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What makes a good paintbrush? The range can be overwhelming, but choosing the right brush, as with any tool, makes the job much easier. To begin with, for watercolour you can rule out hogs bristle (meant for oil paints). Some…

Hi everybody, The first thing that took my online eye this morning was the post from The Drawing Room in Christchurch offering limited supplies of tartan paint 😄. Yes, it’s April already. Autumn is in full swing at the lake.…

Hi everyone, my March newsletter is a little late and I can’t think of any excuse other than that we’ve had wall to wall visitors! We’ve still had some crazily hot days, even though we’re now into autumn - then…

Hi everyone, January at the lake has been a month of (more ) crazy weather, 30 degree days, wild winds and heavy rain. Tempers have sometimes been frayed by humid stickiness . We’ve had lots of visitors - which has…

I can’t quite believe that it’s the 9th day of the new year already. I’m seated at the desk at Wall to Wall gallery in Nelson, my final gallery duty. I’ve been a member here for nearly five years, made…

Hi everyone, We’re visiting Auckland and I’ve just finished reading my daughters copy of NZ magazine “Your Home and Garden’ which is always a treat (when I’m supposed to be helping her out with the kids and household jobs!). My…

Hi everyone, this week was a special one ...we held the first get together of our Tasman watercolour painters. We've called ourselves 'Wai Knot", Wai being the Maori name for water, and "knot" signifying a joining together. There's not been…

The other day I decided to move my spinning wheel into the studio as I often find myself waiting for paint to dry and thought that I could usefully fill in the time by spinning some fleece :) This led…

Hi everyone, It’s been a busy odd month at the studio. As well as battling a nasty virus, which slowed me down , I’ve taught two weekend workshops - which always involves a lot of preparation. Though they were two…

I’m thinking of putting up a new sign at the studio: “Please do not chase , yell at or grab the chickens." Why not? This puts them off laying eggs, which is their main job. Wouldn’t it put you off…