May 2026 Newsletter: Part 1
Welcome to my May newsletter! Actually, it’s just half of it - there’s been a lot going on and I don’t want to bore you all at once. So you are getting bored twice this month! Part 2 is coming next week. New paintings, competitions, the studio sale, research, mentoring, plein air competitions… the list goes on! It’s baffling what goes on behind the scenes of being an artist. Than you for sticking with me while I figure it all out.
The Spring Studio Sale
Firstly, a huge thank you to you all! The Spring Studio Sale went better than I ever anticipated and it has blown me away. In total, 12 pieces in the sale have sold, and a few other non-sale pieces have been snapped up or reserved by eager collectors. I can’t say thank you enough! I’m delighted that you like my paintings this much, and it gives me so much hope for the future. I’m leaving the sale up for another week or so, then I’ll be closing it and having a rethink, continuing to create more work and announcing another sale in the summer. In the meantime, keep an eye on my newsletter for any pieces you are interested in. Not all will be for sale, some I will be saving for entering into art competitions and open events. But if you are interested in any piece, send me an email and let’s have a chat about that. You are always welcome to come round and view the studio, any artworks you are interested in and are available, and discuss art! Just send me an email at (email address reserved for newsletter subscribers!) or message me on social media and we will sort it out.
‘Choppy Waters’ A little favourite of mine which I am so happy has found a new home!
Plein Air Competitions
“Plein air” is a French term which means something like “in the open air” and this is the general name for the art of outdoor painting, which is what I do. Up and down the country there are a few plein air (pronounced ‘plan-air’) competitions this summer which I have decided to enter. It’s a great chance for me to meet other plein air painters, see how they paint, make friends, and also to see where my own work stacks up against other professional artists.
This month I have been to two - Delamore Arts and Painswick Rococo Gardens - and here’s how I got on (spoiler alert- they went well, very well!).
Delamore Plein Air Competition
A couple of weeks ago I headed to Delamore Arts for their very first plein air painting competition. And my first competition of the year! I’ve done three plein air competitions before and they are great events for me to see where I stand against other artists, learn from them, and make important connections and friends in what could otherwise be quite a lonely painting existence.
Delamore Arts is a May-only exhibition of very high-standard artwork in a country house on the edge of Dartmoor, near Ivybridge - it’s well worth a visit to wander through the sculpture gardens and grounds, and there are a number of exhibitions in the house and adjoining buildings. Delamore partnered with Artizan Gallery to start the plein air competition, and it was really good to find a local competition to enter. Last year, I had to head up to Gloucester (which I won!) and Malvern (I won a highly commended award, but sadly the competition doesn’t seem to be running this year) to compete in my nearest ones!
The weather was pretty changeable, with early May showers rolling in and out, sunshine appearing and disappearing, wind picking up and dying down. After having a good walk around to explore a few different painting location options, I settled on a view by the pond, where reflected shapes were being interrupted by the pond plants and lilies, and the receding view made some interesting angular intersecting shapes to place a composition around.
The roughly completed painting overlooking the pond. Where I saw a snake in the water! Grass snake perhaps?
This was my first time trying to paint water reflections, or a reflected water piece. I decided to block in the main shadows and light areas in the water first with thinned paint, then work over this to capture the plants and view. And I really struggled! I think it was a time limit thing (the competition ended up being quite short for a plein air event, only 4 hours to complete a painting), and choosing a large board with a slightly rougher and slower painting surface than I have been using more recently. So it caught me off guard a little, and I ended up painting in a more traditional style than I would usually do. But, I was still pleased with how it come out! The bottom third in particular. I think another hour and I would have been able to resolve some of the more niggling issues which were bothering me with the rest of the painting - that sense of receding distance towards the looming tor needed a bit more work, as did the far grass and light cutting across the scene, and the artificial pond bank rolling down to the left.
As ever when you paint outdoors, you have to make very quick and solid decisions. The streak of sunlight you are trying to capture may be there one minute, and then not appear for the rest of the day. The strong reflections may disappear, heavy clouds may start bathing everything in darker and flatter light. And on a changeable day, this can compound any mistakes, and also make it harder to create a cohesive painting. I’s easy to complete one area with the sun shining, then you start working on the next area, the clouds roll over and you are dealing with very different lighting and atmosphere.
With what felt like only an instant to create the painting, it was suddenly time for the hand in and judging. I was really lucky to catch up with a couple of my painting friends I first met at my very first plein air competition in Exeter in 2024, and enjoy looking round some of Delamore’s great exhibitions.
And then back for the judging - and I was amazed to find I won ‘best landscape’! Which was a lovely surprise - the standard was high and there was a real range of work on display, not all of it painting either, which I wasn’t expecting and must have made the judging quite difficult.
My prize for ‘best landscape’! Excuse my dilapidated painting clothes and trousers with the big hole in the knee, they have been upgraded since this photo.
And a better shot of the painting - which is available if you want to own a prize winner!
I was super excited to see my mate Gabrielle Peckham pick up the prize for ‘best floral’ piece with her beautiful working of a view looking through a hedged archway. From a painting perspective, this was a really technically difficult view, with light beyond the archway contrasting with the light thrown on the hedging. Being able to work two types of light, with a very sharp contrast with deep shade within the archway, takes real understanding and skill. What a painting to create in only 4 hours!
Gabrielle Peckham winning ‘best floral’ piece.
Her winning painting. Those colours and lighting!
Karen Gimlinge made a great work looking at the reflections in the fountain with Delamore house looming behind - another technically difficult piece with lots of perspective and ornamentation to resolve, all while dealing with contrasting organic and architectural forms. Debbie Birdsley won ‘overall bronze’ for a lovely, muted and considered view of the pond, and Stephen Hawkins won ‘overall gold’ for his stunning dilapidated treehouse between the moody trees.
‘Overall Gold’ winner Stepthen Hawkins with a beautiful moody treehouse.
‘Overall Bronze’ winner Debbie Birdsley with a beautifully considered and calm painting.
It was a great day and I was really happy to come away with the best landscape prize. I would have preferred the event to be a bit more painting focused, rather than all artforms, with perhaps some more plein air artist experience on the judging panel. But what a great first local plein air event, I hope it grows and grows!
Painwick Rococo Gardens Plein Air Competiton
I’ll save the preamble on this one - I WON! This was a great day and a really high standard of professional artists competing. I can’t believe I came away as the ‘overall winner’ against around 50 competing artists, some of which are my painting idols. I met Roger Dellar who is a plein air painting legend and awarded the prizes on the day, as well as Mark Owen, who won last year and is an incredible painter and a very funny man.
Me receiving my prize from Roger Dellar, who is actually discussing my work! What an honour. And my painting trousers have been upgraded, you’ll be pleased to see.
All the 'highly commended’ and prize winning artworks from the day. What a high standard! That’s Mark Owen on the left.
I took the lessons learnt from the Delamore Arts competition and applied them here. Weirdly, after a good scout around to find potential locations, I ended up selecting a very similar scene to paint - reflected light in the pond - but this time I was more prepared with a smoother surface to help with wiping paint away, knowing I had a longer event time, and less changeable weather (grey and slightly showery, but at least fairly consistent). The gardens are stunning, but they feel enclosed in a valley, with tree barriers creating blocks towards any distant views, and lots of ornamental Rococo architectural pieces which could dominate any painting. So I decided to leave all of that alone, and concentrate purely on the surface of the water, with the light filtering between trees on the far side, again being cut and rearranged by water lilies and pond plants.
My start was good - quickly getting down the feleing of water depth and using my silicone tools to cut out the reflected light. I knew getting this part right was key - I would be painting over and through this layer, and wouldn’t be able to change any colours, or remove much more paint from it.
Then the hard part came, painting over this layer to create the plants. Any mistakes here would be permanent as they would cover the underpainting wouldn’t be able to be removed without removing EVERYTHING, which would require a complete wiping off and starting again, right back at the very start. I was really conscious of allowing the underpainting to come though and do it’s job. So each painting stroke going forward had to be extremely considered and thoughtfully built up.
Eventually I was fairly happy with the plants, but something still felt a bit off. My eagle-eyed wife popped down and spotted some areas which needed further work. I made some last minute gambles and introduced more reds (which I hadn’t used up to this point), and darker areas between the lily pads. And wiped some spaces for upright leaves with the light coming through them. Then rushed up the hill to just make the 4pm hand in!
Just finished at the pond - time for a very quick photo before running up to drop off the painting before the deadline!
And the finished painting. Which is available too!
So it was a great day and I’m over the moon to have won another competition. Which means of the five plein air competitions I have entered, I’ve won three of them! Maybe I should quit while I’m ahead. And I need to give a huge thank you to my amazing wife who helps get me to these events, keep me on an even keel, and make this all possible.
Other Artworks
The last few weeks have been a mixed bag both weather wise and mental health and energy wise. I’ve tried to be as kind as I can to myself, but I haven’t been able to get out painting as much as I would have liked to. However, I do have three paintings (all works in progress) to share but I will save those for part 2 next week!
Mentoring
I have now come to the end of my mentoring period with the amazing Jo Henley, who has truly been able to transform the way I approach making a living as an artist. I’m really sad to have come to the end of our 6 months together, but also I have learnt so much and I am eternally grateful. As most of you probably know, I am deaf, have ADHD, rejection sensitive dysphoria, and anxiety issues, which makes some things impossible to do, especially where expectation and letting people down are involved (which is why I don’t do commissions). Jo has ADHD herself and specialises in working with ADHD creatives to build sustainable careers. Without her gentle but persistent approach, I would be stuck in not knowing where to focus my limited energy, or trying to push myself into areas which are not sustainable for me. So this is a huge thank you to Jo for everything she has done. I’m hoping I can work with her again in the future!
My funding to work with Jo came from Arts Council England, where I managed to successfully apply to their Developing Your Creative Practice fund (which also has funded a space for me on Newlyn School of Art’s Professional Landscape Programme which I shall talk about another time). So than you to Arts Council England too!
Painting Videos and The Secret Lives of Pigments Podcast
As part of my work with Jo, I have been writing episodes for my podcast ‘The Secret Lives of Pigments’ which I plan to release later this year, where I take a look at interesting colours which artists have used - sometimes even artists older than our own species. I KNOW! Mind-blowing. But it turns out that we aren’t the only creative species. Stayed tuned for an episode on prehistoric pigments for that one.
Joined with this, I’ll be making videos on how to use some of these colours - what their properties are, painters who used them, how they fit into your paint palette - all kinds of questions on how to get the best out of them. I truly believe that painting is a science as well as an art, and understanding your tools and materials is a huge part of learning how to use them expressively.
I’ll also be making videos on HOW TO PAINT! Which will probably work as a Patreon thing, where you can sign up for fortnightly (or perhaps monthly) episodes on painting which will cover lots of essential lessons to develop your skills. These will be a mixture of beginner, intermediate and advanced lessons. I’ve been slowing working on video ideas for these, and would love to know if you are interested in this! If you are, please email me (email address reserved for newsletter subscribers only!) and let me know - I may need your feedback on a test video!
Ok, I must have bored you enough by now. Brace yourself for part 2 next week!
Thank you again!
As always, thank you so much for being a subscriber and for all your help, support and love! It’s a pleasure to be able to share my art journey with you all and build connections with people who love painting - whether that’s viewing them, creating them or learning how to paint. If there’s anything you’d like to chat about, please please just send me an email (address included in my original newsletter only) or message on social media. I love to hear from you!
If you have missed any previous newsletters, do not worry! They are available here.
