Learning to See

Inspiration and practical advice for aspiring realist artists

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Why 2020 Has Me So Scared, and Why I Think That’s a Good Thing

January 1, 2020 By: Paul98 Comments

Everyone who paints regularly knows that, on some level, painting means going willingly into the unknown.

To put it like that seems a little exciting. Romantic, even.

But uncertainty is anything but romantic.

It’s uncomfortable. It means constantly facing the spectre of failure, and sometimes living with it when it happens. Fear is not fun.

So why do we do it?

The Most Effective Way I know To Improve Your Work

April 19, 2019 By: Paul14 Comments

You’ve heard the advice plenty of times.

Draw every day. Just paint.

It would seem to make sense – except that it’s perfectly possible to do that and not get any better at all.

Wild Oxlips – and Painting What’s In Front of You

March 8, 2019 By: Paul32 Comments

Every morning, I pile the kids into the car and we head off to school. Despite the chaos, I treasure this part of my day. I get to spend some time with my boys. They’re hilarious and they make me laugh, without fail, every morning.

I also get to drive through the breathtakingly beautiful countryside that we live in the heart of.

How to have a successful blog even when you think you have nothing to share

February 15, 2019 By: Paul14 Comments

By far the most common worry I’ve heard so far from people on my Threads program is that they can’t run a blog because they don’t have anything to share.

I think you have something very compelling to share right now.

You just need to be strong enough to do it.

Why is it so hard to finish a painting?

January 19, 2018 By: Paul36 Comments

I’ve been working on this painting for five days now. At the beginning, I was feeling a mixture of excitement and anxiety, as I usually do. Excitement at what the picture could be, and anxiety that I won’t be able to get it there. When I’m working on a painting for more than a day,

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Dream Big, Take Small Steps

January 12, 2018 By: Paul18 Comments

We’re snowed in again and the power has gone. I’m looking out over a landscape made fresh by deep snow. A new year is here. And as always, with it comes the urge to make changes. Usually, we try to make big changes. Often, a few of them at once. Which, you know as well

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Give yourself permission (to take the one big step you need to take)

December 15, 2017 By: Paul33 Comments

I’m profoundly grateful to you. If you’re reading this, I want you to know that. If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ll know I’ve had a few wobbles in the last couple of years. Now I wake up every day to breathtakingly beautiful countryside and a happy family. And the thing is, I

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Winter in Uley

December 12, 2017 By: Paul21 Comments

At first, I was slightly disappointed that we’d arrived in Uley right at the end of Autumn. It was stunningly beautiful, but it was a transitory beauty that was already changing quickly into winter. The golden leaves were falling and the trees were a little more bare every day. It made me sad because we

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Working on my “Na”

December 8, 2017 By: Paul27 Comments

I was sitting on the floor of a small home in Kolkata, northern India, where I’d be staying for the next three months. I had my tabla ready in front of me. I had no idea what to expect. Jayanta, my new tabla teacher, had just seated himself opposite me. He didn’t speak a word

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Getting Started

November 24, 2017 By: Paul22 Comments

Uley Bury, an iron age hill fort, behind Uley village 8:30 AM. We’re in the car, taking the kids to school. As we drive up the steep, narrow, twisty road out of the Uley valley and on to the edge of the Cotswolds escarpment I catch my breath at the natural splendour of this place,

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Hi, I’m Paul

I'm a (mostly) self-taught artist. I paint realism in oils, mostly still life. I share my work, my evolving process and what knowledge I've gained on my own learning journey here, in the hope that it might help you on yours.
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