From My Camera Roll (Patreon)

Hi everyone, it's been quite a week. While we had a great launch for Halloween, it really took the wind out of my sails as there is so much to do in the run up. Thank you everyone who has bought a template or is thinking of doing so, it makes such a huge difference to us being able to continue doing all we do.

An unexpected livestream!

This is the happy but tired face of a person who was feeling a bit low at 7pm on Saturday night...I thought about what makes me happy and that is painting with friends (all of you) and because there was no watercolour hang out scheduled, at 8:30pm I decided to do an impromptu livestream for 9pm. Then followed a hilarious half hour of downloading and installing software, learning how to use it and get online just in time for 9pm where I painted these tomato plants. I just needed to connect with people to feel better and it really helped. My plan is to do a regular livestream on Friday nights a few times a month. I will of course let you know when we get them officially planned but you can go and watch it back here. I'd love to get your opinion on how I can make the most of livestreaming on Youtube. Do you watch any other creators livestream? If so, what do you like about it?

Wedding Venue Illustration

I had such a lovely painting session last week, painting the Gleneagles Townhouse in Edinburgh for a couple's wedding stationery. I filmed parts of the process for a few reels but it reminded me just how much I love to paint buildings.

Getting our palettes ready for Autumn

We have a great session looking at how you can desaturate your colours by way of the complimentary colours. I paint a rudbeckia (black eyed susan) flower in both ways, it's a nice one to get into Autumn painting.

Trying something very different

I've seen a few artists create beautiful vases of flowers completely wet on wet and I wanted to have a go. It basically is an exercise in lifting colour. I was really pleased with the aster petals using this technique and you can see the full video on Youtube on Thursday.

Halloween approaches

Here's a sneak peek at some of the plants and flowers we will be painting in the Halloween painting challenge - you can get your template here. It's not a big secret like Advent so we're happy to reveal some elements...can you see one of your suggestions in there!