30 thoughts on “Subscribe

  1. Dear David,

    I have been an admirer of your work for a few years now and I am working my way through a copy of your Watercolour Landscape Course at the moment. I now live in south Florida where the light and scenery is very different from the moody atmosphere of the UK. I have a lot of your books but nowhere in them do you tackle the these aspects and I was wondering if you could give me some pointers for achieving some local paintings or indeed if you are going to come to a tropical location for creating a new book.

    Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge on the subject of watercolours.

    Regards
    Paula

    • Thanks, Paula for your comments on painting tropical scenes. As you say, it does need a different approach to painting atmospheric UK scenery. I haven’t painted in Florida, but I have done some tropical work in the past, mainly in East Africa, and lots of desert scenery more recently. I’ll dig out something appropriate when I have a moment and put up a post on it, as I’m sure many others would appreciate knowing how to resolve your problem. Many thanks and enjoy your painting. David

  2. Thank you David for taking time out of your busy schedule to not only reply but to say that you will put up something that deals with hotter climates. Where I am in south florida it is very lush with palm trees and tropical plants and not really very desert like except for the white sands at the beaches. Probably the intensity of light is the same though. I look forward to reading your blog on your east Africa and desert scenery.

    Regards
    Paula

    • Paula, I’m posting a blog tomorrow which covers a desert scene – the best I can do at the moment regarding hot, tropical climates, and I will do another on intensity of light before long.

      I’ve failed to find any subject exactly as you have requested, but I hope to return to East Africa next winter and will hopefully get something closer to your needs then.

      Best wishes with your painting,

      David

  3. Thank you once again for taking time to reply to my comment. I look forward to reading your post on the desert scene and your future post on intensity of light. I just keep on practicing but begin to wonder if watercolour is the right medium for the vibrant colour down here. I will persevere and hopefully one day be able to produce a painting worthy of your instruction books.

    Regards
    Paula

  4. Dear Jenny,
    I tried to order on line and Israel does indeed appear but when I got to the check-out I was asked for World Pay which I don’t have. I wanted to order the large wash brush, the Painting Water and Rescuing Watercolour DVDs. Could you possibly bring a wash brush to the Zermatt course. If you are able to bring the DVDs, great if not the brush would be also great. Will I be paying in cash (which currency) or do you take credit cards?

    Best wishes and looking forward to seeing you very soon.

    Louise Windzberg.

    • Hi Louise, Worldpay is a credit/debit card portal, you do not need to have an account, just use your Mastercard or Visa.

  5. Hi David, Please could you tell me if you are planning any demonstrations or events in the north west? Love your work! Thank you for your time. Stephen Harrison.

    • Hello Stephen, We don’t have any plans to visit the North West this year but we will be in Cumbria in May to run a painting course, details will be on the website soon. If we are invited by an art society to do a demonstration at the same time we may consider it. I hope this helps.

    • Hello Mark,
      Sorry to be so long in replying but I’ve been away from home. I regret to say there are no prints available. Regards, David

  6. Hello Jenny, I have your book Painting with Pastels and have watched demonstrations on You Tube. I love painting with pastels but I have many questions! I was wondering if you have classes in the south of England?
    Best Wishes. Anne

    • Not at the moment Ann, but watch the website, under events and if I am holding a workshop in the south I will list it under events.

  7. Hi David
    I have bought one of your paintings “On the prowl” I love it but am not sure it is original as I see you use it as an illustration on your site. Can you confirm its provenance ?

  8. This is the first time I have used a blog, so here goes ! I will shortly be spending a couple of weeks in the Canadian Arctic, so exciting. As a somewhat beginner painter which few watercolours would you advise me to take for simple paintings/sketches, please ? In your glorious Arctic book you mention taking a few blues but in September I imagine there will be plenty of rocks and lichen etc. It is a privilege forme to be able to contact such an eminent artist. With best wishes from New Zealand.

    • Hello Penny,

      Thank you for your query about painting in the Arctic. I generally take along my normal colours plus one or two extra blues, so that the full list would be French ultramarine, cobalt blue, pthalo blue, ceruleum blue, indigo, yelloe ochre, cadmium yellow pale, Naples yellow, gamboge, cadmium orange, cadmium red, light red, burnt umber, burnt sienna, alizarin crimson, raw umber and white gouache, though I usually add a few more which may not be strictly necessary. I also take along a number of watercolour pencils which are very useful if the temperature drops. Keep everything compact for rapid responses, especially if you come across any polar bears.
      Enjoy the trip!
      Best wishes,

      David

      • Many thanks David and kind of you to take the time. Having worked in Labrador, mid and northern Alberta I have had to forgo the biro for a pencil when outside (doing a very boring job in Edmonton one exceptionally cold winter) and so understand what you are saying.
        With best wishes,
        Penny

  9. Hi Jenny & David
    For David, everything going on especially NOW to save the planet, re plastics (apart from being late) is GREAT, to put it mildly, BUT it seems to be recognised as being an issue with plastics in the oceans being a being a culprit and recognised a couple of years ago, (due to a certain documentary), all-be-it the personnel behind the respective documentary and doing brilliant things BUT I do wish more persons had been present at Earls Court when I witnessed you at a seminar (held by “DIVE”) talking about “…placing refuge into the oceans, as the land was being filled, the sea was the only place left BUT this would cause all kind of environmental effects…” NOT to quote you but it seems you couldn’t have been more right, in the using of sea/oceans as industrial refuge has been BUT the detrimental effect to our planet too, of course! I was honoured to meet you that day in 1997, but it was nearly twenty years later when I realised David Bellamy OBE foresaw this many years ago not now!

  10. DEAR. DAVID. Hello my name is Desmond and I was wondering if you could very kindly help me out please….I am trying to get into painting but not sure what is the best one to do out of watercolour paints or arcylic for beginners…my mean subjects will be animals and landscape and I would like them to make them as life like and realistic as possible..I realise it will take to to do that but not sure whether watercolour or arcylic would be best… I will appreciate any information you could very kindly send me…thank you so much for your time and kindness..yours sincerely Mr Desmond Townsend

    • Hello Desmond,
      In answer to your query, both acrylics and watercolors are excellent mediums for both animal studies and landscapes. You may well find watercolour more of a challenge, as acrylic paintings are easier to correct or change if things don’t go quite according to plan, as it is an opaque medium. You do need to be careful with your brushes though, as acrylic paint left to dry on the brush will ruin it. Acrylics can also give you some extremely bright and vibrant results. While watercolour can be corrected to a degree, this needs careful handling and it is easy to create a muddy appearance by overworking. However, it’s an exciting medium, quick and easy to set up, and can be combined with pen work. I would uggest that you get a basic guide to each of these mediums and weigh up the pros and cons. Most libraries hold several books on each medium. You will probably end up using both, but often it’s just a feeling for what you think might best suit your temperament that will influence your decision. Best of luck!
      David

  11. David,
    I paint hills, moors and mountains. I would like to buy a camera to help me to this end. My small digital camera doesn’t produce the end product that I want.
    So could you advise me what sort of camera I should buy.
    Roy

    • Hello Roy,
      I am not an expert on cameras, I’m afraid – I used to carry a brace of Nikon SLRs around the hills, but now I am content with a compact camera, a Panasonic DMC-TZ60 which works well for me, and is extremely light. It backs up my sketches and certainly gives me what I need, even in quite poor lighting conditions. It has a powerful zoom enabling you to record detail from some distance. If you work in a heavily detailed way and feel the need for great detail then you may well prefer a digital SLR with a variety of lenses, or perhaps half-way house with a bridge camera. The latter is of course larger than a compact, but still with just the one fixed lens. I hope this helps. Best wishes, David

  12. I thought I had all your books but cannot find the painting Beached boats at Rye I wonder if you are able to let me know where I can find it please.

  13. Hello David,

    Please check out this book on kindle ……looks like a copy of your book.
    I am shocked, as the quality was very poor and had a lot of missing pages specially the index.

    There is no point writing to Amazon about it from India.
    Aquarelle landscape course….by Salmy borbay.
    There is a picture of you with a sketching group somewhere in the beginning.

    With kind regards

    Sharat

    Ps i was looking for watercolour landscape books on kindle unlimited….and came across this.

  14. I see I just missed 2 classes online. Will you be having more? I have several of your books, but would love to take a class. I truly hope you will offer many more.

    • Thank you for your interest in my work, Mary. Although we haven’t any further workshops lined up at the moment, we may well organise something before long, in which case we’ll let you know in advance.
      Best wishes with your painting,
      David

  15. Hi David
    I was tempted by the paints you offer too and wondered whether the transparent yellow oxide has transplanted your use of yellow ochre or one of the other yellows . Also I wondered if you use the transparent red oxide instead of light red or another colour. Both the quinacridone sienna and Aussie gold are similar colours and very lovely just not sure if I need both of them, am already using trans pyrrol orange and transparent orange. Am looking forward to seeing your new book which have already ordered and it might tell me more about the new colours you use as hopefully will the book I ordered from you on the seashore, in the trailer to the DVD I think you mentions Cabo blue which is another Daniel Smith special. My favourite works by you are ones of the high places in the UK and the mountains generally am trying to get your book on painting Mountains and Moorlands which I have on loan from the library. I love the new Arctic book with all the different blues in it and wonder what colours you are using, do you say which colours on the Arctic DVDs?Who knows I might get to one of your workshops one day, we all need to stay positive don’t we. Keep up the good work
    Best wishes
    Lynne

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