Deborah’s garden

Posted: August 9, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | 14 Comments

My friend Deborah has an incredible garden — swathes of perennials, apple trees, carefully tended shrubs, exotic lilies and colourful annuals flowering in containers of different sizes. I think late July or early August is the best time to visit.

When I visited her last week I had a bit of time to paint in the garden, with Alice happily sleeping by my side. I chose to sit on a low stool and look right into the flower beds. Instead of focussing on one section of the painting, I tried to convey the beautiful pattern of daylilies (at my eye level) and daisies (a little above me).

I’ve been trying out some new stock: Millford watercolour paper from St. Cuthberts Mill in the UK. I bought a block a few weeks ago and have used it (and enjoyed it) a couple of times. You can read about the features of the paper in my link, but basically it is sized so that the paper stays wetter longer. As with all cotton papers from that mill, this is really nice to work on and it does indeed stay wetter longer even on a warm summer day.

Pigeon Cove and some new paper

Posted: July 23, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | 5 Comments

Each time I go to Cape Ann, I return to my favourite painting spots. I don’t always have time to sketch but I take lots of photos so that I can continue painting when I get home. This time, besides returning to Pigeon Cove, I also returned home with some new paper: a block of Millford watercolour paper from St. Cuthberts Mill.

I’ve been reading about this paper and seen a few people using it online. One of my favourite watercolour sheets is Saunders Waterford paper, and this one is from the same mill. What makes it a little different from their other papers is that it is hard-sized, meaning it is made to stay wet for longer. It’s a block of paper so I couldn’t wet the paper on both sides but it seems to perform as advertised: both the initial sky wash and the first glaze on the foreground rocks stayed moist and glistening for a longer time than I am used to. This test was done in the controlled environment of my studio. It will be interesting to take it outside where wind and heat usually dry the paper too quickly.