Landscape Painting Ideas & Creative Insights

As I continue to paint with collage and incorporate garden birds into my work after several years of feathered absence, a familiar bird has made its way back to the easel. Its the starling, and in my last blog I shared my thoughts on the inspiration of starlings and some of the varied starling paintings I’ve done over the years. The latest starling painting was inspired by a previous work in soft pastels, a walk around a boggy, misty lake in a tiny Welsh village, and my sen

The starling keeps reappearing in my art, just like the birds themselves return like clockwork each winter on their migration. Over the years I’ve painted them many times, exploring different styles and techniques in my bird art, paintings and collage artwork. But I often wonder — what is it about these small birds that captures my imagination so strongly? Perhaps it’s their beauty, their movement, or the memories attached to them. Starlings have become one of the most recurr

The first month of a new year can often feel challenging as we settle back into our routines and deal with the cold winter months. Having decided as one of my 2026 art goals to do more work in the sketchbook, I found this habit to be very grounding. I had something to look forward to at the end of the day, and could make that sketchbook page a simple or as challenging as I was in the mood for. What I Explored This first month was very experimental. I decided that I didn’t wan

I’m not one for setting goals, or resolutions, or jumping on any trends just because it’s January. But this year, starting a new year with a lot of uncertainty around careers, homes and more, feels like a good time to ground myself in projects and passions. It’s what I always do when I can’t control things around me, I keep myself busy. So I thought I’d share with you my six art projects that I’m hoping to work on this year. These are by no means fixed, and I’m only holding a

Fridge doors, tv unit, table mats, wardrobe, doors. Anywhere and everywhere there’s a flat surface there’s art in my house. And while mine is confined to our walls, my five year old son's is everywhere. And whilst I adore the splashes of colour and memories of his first forays into scribbling and drawing flags and endless cars, there’s an impracticality to having your child’s drawings all over the place . They get torn by doors being opened, bodies brushing past, they fade in

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

How do you start collage painting and how do you know when it's finished? I answer these questions and uncover the process from the messy middle to final artwork.

Heading into a new year, I felt a strong need to create again. I realized I needed more time to think, slow down, and reconnect with...

Clocks, sugars, cotton, wool. The silken parachutes of dandelions are a fixture of English summer gardens and childhood.  The humble dandelion is regarded as a weed, though I dislike the term. A weed to me is not a nuisance, but a plant or flower that simply grows where it falls. It’s an opportunist, and dandelions are one of the very best, colonising driveways, fields, pavements and manicured gardens. With elegant draping leaves and long furry stalks, a dandelion is easy to

To start the new year, I'm recapping on the previous one, and talking about some of my favourite moments, things and insights from 2024....

I’m excited to share the first pieces from my latest collection of landscape paintings , Closer to Home . This collection started out as...

I found out a lot of interesting facts lately. Grandmothers feed the young ones sugar and warn the neighbours of danger. Reckless youths...

Recently, I started reading a new book that had been on my wishlist for quite some time. Ben Rawlence’s The Treeline is a beautifully...

When 2023 began, I didn't expect it to be a year of such artistic change. Early on, a bump in the road took me completely by surprise and...

Reading is not just an activity; it's a rejuvenating escape into another world, an opportunity to experience the everyday in unexpected...

Paintings Completed: 18 (+ lots of sketches + several trips out into nature) September in my studio was all about my latest woodlands painting collection, Woodlands and Walks, and thankfully it was a highly productive and satisfying month. I may not have managed to paint every single day, but in the grand scheme of things, with work obligations, a toddler, home projects and general adulting, I did pretty well. You can follow the progress of this series here. For the sake of

This past week, things in the studio have gone a little slower than I’d have liked. I’ve realised how ambitious it is to paint, draw or...

For the second week of my 100 day landscape challenge, and as I found myself hesitant and almost faltering so early on, I decided to...

I’m 10 days in to a 100 day art challenge with the Woodlands and Walks series , and it’s already thrown a lot of surprises my way. What...

The way a seed grows where it falls, no matter whether it’s clinging to the edge of a waterfall or in between cracks in the asphalt....