Landscape Painting Ideas & Creative Insights

Artists always foster relationships with landscapes that they love. Van Gogh in Arles, Monet in Giverny, John Constable in Suffolk. Now it feels as though Edinburgh is becoming that place for me. A place I keep returning to, that lingers on in my notebooks and sketchbooks.  But just as Monet painted his gardens or his haystacks in different conditions, so Edinburgh means something different to me every time I go. The first time I arrived in this majestic, gothic city I was gr

The landscape has always been my source of refuge. It’s a place of comfort, clarity, far better at cleaning my mind than any therapy or self care ever could. I find a deep connection to places that I return to, year after year, like a migratory albatross returning to her mate. But the landscape has its extremes too, and nowhere has this been more apparent to me than in the valleys of Wales. The rugged Welsh landscape is bound by cycles of weather, microclimates, birth and des

Whenever I cross the border into Wales, I never know what I’ll find—rain one moment, golden skies the next. From seaside promenades to wild valleys and hidden mining towns, each trip feels like a new discovery. I always bring my sketchbook, capturing rolling green hills, bright harbour towns, and fleeting impressions before the landscape shifts again. Wales may be small, but it never runs out of surprises.

There’s something about walking in nature that untangles my thoughts, softens the edges of a hard day, and fills me with a quiet kind of wonder. As a painter, I often go out into the landscape looking for inspiration. Over time, I've realised I keep returning to the same places. Not because I’m short on ideas, but because these landscapes never stop offering something new. A different season, a change in light, a sudden silence in the air... each one is a new experience to b

Have you ever been lucky enough to stand on a wild Scottish hillside, with the wind in your hair and the clouds rolling in like theatre curtains, and felt something shift? There’s something about the landscape of Scotland: rugged, raw, and unapologetically itself - that pulls you out of your head and straight into your senses. You don’t have to be an artist to feel it. You just have to walk. And you can experience this in many of the great wild places in Britain which I'll co

Autumn is a season of transformation, where nature turns sumptuous shades of Indian red, burnt orange, and shimmers of gold. For landscape artists , this is an inspiring time to capture the essence of autumn through landscape art. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced painter, the beauty of autumn invites exploration. In this blog post, I explore various ideas and techniques for creating stunning autumn-themed art. From selecting the right location to mastering your co

It’s a fast-growing, faster-changing concrete sprawl, but just occasionally, this little island of Malta surprises me. If you know where...

This year, I’ve changed my mind about a lot of things. It took just over 48 hours to change my opinion about London. First, a little back...

I documented my week of sketching and painting Scotland and the Scottish highlands on my first solo painting trip.

“Yet often the mountain gives itself most completely when I have no destination, when I reach nowhere in particular, but have gone out merely to be with the mountain as one visits a friend with no intention but to be with him.” Nan Shepherd, The Living Mountain: A Celebration of the Cairngorm Mountains of Scotland The Scottish Highlands were not my first foray into the mountains of Europe, but the rugged, ancient granite peaks closest to home were the ones I was most excited

It was almost three years ago, just before the global pandemic that shook our reasonably stable world apart, that I had been quietly, excitedly planning my first solo art holiday. I planned to go to Austria, to a little alpine retreat called Hallstatt, for some much needed winter beauty, and plenty of inspiration. The pandemic had other ideas. Like millions of people around the world, my plans got postponed, or put indefinitely on hold. I pushed the idea of solo travel out of

I used to fear the empty sketchbook. I was afraid of producing something less than perfect, of wasting pencils, paper and then having...

It’s a somewhat grueling uphill path to get to the Franz Marc Museum in Kochel am See, Germany. It’s even tougher with a toddler and a...

I’m afraid this is a  slightly  misleading blog post title. I’m not heading back to Patagonia any time soon, though of course I would...

“When I raise my eyes to the sky, I see earthly things as well.” – Tycho Brahe, 1588 When a city is visited by 16 million people a year,...

I’m not afraid of flying. It’s not one of the experiences I enjoy the most, but it’s far from pleasant. I love the hustle and bustle, and...

Hi there, it’s still sweltering over here in sunny Malta, so getting stuck in to painting frosty scenes and tiny icebergs feels a big ironic. I’ll talk about life in Santiago in my next post, but first I had to share with you the first of my Patagonia landscape paintings . I’m planning a little series of oils, capturing the different nuances of light and colour that this wonderful place is so famous for. As an artist used to painting in pretty bold and varied colours, this