From my Camera roll this week! (Patreon)

Hi everyone, I have stepped off the plane from my watercolour retreat in the Dordogne region of France. It has been so wonderful to welcome a few patrons among the group of 15. I am sure we will share plenty of the retreat in coming weeks but there are a few hints on the camera roll.

Issiegac Market 1, 2

On our last day we sat in the market square of the beautiful town of Issiegac (where they filmed ‘Chocolat’). It was momentous as everyone sat down and painted confidently in the square, having all felt a bit daunted at the idea of doing so at the beginning of the week. We’ve had such a nice time but for me the biggest achievement is seeing my guests transform from painters who want to follow tutorials and guidance in the comfort of the art studio to creative, brave painters who are happy to sit anywhere and paint anything!

The endless inspiration of an ancient French town

We were spoilt with endless crumbling walls, characterful doorways and windows. If you’re ever wondering where to go for a painting trip full of inspiration, you must check out the Dordogne region.

Nina making a breakthrough

All of my students made amazing creations and charted incredible progress and this one photo really summed up everyone's journey. Nina was particularly keen to have a crack at loose watercolour flowers. Whilst my course is all about botanical painting it’s so important to try different styles and topics. This was a wonderful moment where she painted a beautiful loose sunflower and couldn't quite believe what she'd done and how much she liked it!

The group’s first plein air painting  It happened to be on one of our few rainy days. We managed to find a lovely cafe with a canopy and sat outside, still cosy and dry with a fantastic window across the path to paint in Eymet

Endless pudding!

We were treated to amazing food, but the night we went to Cour d’eymet, the Michelin starred chef threw everything but the kitchen sink at the menu and we were amazed, course after course!

Book Launch!

A few days before I left, my Reverse Colouring book ‘Draw Your Way’ came out in the UK. I’m very happy to say it is now available on my Etsy and website store shipping globally. We did a workshop in the Bristol Branch of Cass Art. It’s always exciting to see my books out there in the wild!

A quick bit of 'us' time

On launch day Ant and I snatched a few hours to celebrate with dinner at Riverford field kitchen in Devon. We’ve been so busy since getting back from Montana it was lovely to sit down and take it all in before I went off to France.

And a very exciting first look

Here is a sneak peek of my ‘Paint Your Own’ 2025 botanical year calendar. Available very soon - we just need Ant to finish editing the tutorials. The calendar will be available to buy in three different ways:

- Paint your own: The blank calendar (with months and grid printed) as a Paint Your Own version with a link to all the filmed tutorials as a private playlist.

- Paint your own tutorials only - Just the link to the filmed tutorials as a private playlist.

- Fully printed with all the art - a calendar printed with all of my artworks so you don’t have to paint a thing!