS A PROFESSIONAL working from her London studio in a mix of oils, charcoals and pastels. In addition to portrait painting, she teaches privately and holds weekly classes, while she has ex

This sunny landscape of oak trees in Chatsworth Park in Derbyshire is a wonderfully inspiring view, masses of Autumnal foliage back-lit by the warm sunshine. But how can we recreate that warmth with t