Watercolor Secrets was born out of my passionate belief that literally ANYONE can learn how to paint exquisite watercolors...

That belief stems from many years of working, in-person, with beginner and amateur artists.

I've seen first hand, that by keeping things simple and focusing on the basic building blocks of watercolor painting, amazing things can happen...

In no time at all, frustrated beginners start producing paintings that stagger them - paintings they want to show off, watercolors that look fresh, vibrant and uplifting (and in many cases they end up selling to friends and family!).

So many of my students have told me that they passed through school wanting to learn art, but were frustrated that they were never taught basic techniques.

Far too often they were told to concentrate on creating 'mood' and 'energy' and 'themes'.

They tried, but floundered because they were never shown how to draw simple shapes like trees, or led through the principles of perspective. So they gave up altogether. Sadly, they lost art - and art lost them...

This mirrors my own experience at school i.e. "...develop your theme and you'll pick up the basics as you go along..."

Well no, actually you don't!

You need to understand some simple building blocks of drawing and painting techniques before you get into the heady heights of symbolism and representation in your work.

As you can probabyl guess, I don't hold with those art theorists and purists who say you shouldn't do this or that, because it's not "real" painting...

"Don't copy from photos... never use a ruler... if you use white paint in watercolor then it's not a 'proper' watercolor..."

Rubbish!

Learning how to paint is all about using whatever tools or techniques that make YOU feel most comfortable and inspires you to keep going.

How I Learnt to Paint

My own background as an artist is probably not too far removed from most people who've found or re-discovered art at that certain age...

I enjoyed art at school in Liverpool, here in the UK. However, after I moved into 'a proper job', I only dabbled occasionally with art over a long period.

I hardly picked up a brush in anger for nearly 30 years, until I came across "A Brush With Art" - a Watercolor Series on TV in 1992 by well known UK artist Alwyn Crawshaw.

His infectious enthusiasm and obvious enjoyment of the subject fired up the old artistic juices and since then I've found a creative outlet that's given me so much satisfaction and pleasure.

I'm largely self-taught, mostly by reading about the great artists of the past and watching TV artists such as Alwyn Crawshaw, the late Bob Ross and many others.

And above all, through many years of trial and error...

Ultimately, the aim of the Watercolor Secrets course is to drastically reduce your learning curve... so that you don't have to waste years on trial and error like I did.

Instead, I'd like you to spend many happy and rewarding years creating watercolors that excite you, impress your peers and inspire others.

All the best,