The last couple of months have been a little bit manic at times leaving me wondering where I actually live. A student asked where I was based and I honestly struggled to answer. I’ve had some family commitments and time away, some teaching and then a quick turnaround for a short cruise before heading down to West Dean Summer school. This has all left me feeling slightly disorientated and my art practice is definitely way behind. Next year I plan to start to reduce my teaching south of London and continue to spread myself further in Norfolk and Suffolk, let’s see how that pans out! On the book front, no more news for now, just some tweaking for the typesetter before the final proof is ready.

Studio Life.

I was delighted to find the SBA sketchbook exchange waiting for me on my return from Norway. Each participating member of the SBA contributes a double page of whatever subject is in season or what their passion is. It’s such a lovely project and the pages look stunning. Once completed it will be scanned and published.

My small corner continues to be a little haven of peace to work in. It’s so important to have a space, even a small one to leave out your paints, paper and pencils and I say this again and again to my students. Noone is going to use art supplies on a consistent basis if they have to unpack their bag each time.

The continuation on the poppy painting progress has been slow as there have been a fair few teaching commitments amidst the travelling. But the seed heads have dried nicely, and I have taken some clear reference photos and made colour notes so that I can continue this project when I have the time.

I have now had a chance to try out the new Faber-castell colours. It’s such a shame these weren’t released before I had written my book content. There are some new useful colours but also many that I wouldn’t use. Firstly, the pyrrole red is not as bright as I had hoped, it doesn’t quite match the prismacolor poppy red in brightness. There is a nice selection of pastel colours which were missing from the range. Some of these may be useful for lichen, in particular the green jasper 261 and the green earth 372. I have also compared on my chart some of the prismacolor shades that these new Faber-Castell colours are similar to. for example, PC1089 is similar to the 372 and PC1069 is similar to the 238. One colour that is lovely to see added is the Tyrian Purple 339. This replaces the old 139 that was discontinued and is a useful colour for shadows under yellows. The pink only has a 1-star lightfast rating and a couple of the reds/oranges are only 2-star which may be important to some. All in all, there are about 6-8 colours that I would add to my selection so maybe my advice to students would be to buy the colours that would be most useful individually rather than spend £45 on the box. Not much other studio news but I am chuffed that I’ve managed to keep up my sketchbook/journalling practice in the last month, and I think I’ve finally found out a format that works for me, at least for the time being!

Beyond the studio.

Next year I have been invited to show as a guest artist with The Pilgrims way Art group in Kent. Funnily enough this group was the first I joined after returning to art after an 8-year gap back in the 90’s. More details to follow later.

West Dean summer school was so much fun this year. On a long residential course like this the group dynamic is so important, and it always seems to work well at West Dean with this year’s group gelling almost immediately and it was also lovely to have 4 returners join me for another year. I’m looking forward to next year already, no dates yet but I will share as soon as I have details.

I have now joined the Fred Olsen cruise line to run art classes on their ships. I’m delighted to have been offered the World Cruise including Japan and Hawaii amongst other destinations in January. This is a 98-day cruise, so a little bit of planning needed!

I am treating myself to a course down at the Old Bank Studio in November in textiles art including silver birch, leaves and moths. This so totally out of my comfort zone but much needed to kick start ideas and new creative approaches. I have been managing to keep my journal up to date and have found a way of combining a diary of thoughts with sketches and random drawings that I’m happy with. It's no great work of art but it’s me and at an A5 size it’s portable to travel with me.

A surprising amount of my time is now spent on admin, designing courses, cruise planning etc. but I have the usual SBA and SGFA Exhibitions coming up next year so I need to be spending more time in the studio in the next couple of months when I can. Even though I’m now living in a house not a van I’m still trying to avoid all those domestic jobs!

The furthest l got with more gardening and planting this summer was a solitary poppy in a pot but early days!

Teaching and Travel in Sept, October and beyond...

I have a few more cruises before the year is finished but only as a companion so hopefully some time to work on my sketchbook and small books.

My next course is at West Dean in West Sussex near Chichester using coloured pencils to draw and colour autumn fruits and veg from the gardens. This is on September 29th to October 2nd and I am taking over from the original tutor, Ann Swan, is now unfortunately unable to run it. These are some of my favourite subjects and there are still a couple of spaces left on this one.

West Dean Autumn fruits col pencil

My Art Residential at the Maltings Hotel on October 13th to 15th is now full but if you would like to be put on the waiting list drop me a message.

Not long after this I will be back at West Dean to teach my watercolour course: Painting texture and detail using autumn and winter subjects from the gardens from October 23rd to 25th. This is a slightly shorter course than the coloured pencil one and there are still a couple of spaces on this one too.

West Dean Detail in Watercolour

October is going to be a busy month as I head straight from West Dean across to The Oast Studio in East Sussex. Here I am teaching 2 single day courses in coloured pencil and watercolour. The coloured pencil butterfly one is now full, but a little space remains on the watercolour one. We will be painting plant subjects in season from life. This is a great opportunity to try the media and subject if you are not ready for a longer course yet. All materials provided as well as a fabulous home cooked lunch.

The Oast Botanical Watercolour

These will be my last courses for this year apart from a few private groups and art society demonstrations. Looking ahead to January I have a beginners coloured pencil course at West Dean from the 7th to the 10th of January. Not a botanical one but an opportunity to try some different subjects and suitable for all levels. Not available to book yet but pop the date in your diary.

I will also be returning to the Oast Studios in East Sussex on the 11th and 12th January for 2 more single day classes. We haven’t decided yet what the subject will be for the coloured pencil, but the watercolour will be seasonal plants from life.

January Coloured Pencil The Oast Studio

From the 21st of January I will be joining the Fred Olsen ship, the Borealis as it leaves the Uk to start the World tour. I am very excited to be staying on for the whole cruise to teach the art classes. 98 days is a long time, and I anticipate some pretty good artists by the end of it!! That brings me totally up to date for now so thank you again for staying with me until the end.

To book private lessons for individuals and groups and demonstrations/workshops for Art Societies drop me a message for prices and availability.

I look forward to seeing some of you in my future courses. Keep painting and creating and I will catch up with you all here in November.

It’s done; the book is with the publisher. Feeling a mixture of relief, nervousness and delight. Do I wake in the night remembering a small detail I forgot to add- yes! or worried that no-one will read it - yes! or that everyone will read it and declare it awful - yes that too! It will be a while with the editors now and as yet no final date for publishing, so I am trying to put it out of my mind and focus on the next crazy few months.

I’m now firmly settled in North Norfolk so will be starting to look for teaching and community projects in this area in the coming months although I will always be available for workshops in any part of the country. I will also be adding a new course for next year at West Dean for making artists books. This has been a long time in the planning, so I’m delighted that it has been scheduled for next year. Finally, I have added a new location at Herstmonceux Castle in August, see below for details.

I have had a cancellation for my residential so there is now still one space available. This is a fabulous location and hotel and is great value for money at £595 fully inclusive of meals, tuition and accommodation over 3 days. It is the only time I run a workshop with your choice of media to work in. 13th to 15th October, if you are interested drop me a message.

Studio Life

At the start of May I joined SAGA’s spirit of Adventure for a trip to Scandinavia. We visited many ports I hadn’t been to before. The classes were full as usual and a few familiar faces popped up. On each of these trips I keep a travel journal in watercolour and pen to remind me of the places I have been and to encourage me to keep up my drawing practice on the ship rather than just teaching. However, these have now become a chore, and I am often filling in the pages retrospectively. My belief is that your art practice should always evolve and develop over time, so I have decided not to continue with this format. I have been exploring other sketchbook/journal options, but I admit that I’m a bit stuck at the moment, so I have been looking for inspiration on Substack, Instagram etc. from other artists. It’s a question of: Is this a diary or a sketchbook or a travel journal and how do I combine all 3? All ideas on this one greatly received!

In mid-May I was back at The Oast Studio in East Sussex for 2 workshops on poppies in coloured pencil and foxgloves in watercolour. Everyone painted some amazing pictures helped as usual by a fabulous lunch and delicious homemade custard tarts. Many students who hadn’t painted before or for many years produced some very accomplished work. I will be back in October for another couple of sessions. See the link below.

After a few small group workshops in the Oxford and Kent area I returned to Norfolk to catch up on admin and all those things I put aside so that I could focus on the book. My watercolour skills feel a little bit rusty, so I have been dabbling a bit in my sketchbook to get me back into the zone. I took a 3-week break from social media to reset and think about what is valuable to post and what not. My love/hate relationship with social media will continue! …….

Now that I’m settled in Norfolk, I feel ready to start on some new projects and continue to bring some others to completion.

Art Life

I have a couple of exhibitions next year which I need to start thinking about now so while I gather ideas for these, I have been completing a couple of my many unfinished handmade books. Playing with paint and paper can often trigger new ideas.

To stop procrastination try playing with materials. This no pressure, no fixed idea approach keeps the fun in the piece, and the end result doesn’t matter. Trying to machine sew paper resulted recently in a frustrating but valuable day and a reminder of why I’m a painter not an embroiderer!

Here is a little peek into my process: A friend gave me some old sheets of music. Firstly, I coloured the paper with watercolour before adding a few loose sketches with a long forgotten waterproof pentel brush pen. Next, I added some white gouache in areas to highlight shapes. I have a selection of crayons and neo-color sticks pretty well unused, so I tried some of these on the paper working out how best to blend. Adding some colour and creating background landscapes tied everything together.

There has been an abundance of different poppies this year and so I added some seed heads as a focus to the page. On other pages I may add some in flower for that big contrast of colour. I love painting poppies and this gave me the idea for my next botanical piece as one idea tends to flow into another. So, while I considered how to complete my small book cover and pages I moved onto my next Botanical project.

I bought a poppy ‘Laurens Grape’ from West Dean. It has a striking deep pink/purple colour. This poppy managed to flower while I was away on a trip to Spain, but it has now produced one more small flower for me to paint. Planning a composition was the next step as I wanted to show all parts of the plant and go back to working at a larger size than I have been lately. The seed pods are a beautiful slightly variegated green and I will start with a base of my favorite granulating colours from Jackmans, rainforest green or jade green. If you want to try these, you can use code AMBERH10 at the checkout for a 10% discount.

Jackman's Sets of Granulating colours

Progress may be slow on this as I have a couple of cruises coming up in the next few months, but this is where my reference photos and colour studies and drawings will be important.

So, what’s coming up in the next few months……

Teaching and Travel in July, August and beyond…

I have been toying with the idea of running a few more live online courses like we used to in lockdown. Watercolour and coloured pencil in a variety of seasonal subjects covering flowers, leaves, fruit veg and small insects. The subject will be decided in advance. Leave a comment if you think this is something you would be interest and let me know if weekends, weekday, evenings or daytimes would suit you.

Leave a comment

In July I will be joining a Silversea’s cruise in the Mediterranean. No work for me on this one but a fabulous opportunity to see another cruise line. At the end of July, I will be back on a SAGA ship for a short trip to Norway. This is one of my favourite locations, such a beautiful country.

My West Dean Summer School in the first week in August is now full but there is a waiting list and sometimes spots do become available. This week-long course is a brilliant time to build skills with some pretty full intensive days of painting along with some other fun activities.

West Dean Summer School

I am very excited to announce a new location for teaching. I will be at the stunning Herstmonceux castle on the 8th and 9th of August. We will be painting plants from the garden in watercolour on these single day courses. These courses are suitable for all levels, materials and tea/coffee provided, bring your own lunch.

Herstmonceux Castle - East Sussex

I will be back on a Fred Olsen ship at the end of August, not teaching on this one so hopefully plenty of drawing and sketchbook time.

Looking further ahead to October, I’m very excited about holding my second residential at The Maltings in Weybourne in North Norfolk. October 13th to 15th. One space left here so message if you are interested.

I am delighted to be Back at The Oast Studios also in October. One day for coloured pencil butterflies and the other for watercolour working from seasonal plants/flowers/fruits. Click on the link for full details.

The Oast Studio- East Sussex

From here I will be going straight to West Dean for a weekend course of Painting Detail and Texture in Nature using specimens from the West Dean Gardens. This one is not online yet to book but put the dates in your Diary 23rd to 25th October.

If you fancy having a try at either coloured pencil or watercolour and have space to seat a few friends (max 6) why not get a group together and I will design a day’s workshop for you. I can supply materials if needed and make the workshop from beginners to advanced and everything in-between.

Thank you once again for being here with me. No longer in the van but still seeking adventure and painting challenges. Remember to subscribe if you want updates on workshop locations and times.

Share Amber’s Substack

As I head rapidly towards a big birthday next year and supposedly my more sensible years, I’ve realised that there are many of us who get more adventurous as we get older and more willing to take a few risks. I’m still saying yes to as many different opportunities as possible and 2027 looks to be another crazy year with travel and work commitments.

I can’t believe its May already and I’m back writing my newsletter. I’m still working out the best headings to use now I no longer have a ‘van life’. As all of my current life is studio and art life, whether that be in the form of teaching, creating or travelling, I’ve decided to combine the two. Firstly, a catch up on the past couple of months.

I was sad to miss both the SGFA and the UKCPS Exhibitions at the Mall Galleries. In hindsight I should have predicted that these exhibitions would come at this time of the year. Roll on next year and maybe I can get it right this time and stay in the country. Both exhibitions were well attended, and I was very fortunate that my daughter was able to attend the private view of the UKCPS exhibition in my place. Having my work on the front of the catalogue thanks to the Silver Award I won felt quite surreal and not a little bit odd.

The SAGA cruise to Croatia in March and April was a success and it was lovely to see so many guests I had taught before. There were many regular SAGA cruisers on this one. As it was a month long, we painted a huge variety of subjects, some more successful than others. I always like to push the boundaries and challenge the guests though the pine martin may have been a step too far this time! My next trip will be to Scandinavia with SAGA again. A shorter 12 day one this time so not quite as much painting.

My residential for this year is almost full with just one space available. I have managed to secure the same deal as last year so the price of £595 will remain the same, possibly the only thing in the UK that isn’t going up in price this year! The dates for this are October 13th to 15th. We will follow the same format as last year. Arrival on the first day to start the course at 2pm. A full day of painting or drawing the next day and a final day finishing at 3pm. All meals, tuition and accommodation are provided. The only extras will be drinks. It’s a rare opportunity to try both coloured pencil, watercolour and/or both as I usually teach them separately. Subjects to be mainly botanical(ish!) using whatever is in season. This will be held once again at the Maltings Hotel in Norfolk. It’s a beautiful location and hotel with fabulous food.

The Maltings Hotel, Weybourne

Studio Life

Progress on the book has been good, and I’m delighted that I have now written and illustrated all chapters. so just the intro and other small bits to complete. I’m on time too which is pretty surprising. It’s been a huge learning curve making me reassess what I know and what I assume I know. I’ve been teaching for many years, and this feels like the culmination of all those years to the point where I am almost ready to move on and away from the pure botanical work. I will always love the detail that botanical work gives me, but I never call myself a strictly botanical artist as I am more interested in creating interesting pictures and I hope my book will show this love. I have been given free reign with the content which has been fun and a little bit scary.

The studio issue has been resolved after looking at all the options. I’ve found myself reflecting on what we as artists need to be able to create, is it the perfect space or the perfect space of mind? Speaking to other artist friends recently it would seem that there is no one solution that fits all. We are currently living in a house we may not decide to stay in for the long-term so putting a studio in the garden seemed like an unnecessary and lengthy task. Now there will be no more home entertaining as I have taken over the dining room as my studio. I have acquired the perfect storage unit to keep my art supplies in, with open shelves so that I can see where everything is. I still have a lockup unit in Kent that is pretty full too, but I have all the essentials here in Norfolk. Along with my plan chest and work/ drawing table I have a cozy, restful, contained space. Added to this is an area in the garage to throw paint around and do the messy stuff. This has given me a huge sense of calm and order and I’m looking forward to snatching some time post book to play and kickstart my creative spark again. I don’t think I fully appreciated how stressful living in my van was. First stop will be that drawer of half-finished handmade books!

Having spent the last 12 months focused on coloured pencils I am looking forward to turning my attention back to my watercolours and sketchbooks. Now that I have unearthed some supplies of gouache and paint sticks from many years ago, I am determined not to get sidetracked by new art supplies. I have signed up for a machine embroidery course in the winter months. A brave move on my part as I have destroyed a couple of sewing machines in the past! But I do believe that an in-person course can kick start our creative juices and lead us down a whole new avenue. We shall see…

On that subject I have a few courses coming up in the next couple of months so come and join me for a little bit of paint on paper and I will help to kick start or simple help you progress on your art journey.

Teaching and Travel in May, June and beyond…

May is fast approaching and after the SAGA cruise to Scandinavia it’s back to a spot of teaching workshops. I will be offering a single day course in Botanical watercolour at the Maltings Hotel on 20th May. All materials, coffee and pastries and lunch are included. There are limited places. This is the hotel I will be running my residential at in October, so this is a fabulous opportunity if you live within a reasonable travelling distance to come and see the hotel and sample the food and my teaching.

Watercolour at The Maltings, Norfolk

Following on almost straight after are a couple more Botanical workshops in both coloured pencil and watercolour at the Oast Studio in East Sussex on the 22nd and 23rd May. This is another fab location with all materials, tuition and a delicious lunch included. You can sign up for both days and get a discount off the total price or just choose the media/day you prefer. We will be painting Pansies in watercolour from life and poppies in coloured pencil from photos depending on availability.

The Oast Studio Courses

I will be heading to Spain at the end of the month to gather some ideas for new courses and spend a bit of down time working on my sketchbooks and course planning for West Dean Summer school which is now full. I will be back at West Dean later in the year for some more watercolour and coloured pencil courses. No dates yet but hopefully by the time I write my next newsletter.

I have a few private workshops scheduled in-between these with a little bit of space to add a couple more so if this is something you would like to organize with a few friends then drop me a message. I can tailor a day to suit you.

If you are interested in the final space on my own residential course in October 13th to 15th October. at the Maltings then do contact me using the link above. If you have already signed up for this, you will be contacted soon to request a non-refundable deposit of £95 to secure the rooms at the hotel.

It just remains for me to say thank you once again for taking the time to read my ramblings and be on this art journey with me. If you want to see this newsletter regularly then you can subscribe using the button below. I only send one every two months, so I won’t be spamming your inbox!

In between newsletters to see what’s happening on my desk and in my studio with new projects you can follow me on Facebook or Instagram.

Facebook

Instagram

Well, there’s nothing like writing a book to help you get to know all those pencils that you have collected and never used. There have been times, I’m not going to lie when I’ve been tempted to call it a day. Chapter 4 was a tricky one, flowers are not my favorites I’ll admit! Apart from a brief trip to Kent to visit family and teach I have been surgically attached to my laptop and drawing board for the last 6 weeks, with one more week to go before I leave to teach on a cruise. I’m making good progress and hope to hit the deadline in June. So, although I’ve not been out and about much, I still have a little bit of news to share.

The green-eyed monster and imposter syndrome reared its ugly head thanks to too much time scrolling on social media. A common problem for most of us creatives, I think with the cry of ‘oh why can’t I do it like them?’ But common sense takes over, how boring would the world be if we were all painting the same pictures? Those of you who know me well will know I’m pretty useless at social media and posting regularly to increase my following anyway! When I think back 30 years to being a stay-at-home mum with four children under six, trying to carve out time to draw and paint, I realise I need to give myself some grace. In those days, there was no pressure to create something extraordinary, simply making art at all felt like an achievement. And as cliché as it sounds, those four people are, without question, my greatest masterpiece.

It’s been a fabulous two months for art related stuff. I was delighted to win the silver award for the UK Colour pencil society which meant that my picture ‘Together’ has been used to advertise the Exhibition. This humorous piece came about when my dad presented me with a bunch of carrots he had grown. Can you tell he never thins out his carrots? I have had two other pieces accepted for this exhibition as well as two accepted for the Society of Graphic Fine Arts. Both exhibitions are in March at the Mall Galleries and I’m very disappointed not to be able to attend either due to teaching on a month-long cruise with SAGA to Croatia.

Studio Life

I’ve been pondering my newsletter over the last few weeks. I originally started writing because my students wanted to know where I would be running courses across the country and because there was interest in my crazy decision to live in a van. However, life has changed and the van has been sold, and I need to tweak what I write about. So, I hope to make these newsletters more about the art as it’s unlikely I will be returning to van life in the foreseeable future. If there are particular subjects or media you are interested in me covering then do let me know.

We had a full and fabulous crowd at west Dean on my coloured pencil beginners’ course and what a lot of ground we covered! Landscape to portrait to botanical to still life and back again. This 4-day course will run again next January hopefully. Since then, I’ve been back to Kent once to run a couple of small group sessions. Being at home for 7 weeks has given me time to kick start my journalling habit again using a limited selection of materials to keep me focused. I have been falling in love again with my fountain pens both old and new.

A quick reminder that I will be running my own Art Residential course in Norfolk in October this year at the Maltings Hotel, Weybourne. I have one space left to fill on this so contact me if you are interested. Colour pencil or Watercolour and mostly botanical subjects in season. 13th to 15th October. The Hotel is very comfortable and the food delicious. I hope to keep the cost similar to last year’s £595 per person fully inclusive.

The Maltings Hotel

The studio question continues to be discussed. Do we convert a room in the house, put a studio in the garden or convert the garage or maybe just move me into next door? Yep, apparently, I’m that messy that this is an option! At the end of the day, I will fill any space I am given. And studio envy is another reason to stay off Instagram.

Art Life

At the Mall Galleries in March the UKCPS and the SGFA are having their annual Exhibitions. This is the silver anniversary for the colour pencil society and their first physical exhibition for a few years. I’m sad not to be able to be there for either exhibition. They will both be fabulous with many different subjects so do go and have a look if you can. The teddies didn’t make the cut, but my more botanical pieces did. I am currently in talks with West Dean about courses for the later part of the year including a new course for teaching my small handmade books. I hadn’t realized I have made so many of these until I was unpacking my storage unit in Kent and found a boxful. I would love to teach people how to make these on a 2- or 3-day course. If you want me to use you as a guinea pig contact me for a special rate. I would love to get this off the ground.

SGFA Exhibition

UKCPS Exhibition

As an ambassador for Jackmans Art Materials remember you can get 10% off using code AMBERH10 at the checkout. Although my focus has been with my colour pencils for the last 2 months these are still my first go to when I reach for my brushes.

Jackmans Art Supplies

Teaching and Travel in March, April and Beyond….

I will be heading to Croatia teaching on a SAGA cruise for all of March. I am only joining SAGA for 3 cruises this year as I have been invited by Fred Olsen to join them to teach classes on their ships. I’m looking forward to travelling to some new places and meeting more students on some different ships. The book is almost completed so I am now able to take bookings for workshops again so do contact me for available dates.

I will be running a Botanical Watercolour day at the Maltings on 20th May. So, if you are local to Norfolk or want to come and have a look at where my residential will be held come and join me. I will share booking details on social media as soon as I have them. I’m delighted to be back at the Oast Studios in East Sussex in May. I will be running a day of watercolour and a day of colour pencil using seasonal plants and flowers. A small group of 8 and a fabulous lunch makes for the perfect workshop here!

The Oast Studio - colour pencil

The Oast Studio - watercolour

Looking a bit further ahead, places for Summer School in West Dean are filling quickly with just a few spaces left. I will be there from 31st July to 6th August. This is always a really productive week, and we can collect items from the amazing gardens to paint.

West Dean Summer School

I look forward to catching up with some of you in person in the months ahead. Thank you for reading my news and ramblings, I am hugely thankful for your support. An early Happy Easter to everyone, keep those brushes and pencils busy.

Happy New Year to Everyone. It’s oh so tempting to try and impart some deep and meaningful wisdom to start the New Year off but no one needs this from me in January!

I found the picture above the other day on my laptop. This is from way back in the early 2000’s and was my first piece that differed a little from the traditional Botanical style. It was created using colour pencil, watercolour and watersoluble graphite blocks that were new at the time. It was exhibited at Florum in Sevenoaks (sadly no longer running) and when it sold in the first day, I knew this slightly more bonkers style was the way forward for me. So where am I going with this? I often say to students that as artists we need to keep moving forward with our work for it to remain fresh and relevant. Sometimes it’s a case of 2 steps forward and one back and not everything we try is going to work. Now I am settled in a new location with a more stable homelife I will be planning to take a few more chances and experiments with my work in 2026. Watch this space!

Residential Update

I’m delighted to say that my residential in Norfolk was a huge success. The food and accommodation were superb and the space lovely to work in. Everyone worked on their own subjects in a mix of colour pencil and watercolour. It was great to have a mix of beginners and the more experienced together. We had plenty of painting time and lots of one-to-one help and just as importantly lots of fun. As it went so well, I have already arranged dates with the hotel for next year. This will be slightly earlier and before the clock change to make the most of the light. The cost will remain good value for money and the format the same. I will be keeping the group size small at a maximum of 8. So, if you missed out and fancy coming this year then message me and I will put you on my list. This is an expression of interest only and does not commit you at this point. The dates will be Tues 13th October util Thurs 15th October 2026. I will be asking for deposits nearer the time.

Studio Life

Well, its official, van life is over. My van has gone to a new owner who I know will love and care for it as much as I did. Plans for a permanent studio are in progress though trying to work out exactly how much space I will need is proving tricky! In my ideal world I would have 4 separate spaces: one for watercolour and colour pencil work, an area for my sewing machine, a messy area and an office area for my laptop and scanner etc. And then there’s the storage space needed for all those art supplies!

In the meantime, my new chair has been the best purchase. Yes, you guessed, it goes up, down, around and about.

In my spare time I’ve been playing around with some more colours from Jackmans. Many beginner students I teach often want to know what colours to buy as a starting point. The Jackmans basic primaries cadmium free starter set is perfect as it contains warm and cool versions of all the primaries, and I’ve found I can paint most subjects with this set of 6 colours. I am very fussy about the yellow I use and this set contains Hansa Yellow, which is a transparent PY3 pigment and my favourite for mixing colours. If you fancy trying these paints you can use the code: AMBERH10 at the checkout for 10% off your total order.

Jackmans Starter Set

December saw me focus on some new work for both the SGFA exhibition and the UKCPS exhibition, both deadlines within a couple of weeks of each other. It was lovely to be creating again, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that a couple of the pieces I have submitted will be accepted. I put in some long days, and the new subject matter stretched my skills so it will be a bit of a gamble.

Art Life

Cruising but not working at the start of November enabled me to schedule my time onboard to draw and paint more. Travelling to places I had visited before also meant that I spent more time onboard in port days. Packing to make sure I have the supplies I need but not extras to distract me can be a bit of a challenge.

November was a busy one for residentials, I went from my 3-day residential in Norfolk straight down to West Dean for a 3-day watercolour course. After a few days in Kent catching up with friends and family I made my way back to Norfolk.

The book is sitting in my head and never far away from my thoughts. Cruising in November reduced the time I could spend writing and illustrating, but I have cleared 7 weeks in my diary to focus on this in January, February, and March.

I will be back on a SAGA ship in the middle of March joining Captain Frankos homecoming cruise. Lots of new subjects to paint on this one and I am looking forward to seeing some regular cruise guests.

I am also planning some new courses in handmade artists books for later in the year. I have been making these for a while and would love to know if this is something you would be interested in learning so do leave me a message below.

Teaching and Travel in Jan, Feb and beyond…..

As you read this I will be returning across the Bay of Biscay from a Christmas and New Year Cruise to Spain and the Canaries meaning I will have had time for plenty of planning for the New Year.

My beginners colour pencil course at West Dean in January is full and I will be back at West Dean again later in the year. Summer school at West Dean is now available to book, and as usual we will be able to choose subjects from the gardens to paint and draw. This week-long watercolour course comes with the opportunity to spend a session trying another course running that week and other extra-curricular activities. I love this week as it gives plenty of time to really get to grips with a subject. See the link for details. I will be here on July 31st to Aug 6th.

West Dean Summer School

After West Dean in January, I will be spending another 2 days at The Oast Studios in East Sussex. One day for colour pencil and one day for watercolour. In colour pencil we will be drawing fungi working from photographs and the watercolour course subject will be plants in season. All materials provided (or bring your own if you prefer) and a fabulous lunch in a small group of 8 which is perfect for plenty of one-to-one attention. There are still a couple of spaces available on these.

The Oast Studio - East Sussex

For the rest of January, all of February and the beginning of March I will be working on the book as I will be heading rapidly into deadline time. I have cleared this time of all teaching and cruise commitments and plan to be switching my phone off occasionally too!

Remember you can message me anytime to book me for a private group or art society demonstration or workshop.

It just remains for me to say Happy New Year to you all. May all your hopes for 2026 materialise and most importantly, you get time to continue your creative journey whatever that may be.

Thank you for reading my wanderings and supporting me in the past year and I look forward to many more painting and colouring sessions with you all in the year to come.

Share Amber’s Substack

I guess I underestimated quite how mentally challenging it would be swapping life on the road back to bricks and mortar, so it’s taken me longer than I expected to feel settled and able to get down to some serious painting and drawing. Like a lot of artists, I find it difficult to create unless I am in the correct headspace however, I don’t currently have the luxury of time to spend mulling on things.

I’m a people pleaser but one who doesn’t like to compromise (some would just call it stubbornness!) and therein lies my problem, conflicting opposites. I’m learning that I need to be more flexible in my approach to work and life and art and to let go gracefully when things don’t go exactly to plan. I guess we are never too old to learn! But enough of the self-reflection, what’s been happening in the last 2 months?

I’m continuing to find my feet in Norfolk, it’s a beautiful place and I’ve met some lovely people. In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been liaising with the Maltings Hotel planning painting spaces and menus for my residential in November. I’ve had a couple of spaces become available so message me if you are interested in this all-inclusive 3-day painting course from18th to 20th November. £595. More details can be found in Newsletter No. 14.5.

Newsletter No.14.5

Studio Life

To be honest there hasn’t been much studio life recently due to cruises and teaching commitments but after sitting at my desk to write this I’ve realised the first thing I need is a decent chair! I currently have a small area in the house as my studio, and it’s become obvious that I’m going to need more space to work in, so plans are being discussed to find a solution. More to follow on this in the next few months, exciting times.

In September, I found myself struggling to paint or draw, lack of inspiration, travelling etc. was the cause. While visiting an artist friend who was also having the same problem, we agreed to try a 30-day Autumn challenge. This then led on to Inktober which I have started several times before but not managed to ever complete. I’m proud to say that this year I have completed Inktober even though my drawings were often childlike and frankly terrible. It’s given me a sense of achievement, and it’s been really great to have some company along the way and to re-engage with a daily drawing practice. It’s highlighted some things that had not occurred to me before, for example, I’m not keen on drawing skeletons or following prompts!

The book progress has been a little slower than I would like and it’s been difficult to maintain the flow when I’m on a ship. Too much socialising and being a tourist at ports of call means my attention is diverted from writing. As with Inktober, sometimes a problem shared really is a problem halved and I have recently been bouncing ideas off another artist and close friend, this has helped me to separate the wood from the trees and get back on track.

I have now made the major decision to sell my van. I have no plans in the foreseeable future to use it regularly and it is such a shame to see it sit and gather cobwebs and probably mice! This has been a difficult decision as it has been my home and sanctuary for years but it’s time to let go and move on. So, if anyone out there needs a reliable off-grid camper van do let me know!

Art Life.

Once a year I like to treat myself to a course that has nothing to do with botanical painting and drawing to keep my creativity flowing and to learn new skills. I recently attended a local art course in Geli printing. I can’t remember when I last had so much fun. I made some beautiful hand pulled prints which I will be able to use for covers for some handmade books. It’s pretty addictive and I had to stop myself from ordering all the kit when I got home. Instead, I settled for a set of the new extended range of Derwent drawing pencils which I shall be using for some new projects.

Speaking of watercolour kit; after many requests I have now managed to track down some small Chinese soft wolf-hair brushes that I have used for detail since discovering them on my visit to China in 2019. These inexpensive brushes hold plenty of paint and have a superfine point. I will be selling these at my various workshops.

I have been also trying to fit in time to produce a few new works as next year will be a busy one with regard to exhibitions. Of course, all the submission dates are within 4 weeks of each other just to make life more interesting! I’ve got a couple of ideas in mind for subjects totally out of my comfort zone. I do love a challenge and a deadline.

In September I taught my last session of the year at the The Oast Studios with a day of Botanical watercolour and a day of colour pencil. Subjects for these were autumn leaves, acorns and rosehips. A lot of the students had not painted Botanical subjects before and it was great to see everyone producing some fabulous work. I will be back at The Oast for more fun in January with both colour pencil and watercolour.

In October I taught a lovely group of students at the Old Bank Studios how to draw toadstools in colour pencil. This was my last session here after more than 5 years and I will miss everyone.

I have completed 2 cruises to Spain, France and the Med in the last 2 months, neither of which I have taught on, it’s been strange to be just a guest. I’ve now vowed to be more disciplined with my time on a ship in the future with better planning and scheduling though I won’t be going as far as making a spreadsheet!!

Teaching and travel in November, Dec and beyond…

November is a pretty busy month starting with 2 weeks on a cruise and then my residential course in Norfolk, do message me if you think you may like to join me. I will be holding this open until the 15th of November.

Straight after this I will be heading down to West Dean in Chichester for a watercolour texture and nature in detail course. Another fabulous place to teach, we will be able to choose specimens from the gardens to paint.

West Dean Watercolour Detail Course

December is looking quieter with a few private groups scheduled around the country. I will be on a ship over the Xmas period hoping the sea is calm and the Canaries are warm!

In the first 2 weeks of January, I will be back at West Dean to run my second course in colour pencil. Not officially a Botanical one this, just some of the basic techniques and a variety of subjects. An opportunity to dip your toe in the water with the option of Botanical subjects if you want.

West Dean Beginner Col Pencil

I have 2 more courses scheduled at The Oast studios in East Sussex in both watercolour and colour pencil and these are Botanical subjects, fungi and other seasonal items. All materials provided or bring your own if you prefer and a delicious lunch included.

The Oast Studio - East Sussex

My plan is to then take the rest of January and February away from teaching to write and illustrate my book. With the deadline approaching fast I will need to be totally focused with no distractions. (Until someone asks me to run a workshop I expect!)

It just remains for me to wish everyone a Happy Christmas and a prosperous and settled New Year. I hope you all manage to find a little bit of painting and drawing time among the day-to-day necessities and thank you again for joining me here.

Share

Over 4 years ago when I made the decision to turn my life upside down, I told myself that I would take on any challenge that frightened the life out of me. I can safely say that I’ve never regretted that decision in spite of having some personal and professional issues along the way. I’m still saying yes to all those things I could have and maybe should have said no to! So, where am I going with this? I mentioned a big project in my previous newsletter so now to tell you a little more about it now that I’ve got over the shock and have a clearer idea of how I’m going to complete what initially seemed an overwhelming task. I’ve been commissioned to write a book on Botanical Colour pencil, and the best news is that I get almost free rein to make it my own. I have a deadline to work to, a plan in my head and a secure location to hold up in to write and illustrate. I may go quiet on social media from time to time, but I’ll still be sending out my newsletters once every 2 months and updating you in how I get on.

So, for the next 12 months I won’t stop my teaching, but I will be cutting down on travelling so far to do it and trying to find my feet here in Norfolk. I am delighted that my residential planned for November has had such a positive response and will be going ahead. I’m looking forward to running this course where I can combine my love of colour pencil and watercolour and maybe even a little bit of book making thrown in. I have just had a last-minute cancellation which means I now have 1 space available for this residential, 18th to 20th Nov, so message me if you are interested.

Studio Life

The van has been to a new garage that has managed to finally find the engine problem and turn those emissions lights off permanently. The difficult decision now is whether to sell it or not. I’ll sit on that one for a while longer. The plans to cull some materials and pictures have been curtailed by being abroad on various trips over the last couple of months. Rediscovering my art materials has been fun, unearthing paper I forgotten I had and too many sets of pencils still in their boxes. Yep, I do still have plenty of that original Fabriano paper! The time when I have managed to get into the studio has been spent glued to my laptop writing, working on the book and gathering ideas for the illustrations. It’s taken me a while to get my head around this as formal writing is not something I’m experienced in, and it needs to be a little more coherent than my newsletter ramblings! I’ve tried to be disciplined with my available time, but I’m easily distracted.

My last teaching cruise was Iceland in July, and I have finally finished my travel sketchbook. I have 3 more cruises booked for next year on SAGA to Scandanavia, Croatia and Norway. Teaching and book writing will take precedent for the next few months, but I will be continuing to do some work on my handmade books as I find this works well when I have small bits of time and keeps my creativity going. I am also still playing with my Jackman’s paints, not just the super granulating ones but also the regular colours. I love their vibrancy and pigment load. Remember, you can use the code AMBERH10 for a 10% discount on your order for all products if you want to try these.

Art Life.

West Dean summer school was a huge success and so much fun. I had a full class of 10 with 2 returners from last year which was a huge compliment. A full week of painting and art related activities and as usual my class outdid themselves producing some stunning work. Where has July and August gone? it will be time for my November West Dean course before I know it.

I am already starting to think about work for exhibitions next year. I’d like to try some larger pieces again, but time may be against me. Submission always comes around sooner than expected. I recently joined an online group with the UK col pencil society, it was lovely to spend and evening colouring, chatting and swapping notes on materials. This society is open to everyone to join for a small fee per year, it has a lovely community and regular online exhibitions and magazines. Take a look at the link below.

UKCPS

The classes on the Iceland cruise were full to bursting as usual and we painted a lot of different subjects: puffins, landscapes, flowers and a cathedral to name just a few. There have been times in the last 2 months when I have felt like there are simply too many balls to juggle, however, after seeing this quote in a book I was reading ‘The Agony and the Ecstasy’ by Irving Stone, I have readjusted my thinking.

‘He had been standing still, for an artist, one of the more painful forms of death’

There will be no standing still here then!!

Teaching and Travel in September, October and beyond…

First stop will be The Oast Studio in East Sussex next week. The colour pencil course is full but there is still one space on the watercolour session. We will be tackling some Autumn subjects on both days. You will find a fabulous lunch and a small group to work with at this venue as well as all materials supplied.

Botanical Watercolour at The Oast Studio

In October I will be running a Colour Pencil course on Fungi on Saturday 4th October. I’m delighted to be back here again, another location with a delicious lunch included.

Col Pencil Fungi at The Old Bank Studio

Looking ahead to November I have my residential course in," whatever you would like to do” at the Maltings Hotel in Weybourne, North Norfolk. Message me directly to book this one. Use the link to have a peek at the Hotel. £595 fully inclusive apart from Bar drinks from 18th to 20th November.

the Maltings Hotel, Norfolk

If Norfolk is too far for you to travel, then how about the other end of the country at West Dean in Chichester. From the 21st to the 23rd I will be running a watercolour course here. It’s a beautiful location and we will be allowed to collect plant material from the garden to paint. This course is titled Texture and detail in Nature, and this means lots of lovely bits of bark, stones, seed pods, berries and anything else you can find.

West Dean Watercolour Course

December is looking pretty quiet at the moment, so I have a small amount of availability to run workshops for art societies or small groups of individuals. Message me if this is something that would interest you.

In-between these times I will be travelling mostly to France and Spain on a ship with my laptop and colour pencils surgically attached! Thank you to all of you who subscribe and follow me on social media and who support my teaching. It means a lot to have your support.

Happy Autumn everyone, keep painting and drawing.

Leave a comment

This is a short one for those of you who have shown interest in the residential I am organising in Norfolk and have asked for more details. I will be back with my usual Newsletter in September.

What’s it all about ?

I have long wanted to run my own residential course to give guests the flexibility of choosing to work in either colour pencil or watercolour or maybe even both. You will be working in a small supportive group, and my aim is that you achieve your own personal goals in the 3 days, whatever they may be. You could be a beginner or maybe more advanced. you may want tuition or just a bit of guidance. You may want to learn technical skills or improve your composition ideas. You may have an idea of your subject, or you may want to be led on this. We will be drawing and painting subjects from nature including bark, pebbles, seaweed and other winter subjects which I will provide but I am also happy for you to bring any other subjects you would like to work on.

If you are a complete beginner, I can also provide materials for a small fee.

Location : The Maltings Hotel , Weybourne, North Norfolk.

The hotel is set in a stunning location within 10 mins walk of the beach. All rooms are ensuite and decorated beautifully. It has a bar, library and a comfortable lounge. The food is locally sourced, and meals are served in the converted grain store.

The Maltings Hotel Website

Date : Tues 18th to Thurs 20th November.

Arrive from 1pm onwards to check into the Hotel. Welcome meeting and first session will start at 2pm. The course will end on Thurs at 3pm.

Cost : £595.00 per person.

Non-painting partners are welcome to join for a small supplement. 2 painting students sharing a room will also be eligible for a discount. The cost includes a 2-night stay in a twin or double ensuite room. Evening meal on the first day, breakfast lunch and dinner on the second day and breakfast and lunch on the last day. All tuition with regular demonstrations and plenty of one-to-one help and an optional social evening together. We will eat as a group and have a dedicated space to paint in the granary conservatory. It’s a gorgeous area to explore and you may be able to add extra days by booking directly with the hotel depending on availability.

Timetable

This is the proposed timetable though it may be subject to a couple of small tweaks to fit the group and maintain flexibility.

Tues 18th - Arrive 1pm onwards to check in. 1st session of teaching 2 - 5.30pm.

Dinner 6.30pm. Evening social optional session in the evening for group discussion on art subjects, sketch books etc.

Weds 19th - Teaching sessions: morning 9.30 - 12.30… Lunch … Afternoon 2pm - 5.30pm. Evening social optional after dinner e.g. critiques of previous work, info on art materials.

Thurs 20th - Teaching sessions: Morning 9.30 - 12.30… Lunch … Afternoon 2-3.30pm

What you need to bring.

Any colour pencils and/or watercolours you usually use. (No need to buy any new materials) Other materials such as paper, pencil sharpener, eraser. Small battery operated or rechargeable lamp if you have one. (I can supply if needed). I will provide subjects but bring your own if you have something specific you would like to work on. Any pieces of work you would like a critique on. Sketchbook. For a small fee I can provide paper, paint and pencils to borrow.

Deadline to register is 22nd August

This is when I need to confirm numbers with the hotel. I will be asking for the £90.00 non-refundable deposit to be paid by 29th August.

I look forward to seeing some of you there!

It’s been another busy 2 months. Settling into a new area as well as going back to Kent to teach workshops and another London Exhibition have kept me busy. Not to mention that big project!! Added to this was a trip to Spain, no teaching this time just an opportunity for some sightseeing and meeting new people as well as a quick trip to the Prado Museum.

So, onto future plans. After much looking, visiting and emailing I have finally found a location to run my first art residential. This will now be held on the 18th - 20th Nov, more details below.

I am also delighted to announce that I am now an Affiliate of Jackmans Art materials. I’ve been using Jackmans granulating paints for some time now and I’ve had fun recently exploring some of the other colours that they make. I will gradually switch over to these paints completely. They are artist quality, competitively priced and handmade in the UK by Mr. Jackman himself. I love being able to support a UK business. Click on the link below to see the website and use Discount code AMBERH10 to get 10% off your order.

Jackmans Website

Studio Life.

In the short snippets of time I’ve had I have been glued to my desk and laptop working on my new project. My computer skills are limited so some days have been slow! My colour pencils have been exercised but mainly for small studies. I have some larger works planned now that I have a permanent base and a bigger space to create. I have now moved most of my paper, pencils and paint to Norfolk and it’s lovely to have all of my equipment in one place for the first time in 5 years. However, it’s made me realise just how vast my collection is and so I have decided to sell some of the pencils and other items that I don’t use. It’s always a hard decision to make, it’s like trying to part with old friends. Some of these are the original Berol Karisma pencils that are no longer being made and are much sought after and very rare. I will be putting a few items on my Facebook page along with some pieces of artwork that I would love to have hung and looked at rather than left in a storage unit. Message me if you see something you like. The van will be following me up here shortly so that I can keep an eye on it and travel when I need to.

Art Life.

My last sessions for Kent Adult Education were well attended and I was sad to depart after 10 years of teaching. I had a lovely final 2 days in Tonbridge in both watercolour and colour pencil at the beginning of June. I have now run 3 workshops at the Oast Studios in Hartfield in East Sussex. This is a lovely location with small classes and a really tasty homecooked lunch. So far, I have taught mainly beginners Botanical Watercolour and everyone has painted some pretty impressive flowers. I’ll be back in September for both watercolour and colour pencil for some Autumn subjects.

It’s been 2 months of teaching flower painting to various art societies, so I think it’s probably time to get back to the fruit and veg!

It was lovely to catch up with so many friends at the Society of Botanical Artists Exhibition at the Mall Galleries last month. The Exhibition was stunning with some fabulous works.

Residential Watercolour and Colour Pencil Course

At last, I have found a beautiful location to run my first independent residential. I will send out more detailed information to those of you who are interested but here are the basics.

The cost of the course will be £595.00 per person and will run from the 18th of November until the 20th of November. The location is in the stunning North Norfolk Coastal Area in Weybourne at the picturesque and comfortable ‘Maltings Hotel' which is within a 10 min walk to the sea. Why not spend a few extra days in the area to explore before or after the course? You may wish to bring a non-painting partner or friend and there will be just an extra supplement for food if you wish to do this or share a room with a painting friend for a discount. Guests will arrive in the early afternoon of the 18th to start the first teaching session with a full day of tuition on the 19th and the morning of the 20th with the course finishing after lunch on the 20th. The price will include breakfast, lunch and dinner (drinks not included), tuition, a stay in either a twin or double room with ensuite. We will have a dedicated space to work in within the hotel. I have decided to make this course open for both colour pencil and watercolour students or why not try both together? I can provide materials: paint, brushes and paper for a small fee or you may prefer to bring your own art materials. There are limited spaces available, and you will need to pay a non-refundable deposit of £90 to secure your place as I will have to pay for the rooms in advance. If you are interested, please email me on amberhalsall5@gmail.com

The Maltings Hotel Website

Teaching and Travel in July, August and beyond….

I am heading to Iceland to teach on a SAGA cruise for 2 weeks shortly. This is a place that has been on my wishlist for a number of years so I’m very excited to be given the opportunity. We will be painting icebergs and Vikings on this one! It’s off to Morocco after this and for the first time ever to accompany someone and not teach onboard so I will be packing my laptop to continue with my big project. After this I will be heading down to West Dean for a week of Summer School. I love this week as it’s an opportunity to spend a whole week painting and drawing with like-minded people. A lot of stunning work is always produced by the end of the week and there are always plenty of other activities included during the week.

I’m back at the Oast Studio on Sept 4th and 5th for both watercolour and colour pencil workshops so come and join me for some more autumnal subjects.

The Oast Studio, Hartfield

I will be running a colour pencil day workshop at the Old Bank Studios in Harwich in October on Mushrooms and Toadstools, some of my favourite subjects. Another fabulous location in Essex with home cooked delicious lunch.

Old Bank Studios, Harwich

I managed to visit a few studios during the Open Studios week in Norfolk and hope to maybe next year be a part of this. I am still available for a few slots this and next year so do contact me either through Substack or my website for workshop dates.

Ambers Website

Happy July everyone and if you find your pencils a little bit sticky in this heat try putting them in the fridge for a little while.

Thank you for continuing with me on my painting and travelling journey.

If you are going to turn your life upside down, then you may as well do it properly. The last time I did that was 4 years ago when |I made the decision to live and work in my van. Life has a funny way of catching you out and just when you thought you had mapped out the next couple of years something or someone will come along to derail those plans. I like to think I’m flexible and open to change but I suspect that as a woman of a certain age I am probably a little bit more stuck in my ways than I think I am! So now that life has thrown me another curve ball it’s time to make some more big life decisions and to take that leap of faith. And sometimes it pays to check your junk box……

Van Life.

As my personal circumstances have now changed, I will be returning to a life spent less on the road. I won’t be giving up van life completely, but I will now be in a permanent base in Norfolk to work on an exciting new project, and I will be cutting back on the travelling though I will still be on the high seas and making visits abroad from time to time. My poor van has been mostly parked up for the last 2 months as I’ve just finished another 3-week trip teaching on a SAGA ship, this time to Greece and Turkey with mostly ports I hadn’t visited before. We had glorious weather, delicious food and full classes of lovely guests. I’ve been back to the van from time to time to give it a run and luckily there have been no engine or mouse problems. This has been my home and my safe space for 4 years, so no plans to sell her off just yet! The Van life section will be changing to Studio Life for the next newsletter, and it will be interesting to see how much of an influence my studio space has on the work that I produce.

Art Life

I spent a glorious 3 weeks in Harwich studio and dog sitting. This gave me an opportunity to do some painting and drawing and to work on some more hand-made artists books as well as a brand-new project. This new and exciting project came via email but wasn’t spotted until I checked my junk box for some unknown reason one evening, in future I will be checking my junk box regularly! I will be sharing details of this new long-term project in the next few newsletters. This is a weighty amount of work to get my teeth into and will need some serious commitment time. It is going to be great to be in a space where I can roll out of bed and get to work rather than roll out of bed, move the van, hope my Wi-Fi is working and then have to decide where I’ll be sleeping that night before getting down to painting.

I was delighted to have 2 pictures accepted for the SGFA show at the Mall Galleries in mid-March and it was great to catch up with many artist friends on the private view evening. When I’m in my own little bubble I forget sometimes how important it is to connect with other artists.

I also have two pictures that will be exhibited at the Society of Botanical Artists Exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London in May ( 28th to 7th June ) It will be lovely to attend the private view and see so many old friends and meet new members. These 2 exhibitions usually sit closely in time each year and as soon as they are over, I have to start thinking about what I will be painting for the next year!

Soc of Botanical Artists Exhibition

I am struggling to find a venue for the residential that I would like to run that is affordable, convenient, has good food and a suitable teaching space. I still have a date of October in my mind but it’s difficult to decide if the accommodation is more important or the art? I’m still investigating options but the dates I have blocked in my diary are 13th to 19th October. If this is something you would be interested in, then let me know by leaving me a message via my website. I am looking at holding this in Norfolk which is a beautiful area with many interesting places to visit.

Amber's Website

Teaching and travel in May, June and beyond …..

I will still be available to teach at art societies, workshops and private groups in the next few months. As I will now be based in Norfolk, I will be looking at locations to teach in this area so do contact me if you are in the East Anglia region and have any suggestions.

I will be back at West Dean in May and again in August for the week-long summer school. We will be playing with some granulating multi pigment paints in these workshops from Jackmans paints. I’ve been using these for some time now and am very excited to include these in my workshops. At Summer School we are given the opportunity to collect and paint specimens from the gardens which is a treat.

West Dean Couses in May and August

I will be teaching in a new location at The Oast Studios, in Hartfield, East Sussex. They do some fabulous courses so check them out if you are in that area. I have 3 classes scheduled here in May and June, all fully booked but hopefully more in the future.

The Oast Studio, Hartfield

I have one more month of KCC day workshops in both colour pencil and watercolour before these will finish completely. The funding and focus has sadly changed at Kent County Council and as far as I am aware they will be greatly reducing their number of creative courses. Such a shame and in my opinion a huge loss to the community.

Tonbridge Adult Education Course

I will be back on my last teaching cruise of the year in July, a SAGA trip to Iceland. The Norfolk open studios are also on in this month so it will be great to visit a few studios and connect with some artists in the local area.

I will finish here as this Newsletter is a week later than I intended. Thank you for reading this far and for following my adventures here.

‘Where are you based?’ seems to be the number one question that I get asked wherever I go. To which I usually reply, ‘nowhere in particular’ or ‘in Kent’. I haven’t had a permanent base for 4 years and the ‘in Kent’ reply is simply because that’s where I store my van and art materials when I am abroad and where some of my family and friends live. The reality is that I am mostly on the road up and down the country travelling to my next workshop or demonstration.

Very soon I will be moving to a new permanent ‘base’ further North. We tend to think of having a permanent base as a basic essential, but this will be a new phase for me. I am looking forward to not having to work out where I will be sleeping every night and spending some time in one location. Will this change the destinations I work at? No. Will it stop me from seeing friends and family? No. Will I still be able to access my van and art materials? Yes. So does where I am based matter, absolutely not!

So, what have I been up to lately ….

Subscribe now

Van Life

Well, there’s not been much van life in the last couple of months. I broke my little finger on New Year Eve, and it’s been a revelation to me how much we use our little fingers. The first few weeks in January were cold and wet and my water pipes froze and unfroze regularly putting pressure on the connections until one finally gave way! Stopping the flood and reconnecting the pipe so that it didn’t leak was no easy task for a lady with a broken finger! I was delighted to be able to escape from the cold weather at the end of January when I flew with a good friend to Costa Rica to join a SAGA Cruise ship and spend the next 5 weeks sailing home via Mexico, Honduras, New Orleans, Galveston and Boston to name just a few places. I was delighted to find on my return that not only had the mice decided not to move into the van while I was away but that the engine started first time, and the brakes had not seized. My next destination is one in which l won’t need the van so once again sadly it will need to sit and wait for my return. April sees me on another cruise, so no van travel plans until the warmer weather arrives. Here are a small selection of pics from the cruise.

Art Life

Once again, I spent the last 5 weeks on a ship teaching a lovely bunch of guests to draw and paint in watercolour. With over 18 sea days we covered a vast range of subjects from sea turtle to tram to beach landscape. It was great to see so many guests I had met before as well as a lot of new ones. Approx 70 guests per day meant a lot of paintings for our exhibition at the end of the cruise.

I am delighted to have had 2 pieces of work accepted into this year’s SGFA exhibition at the Mall Galleries in March. I have also submitted a couple of pieces into the SBA Exhibition recently so fingers crossed they too will be accepted.

SGFA Exhibition

I am now holed up in a studio for 3 weeks to catch up on some admin and some new work as well as completing my cruise sketchbook diary and trying to be more reliable with my social media posts! My list of to do tasks seems endless and I need to be disciplined to make time to paint and create as well as do admin. I can procrastinate for endless amounts of time if I don’t give myself a timetable. Going forward I will have a bigger space to paint in so I would like to plan a couple of larger works than in the previous year or so.

I have had an amazingly positive response from all of you regarding a residential course, so I am now actively looking for a location and dates to run this, it’s a huge task so bear with me! I’m looking at possibly October this year.

Teaching and travel in March, April and beyond…

I will be once again teaching watercolour sessions on a SAGA cruise to the Eastern Med in April for 3 weeks. I’m looking forward to some warmer weather and visiting some locations I haven’t visited before.

I am very excited to offer a new location in East Sussex for workshops in Botanical watercolour (and possibly colour pencil and artists handmade books at a later date.) The Oast Studio is a fabulous location and runs a variety of craft and art courses. Workshops include a delicious lunch and all materials. My first course on the 17th May sold out in 48 hours, so we have added a couple more dates. 5th June and 27th June

The Oast Studio, Hartfield, East Sussex

I will be back at The Old Bank Studios in Harwich on Sun 6th April for a butterfly colour pencil course. This is another of my favourite places to teach with a fabulous lunch included.

Old Bank Studio, Harwich, Essex

I have been persuaded to continue to offer the occasional course at Kent Adult Education. Keep an eye on the website for dates for these in May and June.

Kent Adult Education

My West Dean texture and detail in Nature course in watercolour will be on the 23rd to 25th May. Time to get out those granulating paints again.

West Dean, Chichester, West Sussex

I will be travelling more this year, but I am still available to teach private clients, workshops and demonstrations for art societies and groups anywhere in the country. My new base makes me more central in the UK so message me here or email me via my website if you would like me to design a bespoke workshop or demonstration for you.

Amber's Website

Once again thankyou to all of you who have been on this journey with me. Newsletter No.12 makes it almost 2 years since I started writing and publishing here. I never could have imagined when I started this crazy lifestyle the adventures and opportunities that have come my way. Happy March Everyone !

Happy New Year to everyone and I wish you all a fabulous 2025 to come.

I’ve been in France for Christmas and have had a little bit of time to reflect on the past year and the year ahead. Things have been changing in both my personal and professional life and I have some exciting plans for the year ahead. Firstly, I am looking into the possibility of running my own residential course later in the year. I also plan to travel further afield to work and create. Most exciting? I am investing in my teaching, and maybe even settling down at last in a new location in the UK. I will be sharing all these with more details as the year progresses; my aim is to continue to explore new opportunities and live life to the full as usual.

I would love to hear from anyone who would be interested in attending a residential course with me and at what location in the country and for how long.

I would also love to share my handmade book skills in a course so please do leave me a comment in the comment box below to let me know your thoughts.

Van Life

The van passed its MOT with (almost) flying colours and has had a habitation check. No major problems were found and most importantly the damp readings were low. A cracked windscreen has been replaced, the diesel heater reconnected and both gas rings are now fully operational … nothing quite like a bit of housekeeping for the new year.

I always worry when it has to be left parked for a while as the mice are tempted to move in when I’m not there! I caught 3 while I was away on my last cruise to the Canaries. I am still undecided as to what my big trip or adventure in it will be this year. After the miserable winter, I’m thinking an escape to the sun may be on the cards for next winter.

Art Life

I was delighted to teach a full class on my new Beginners colour pencil class at West Dean in November and this one will run again next year. We drew and coloured a variety of subjects (not Botanical) and looked at different ways to create textures, blend colours and work from reference photos.

A couple of weeks ago I was interviewed by the SAGA social media team for a post for Facebook and Instagram on what I do onboard. I have now completed my last sketchbook cruise diary for 2024

and shared this on social media.

In the last 4 months I have completed 4 small pictures and these have been submitted to the SGFA for Exhibition in March. Fingers crossed that some will be accepted! There is also an article about my work in their latest bulletin.

Latest SGFA Bulletin

While in France I have been busy painting and drawing and putting the final touches to pieces to submit to the Soc of Botanical Artists Exhibition in the new year and working on a new commission. I do love a deadline!

Teaching and travel in January, February and beyond….

In January I will be offering a 3-week starter Botanical course in both colour pencil and watercolour. At the moment the plan is to run these in both the Sevenoaks and Tonbridge centres. Going forward I will be offering fewer courses at KCC, the odd single day in January and then again in April.

Kent Adult Education Coursesr

My plan is to offer a residential course later in the year, but I need your help with this so please do leave me a message and let me know if this is something you would be interested in, the time of year, the length and the location and the subject and media.

I will remain available to teach private clients and workshops and demonstrations for art societies and groups anywhere in the country so contact me if this is something you would like to do. I would also love to run more workshops on making handmade artists book and this is something I am investigating.

At the end of January, I will be flying to Costa Rica to join the SAGA ship, The Spirit of Discovery to teach some more sessions and then sailing home. This is a month-long trip and one I am very excited to be working on. I am looking forward to catching up with guests I have taught before and no doubt meeting and teaching many new ones.

For most of February I will be in Harwich on an Artists residence to focus on some new work and plans for the future. My next course at The Old Bank Studios will be a colour pencil one on Moths and Butterflies in colour pencil

Old Bank Studios Harwich

So, it just remains for me to wish everyone a Happy New Year, happy painting and may all your creative projects for 2025 be a success.

This one will be short and sweet as the last 2 months have been mostly taken up with teaching and travelling. During September and October, I was teaching on SAGA’s Spirit of Adventure to America and Canada approx. 60 guests a day to paint a variety of subjects in watercolour. New York, Boston and Canada have been on my go to list for years, so I was delighted to spend some time in these fabulous places. I quite literally visited the whole of New York in a day on a hop on, hop off bus! We had a huge exhibition of work on the last day, and I met and taught some fabulous guests. On my return I did a bit of a circular route running workshops in Oxfordshire, Kent and Essex. I’ve given myself a few days now to catch my breath and pull out my slightly dusty botanical paints and pencils.

Van Life

Being on a ship for a month is a long time and it was really lovely to come back to my little home on wheels. The weather has been mild, and luckily I missed most of the rain in Sept and October. My MOT is due this week and I am bracing myself as I know there are few engine warning lights to sort before it will pass! Having said that my awesome van has taken me up and down the country quite happily with no issues. I’m due a habitation check shortly, and this check is just as important as the MOT. It makes sure that my gas, wiring, solar power and batteries are all safe and working properly. I’ve had a couple of issues lately with a temperamental gas ring, not ideal when I need a cuppa fast in the morning! With my art desk set up it’s the perfect space to work from and I only have to reach out to put the kettle on!

Art Life

Combining travelling with my art practice can be tricky. It’s difficult to find time to paint my normal subjects on the ship due to the amount of teaching, escorting tours on port days, and socializing with guests that I do. But I do manage to keep a sketchbook diary which is important to keep up my drawing skills and sometimes this is completed when I get home. Travelling so much means that I have to be disciplined with my time, and I’ve found that the solution is to clear a few days and book myself into a campsite so that I can focus purely on drawing and painting. (oh, and on getting my newsletter out! )

I am currently working towards putting the finishing touches to some paintings to submit to both the SFGA and the SBA exhibitions next year. It’s a bit of a race against time but I’m keeping everything crossed that I get a couple of pieces accepted. I’ve run quite a few workshops recently at various locations and for various art groups in both watercolour and colour pencil which I love doing, inspiring me with new ideas. I also find that traveling to new locations opens my eyes to new subjects, colours and composition ideas. For the time being I have decided to stick to creating smaller pieces as this works better with my available space in the van.

I’m continuing to play around with the granulating paints and have shared some of my findings with classes I have taught recently. They can create some lovely textures on bark and stones.

Teaching and travel in November, Dec and beyond…

This time of year can be pretty quiet on the workshop front as Xmas plans take over from normal life but you can find me in these locations before and after Xmas:

There will be a few more single days with Kent Adult Education in November and a planned 3-week taster in both Sevenoaks and Tonbridge for January. These are courses for those who are new to the subject. The Adult Education website has been updated so look for Studio courses and then location. More courses will be gradually added during the next month or two. There are also a couple of online courses planned at the end of November through Kent Adult Education.

Kent Adult Education Courses

The Beginners Colour Pencil course later this month at West Dean is now full and my next course at West Dean will be a watercolour texture and detail in nature course in January painting a variety of winter subjects.

West Dean January Course

I will be on the Spirit of Discovery from 5th Dec for 2 weeks travelling to the Canaries. I am also delighted to have been invited to join the South American and Caribbean SAGA cruise for the second half at the end of January. I just need to google now how to paint a sloth!!

Thankyou once again for joining me here to get a small glimpse into my crazy nomadic life and remember, nowhere is too far to travel if you want me to run a workshop for your art group or society.

Wishing everyone a Happy Christmas and a great year ahead in 2025.

Leave a comment

In this newsletter I will be swapping van life for tent life as I tell you about my mad idea of walking the entire South Downs Way, 100 miles in 8 days, which I completed last week.

My trip to demonstrate at the Patchings Art Festival in July was inspiring, so lovely to meet so many colour pencil enthusiasts and other artists using this and other media. The art supplies marquee drew me in like a magnet and I didn’t escape entirely unscathed.

From there I travelled to Scotland for my sons Graduation for a few days before returning to do a spot of teaching in Kent. At Summer School at West Dean in August I spent a week with a lovely group getting to grips with paint and paper, nature and detail. I love this week as we have plenty of time to paint and have permission to collect things from the garden. Extra activities are provided during the week making it a pretty full-on experience. These are just a few of the stunning images painted.

Tent Life

Once a year I get a mad idea. Last year it was the NC500, this year I wanted to see if I was fit enough to walk the entire South Downs Way in one go. It’s been a few years since I did any serious long-distance walking. In my head I had a picture of some casual strolling, a little bit of sketching and some mindful contemplation. The reality was very different, and after the first day I realized that not only was I under prepared, but I was also ill equipped and that the trapped nerve in my back wasn’t going to improve over the next week! The terrain involved a lot of walking on flint stones which destroyed my very old walking boots, but the views were pretty stunning and dramatic with a big mix of woodland, downs and farmland.

You could rename this walk ‘The South Ups ' as no sooner had I gone down than it was time to go up again! I was walking from Winchester to Eastbourne and was lucky to have the perfect weather all week, sunshine and a light breeze. I was on a very limited budget, so it made sense to camp and take my old rucksack with tent and food etc. But by day 3 I realized that I was never going to manage the weight of the rucksack and keep up with the 12 miles approx. per day that I needed to do. Luckily, a friend came to my rescue delivering new footwear and taking the majority of the excess from my rucksack.

I’ve had a lot of comments that I was brave to do the walk on my own, but I wasn’t alone for very long at any point and I met some lovely walking companions. Strangers soon become friends as we swapped life stories, and I’m still chuckling about the couple who told me they once took a Shetland pony on the route to carry their luggage, genius! This route is popular with cyclists too, it seemed to be the ladies who were walking and the men who were cycling!

As for the art?? Well, I have to come clean here, there wasn’t a lot. As I was walking for up to 8 hours a day, I didn’t have the time or inclination to stop and draw for long periods of time after the first couple of days.

Lesson learnt from this, in future I would add a few more days and reduce the mileage each day to spend more time to take in the scenery and sketch. The length of my days was partly determined by where the campsites were located, and this is where better planning would have helped. Added to this my back pain meant good quality sleep on a foam mat was difficult.

All in all, a huge sense of achievement when I completed the walk, I’m still trying to take in the fact that I’ve done it, but my feet are giving me a daily reminder! So, what’s next? Well, I already have plans for next year’s walk and this time I will be better planned and maybe no more tents.

Art Life

Patchings was a fabulous place to spend a few days, and I couldn’t resist buying just a little bit of paint and paper! Jackmans has some very interesting granulating colours and I treated myself to a couple. These consist of multiple pigments, perfect for painting stones and other textured items as the colours separate out when they granulate. More experimenting to be done with these.

I’m a bit of a paper hoarder and I couldn’t resist some lovely softly textured paper from Two Rivers Paper company. This is cotton rag paper, handmade, is absorbent and will be ideal for both books and botanical work. It’s not a paper I am familiar with, so I’ll be putting it through its paces in due course.

Although I did start some drawing on my walk, I didn’t get to keep the diary I was hoping to. Among the heavy things I abandoned after the first few days was my sketchbook. When this happens and art doesn’t go to plan, I try not to beat myself up about it and I looked for an alternative way to record the walk. So, I kept a couple of pages of the sketchbook and created a small booklet to doodle in…. the perfect solution!

Teaching & travel in Sept, October and beyond…

Adult Education, make the most of these few offerings from Kent Adult Education in Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and online. One in September and a cluster at the end of October.

Adult Education Single Day courses

For the first time I will also be teaching a beginners colour pencil course at West Dean on November 20th to 22nd. Not a Botanical course just general techniques and a variety of subjects.

West Dean Colour Pencil Course

Old Bank Studios, Harwich, for a day of Botanical watercolour and Botanical colour pencil with autumn subjects on 26th and 27th October.

Old Bank Studios Courses

I’ll be joining SAGAs spirit of Adventure on 20th Sept for a trip to Canada and the USA.

I also have a few dates in November free if you want me to come and run a session at your art society or club.

Thank you for joining me here and I hope you have a lovely autumn as we head into the colder months.

Leave a comment

Wow, where did those last two months go? As I sit here with my coffee, van doors open with the sun shining, I have to ask myself if there is a better way to live?

It’s been a busy 2 months and I’ve visited a few countries! My course at West Dean was well attended with some beautiful, detailed work produced. Straight after, it was a trip to France to do a few days of intensive painting. This was such a good idea, and I will definitely be repeating it.

The next cruise to the stunning Catalan Coast was soon upon me and busy as usual with teaching up to 60 guests a day, lots of painting and visits to places I hadn’t been before. The emissions lights are finally off in the van, the solar panel is working a treat, and I’m looking forward to a trip to Edinburgh in the next week to attend my son’s graduation.

Van Life

Split turbo pipes, jammed brake calipers, and broken lights to fix: it’s all part of normal life for me! Maybe I need to retrain as a mechanic? Being able to throw away those full condensation pots and open the doors more tells me that spring has officially arrived. So, in the last week I’ve caught up with my housework, forget the hoovering its cleaning the water pipes and water tank for me.

I’ve achieved a pretty good balancing act on top of the van to get rid of mold and clean the solar panel. I’ve perfected my parking in small spaces technique and am now ready for a long road trip. Next stop: Edinburgh via Norfolk, Nottingham, Derbyshire and Glasgow. I can’t wait to explore some more parts of the UK.

If I’m parked up in the countryside, I get to see a little bit more wildlife than usual including baby hedgehogs and very friendly sheep.

Art life

Substack seems to be attracting a few more Botanical Artists with some interesting articles and information. I was delighted to be featured in Emma’s Botanicals article from Behind the brush. She writes about all things Botanical, is a member of the SBA and her newsletter is a great way to find out what is happening in the Botanical world.

Emma's Newsletter - Behind the Brush

It’s been a busy time gathering pictures together for local art exhibitions later in the year and I aim to have to have more cards and prints produced from my latest work shortly. I plan to continue with the single days at Kent Adult Education for a few more months, click on the button at the end of the newsletter. I’m looking forward to this year’s summer school at West Dean and planning another painting session away for few days at the end of August.

I’m much better these days at NOT buying new art materials but sometimes something just catches my eye and I have to feed that addiction!

Everything has to be small and compact, and I couldn’t resist this little booklet of paints. The colours are very vivid and perfect for taking on my travels and using in my sketchbook. The paint is sprayed onto sheets of paper interleaved with waterproof paper, genius! A little cheeky concertina sketchbook also slipped into my basket when I wasn’t looking. I’m thinking of using this on the long walk I have planned later in the year.

Teaching & travel in July, August and beyond….

Adult Education: 22nd - 25th July

As mentioned, single day courses at Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and online will continue for a few more months.

Kent Adult Education Courses

West Dean: 9th - 15th August

This summer school will be a week of painting, fun, fab food and good company; always a treat.

View my West Dean courses here

A reminder that I will also be back at West Dean in November to run a new course of colour pencil for beginners. Not a Botanical course but a general course on techniques.

Patchings Art Festival: July 10 & 11th

I hope to be helping at Patchings Art Festival on the 10th and 11th July in the Colour Pencil Society tent so do come and say hello if you are going to be there.

Patchings Art Festival

There are no cruises planned until September when I will be heading to Canada and the USA with SAGA so I am hoping to fit in a bit of walking. I'm finding the AllTrails app fairly addictive.

I still have some time spare for art club workshops so do feel free to email me if you would like me to come and run a course for you. Once again thank you for being on this crazy journey with me. It’s my friends, family, fabulous students and amazing people I meet along the way who make my itinerant life such fun.

Leave a comment

In my last newsletter I talked about trying to keep all the balls up in the air and so far this year I’m heading in the right direction. I have managed to combine earning an income with producing new work and travelling. The balance isn’t quite there yet but being a full-time artist is more “who I am than what I do”.

Rain has most definitely stopped play at times and living in a tin box in the eternal damp is a challenge. As someone who is arrogantly never unwell, I was floored when I went down with an infection recently. It’s not so easy to go to bed and shut the door on the world when you have to move your bedroom frequently. Campsites and antibiotics are the answer in these circumstances!

Recently a friend said to me “I know you can do anything you put your mind to”, a lovely uplifting comment that got me thinking, sometimes a little self-belief goes a long way. It’s been good to stop and think, yes, I really do think I can do anything and if I can’t then ‘I’ll fake it until I make it’ as the saying goes! So, I’ve gone back to school to do some CPD to give me greater employability in a wider teaching context. Life really does begin in your fifties after all!!

Enough rambling, here is a little update on the last couple of months and some info on the next couple so that you will know where to find me to join my classes.

Van Life

I’ve done three cruises already this year and although in hindsight it has meant less art it’s been nice to get away to some warm weather and no rain. In wet weather the damp and condensation sit for ever in the van. I have a dehumidifying system but it’s not totally effective and climbing in and out with wet shoes makes everything muddy. My van weighs 3 tons and is front wheel drive so when parking up on grass I need to make sure I can get out again, it’s been close a couple of times recently. As I’ve been away a lot, I’ve been extra cautious about setting mouse traps on each wheel. I’ve caught a few but so far, they don’t seem to have worked their way into the van. My new fridge and solar has meant that I rarely need to hook up anymore giving me more flexibility when travelling and deciding where to stay. I also treated myself to a better mobile Wi-Fi system so that I am able to connect to the internet in most locations and have enough bandwidth to run zoom classes, though sometimes my little router box has to be balanced on the roof!

The engine lights continue to be a source of amusement for the me and the garage and at some point soon I will need to get that leak in the windscreen fixed! I’ll be heading down to Devon in a few days’ time so hoping for some dry weather and no more engine issues.

I’ve been fortunate to go to Norway in March and the Azores in April. Returning to Norway always gives me a sense of awe and I find a wonderful calmness in the scenery. One day I hope to take the van there.

Art Life

With cruising and teaching some single day courses for Adult Education in Kent I’ve not had a huge amount of time for painting. For the first time I did manage to do some Botanical painting during the Norway cruise and have now finished my first piece of Botanical work for this year which I am delighted about. I am aiming for 4 completed pieces by the end of the year. Two of these will be based on my finds during my travels, not always from nature, an eclectic mix of small found objects. I’m continuing to work on my handmade books in snatches of time. Being organised with the space that I have is key and each month I remove anything that I haven’t used in a while.

The two cruises were again busy, each class has 30 guests, one day I will work out the total number of people I have taught on the cruises! Once again, we had very successful exhibitions at the end of the cruise and lots of positive feedback. I managed to keep up with my travel journal and I love to look back at this once I’m back on land. It’s a great way to remember places I’ve been especially when I return to a port.

There are still some spaces on my mentorship programme with Mastruis. This happens once a month for 2 hours and is aimed at mentoring and guiding to build your art practice rather than skills-based instruction though we will be covering some of this if mentees want to.

Sign up to my Mastrius Group

Lastly, I spent a few days in Cambridge catching up with family and visited the William Blake Exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum. His illustrated poems are beautiful and inspiring and made me think about new ways to illustrate my journals.

Teaching and Travel in May, June and Beyond…..

I will be continuing to teach single day courses at Kent Adult Education Centres for May and June and again in the autumn. These are excellent value for money and a good way to dip your toe in the water without having to commit to a longer course.

See the link for more details of the dates and centres which are updated each month. There will hopefully be courses in Ashford, Tonbridge, Online, Sevenoaks and Maidstone in both Botanical colour pencil and watercolour.

Link to Adult Education Courses

My course at West Dean is imminent, there are still a couple of spaces on this one starting 10th May if you fancy a break and some concentrated painting time. A reminder also that for the first time I will be running a beginners colour pencil course in November for general techniques so come and join me and learn how to draw and colour a variety of subjects.

West Dean Courses

I’ve delayed one of my walking trips and instead will be heading to France in May to spend a week painting. With my van lifestyle and teaching schedule it’s difficult to find concentrated periods of time to focus on painting so I have decided to trial disappearing for a few days to do nothing but paint. France seems a long way to go but I have been offered the opportunity to spend some time with family in a real house with walls and a bed that doesn’t move!!

Most of June will be spent on a cruise ship heading to the Catalan coast with some single day courses at Kent Adult Education when I get back.

Looking further ahead into the future I will be back at the Old Bank Studios, Essex in October for two days, one for colour pencil and one for watercolour, both Botanical.

Old Bank Studios Courses

I have a couple of other exciting things lined up in the next few months but more about these in my next newsletter once I have finalised the details.

Thank you once again for getting to the end of my newsletter and for continuing the journey of this crazy life with me. Wishing everyone a happy and creative May and June.

Leave a comment

Get more from Amber Halsall Artist in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

Who said being an artist would be easy?

Time for a reality check. Since leaving my studio space early last year my productivity has plummeted. Due to a variety of reasons I haven’t painted any major new work for almost a year. With constantly travelling and van life living there’s always that difficult struggle to balance the admin with the cruises, with the workshops, with the travel, with the creating and then having to decide where to park up for the night!

Since I’d agreed to do more cruises this year my social media connection and my connection to other artists had dropped too. The areas of my life fit together like a patchwork but it all takes time in the planning and if I drop one ball then the others can come crashing down. I need headspace to think and create and winter in the van can be tough, in spite of what Instagram may tell you! Sometimes though difficult news can give us the push we need to get back on track. So, I have made sure that January and February have been very productive months and I’m now heading out of the dark and cold and into the light, (via Norway!)

In fact, I’m so on track that I am sending this out a few days early.

Van Life.

Back to the garage in the last couple of weeks and we got the engine warning lights off for a short while. I’m ready to do some longer trips in the Spring and Summer and will continue to ignore those engine lights! The weather has turned warmer though the rain continues to make van living miserable at times, everything feels damp, including my painting paper. At 3 Tonnes in weight it’s not a vehicle you want to be parking on wet grass.

I’m continuing to focus on small works, easier to paint in my fab little workspace and have fine-tuned both my parking in small spot spaces and how to make a tank of water last as long as possible. My solar enables me to be off grid and I only use campsites occasionally when I’m travelling to workshops as at this time of year there are few open and not affordable for long periods of time.

I made a round trip of running workshops in February starting in Kent and going via Oxford, Bedford, Suffolk, Essex and back to Kent again. I love being able to just bring my home with me to work!

Art Life

January started with a full course at West Dean. We painted a variety of subjects from nature and as usual some fabulous work was produced. I managed to fit in a brief visit to the Hockney Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery before I headed off to the Canaries on a ship for a spot of watercolour teaching and sunshine. The classes were full, and we had a few extra sea days due to bad weather, so the final exhibition had plenty of stunning work.

Once I was back on dry land the next few weeks were filled with playing catch up on painting some new botanical work and playing with some pigment powders bought from Emma at the ColourPencilShop.co.uk. She managed to get these to me just before I sailed. The pigment sprinkles come in a variety of colours. They are similar to Brusho which is dye based and supposedly not lightfast, these pigments from Jackmans are more likely to be lightfast. Most of them consist of 2 or more colours mixed together and when activated with a spray of water create an interesting mix. When dry the colours become more subtle. I’ll definitely be using them for my hand made book pages and am looking to see if there is a way to use them also in my botanical work. Lots of fun to be had here!!

I’ve been keeping up with my nature journal and my visual cruise diary as well as finding time to fill some more little handmade books, no TV gives me a lot of free time.

Across the country teaching a variety of workshops for different groups we covered various subjects: The group at the Old Bank Studios in Harwich made some colour pencil Hellebores come to life while KCC courses had a mix of subjects in season to paint from including my favorite, spring tulips. I will be back at the Old Bank Studios for 2 days in October.

Old Bank Studios courses

Teaching and Travel in March, April and Beyond……

Some other exciting news on the Art front: I have been invited to become a Mentor at Mastrius. I will be Mentoring aspiring artist groups starting at the end of March. Having a Mentor that you can connect with is so important on our artistic journey. Someone to support and guide us when we get stuck, to keep us motivated and accountable to ourselves and someone to share our artistic highs and lows with. I have been Mentored by a couple of close artistic friends and I know firsthand how helpful mentoring can be. I’m excited to be given the opportunity to use my 30 years of experience to help others.

Mastrius website

I’m also delighted to announce that for the first time in a while I will be going back to teaching some online sessions for KCC Adult Education in March. Keep an eye on the Adult Education website too for more courses to be added in April for Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Maidstone. I’m aiming to teach full day courses once every 2 months.

Sign up for KCC courses

Later in the year I will be running a couple of workshops at a new location on the edge of the Peak District, these won’t be Botanical but my other love of handmade artists books and nature journalling. More details in my next newsletter.

I’ll be taking the van away to explore parts of Suffolk, an area I’ve wanted to see more of for a little while. April will also see me on another cruise, this time to Madeira and the Azores.

My usual Detail in Nature course in watercolour in May is now online to book and I will also be running a beginners colour pencil course in November for the first time at West Dean. This is not a Botanical course just a general techniques course.

West Dean Courses

I’m also intending to walk a couple of routes and pathways this year which will enable me to spend some quality time with my sketchbook. It’s going to be a pretty full year!

As always if you would like me to come and run a demonstration or a workshop at an art group you attend or just want a day painting with some friends just send me an email to check my availability.

My Website

You can also find the latest news on what I’m up on Instagram and Facebook.

Facebook

Instagram

Thankyou once again to all of you who regularly attend my courses and read my ramblings, it’s good to have you on the journey with me. Wishing you all an early Happy Easter.

Happy New Year everyone and thank you for joining me. I always find the first week in January a catalyst for new ideas and plans. A fresh start and a fresh New Year full of artistic and personal possibilities. I spent a month in the Caribbean teaching on a SAGA cruise in November which thrust me into December and Xmas rather quicker than I had anticipated. Xmas was spent in a delightful town house in Wainfleet near Skegness with all the family. Since then, the focus has been on finalising travel and teaching plans for 2024. I still have a few available dates if you want me to come and run a workshop or two!

Van Life

On the way to the garage to get the emissions warning light checked out my steering went! Nothing quite like trying to go around a roundabout only to find yourself going across it instead. There are times when I am thankful that I have a garage I trust that is reasonably local to where I am based. I now have new more powerful leisure batteries and solar panel, and a more efficient fridge. The mice continue to be a problem, but the solution is not to be parked up too long - not the worst thing in the world! Short local trips have been the order of the day this month. I have some exciting trips planned for 2024 - watch this space!! This time of year is always difficult and it’s been very cold and wet. I have to admit to decamping to friends at regular intervals during the last month, thank you all, you know who you are! This always impacts my painting and drawing time, I haven’t disappeared off social media I’m just hibernating.

Art Life

Another very successful SAGA cruise saw me taking over 60 guests on their own painting journey. Many of these guests had not painted since school. It’s always a privilege to guide people on a new creative journey. Some pics below of the fabulous work produced over the 20 plus sea days. Straight back and into some Kent Adult Education classes to finish off the year. More classes coming up in a variety of locations for 2024, see below for details.

The Exhibition in Holt was a big success, look out for the SGFA annual exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London 11th March to 16th March which I will be taking part in.

Society of Graphic Fine Art

I have managed to continue to journal and keep some sort of a sketchbook in the last 2 months. Before Xmas I met up with other artist friends and this gave me fresh ideas and a new drive to draw or paint everyday. I am lucky to have many inspirational artistic friends and I would encourage everyone to kick start their creativity in 2024 with friends or with an art group if possible or maybe by joining a course outside your comfort zone.

On a different note, I’ve been having a bit of a clear out and putting my studio to bed in a storage container as it’s time to move on. Never one to skimp on materials I can probably fully furnish a small shop with the art supplies I have gathered over the last 30 years. (Now I’m showing my age!) I have been trying to be ruthless, but the fact is I am addicted to my paints and pencils and very little has been given up. I have rediscovered my handmade paints from America made by “Greenleaf and Blueberry”. These single pigment paints (handmade in small batches) I have had for a few years. In the early days before they managed to upscale their production you would have to wait until they released their paint sets online which were then sold out in minutes. Some have a heavy pigment load and some far less so but what I love about my selection is their natural colours and earthy feel, they also smell pretty good too.

I’ve picked up my Sailor Fude Pen again, this is one I always come back to for sketching as it has an angled nib, and I can produce 3 different widths of line with just one pen. It currently has black “Cross Ink “in it. This is a deep strong black for a powerful strong line.

In my vast colour pencil collection are the Black Widow sets of pencils. No details on lightfastness for these ones so don’t use in your exhibition work but I love the black wood and the hardness of the pencils for detailed work. Not to mention the crazy colours over the 3 sets: Scorpion, Black Widow and Cobra. They are available at a very reasonable price and are fun to use.

Teaching and Travel in January, February and beyond…..

First up is my residential course at West Dean on January 12th. 1 place still available on this one. I love West Dean and we will be able to collect items from the garden to draw and paint, detail and texture in nature, one of my favorite subjects.

West Dean Jan course

I will be back with SAGA teaching on a cruise to the Canaries from 20th January until the start of February.

In February I will be teaching in a variety of locations for Kent Adult Education. Single day workshops in both watercolour and colour pencil are being offered. Check out the link below to see details of centers, times and dates. I am covering Tonbridge, Tun Wells, Sevenoaks, Maidstone and Ashford centers.

Kent Adult Education Courses

Another of my favorite places to teach is The Old Bank Studios. In February I will be running a colour pencil workshop in Spring subjects. Still a couple of spaces available on this one.

Remember that if you would like me to come and run a workshop for your art society or for a group of friends you can contact me on amberhalsall@hotmail.co.uk or check out my website for more details of what I can offer.

Congratulations on making it to the end of my rambles. I hope to be able to share more of my work with you next time and I look forward to meeting some of you on my upcoming courses.

Ambers Website

Sometimes life doesn’t go to plan and these are the times I think we grow the most. In my last newsletter I was a few days into a long trip to Scotland. Once I arrived in Scotland my plan was to drive a small amount but mostly paint, read and look at the view from the side of a Loch…….and then I spotted a guide book on the NC500. This is a coastal route that takes you around the edge of the Highlands, up to John O Groats and then down to Aberdeen, in all just over 500 miles. What could possibly go wrong?!! The fact that the thought of it was terrifying was enough to make me decide it was something I had to do. The weather was a mixed affair from stormy weather warning gales to bright sunshine, but it was the perfect time of year to make the trip as the roads were relatively quiet and many of the tourists had gone home. With the weather still warm enough to sleep with the windows (and out of necessity later, the doors!) open this part of Scotland was one I had wanted to explore for a while.

Once my adventures were over I had a slow amble home stopping at the Derwent colour pencil museum in the Lake District, a must for any colour pencil enthusiast. More about my trip in the van life section below.

Once back it was full on with a workshop for the National Trust, a day at The Old Bank studios and a demo for Battle Art Group, all in colour pencil. Added to this I’ve delivered a few one-day courses in the Tunbridge Wells area in both watercolour and colour pencil. I will be doing more of these one-off days for Kent Adult Education in a variety of locations during the coming year. The next one is in Maidstone on 9th Dec and is available to book on the Kent Adult Education Website. Others will be added later so keep an eye on the website.

I’m now in the process of getting the van engine fixed with some improvements on technical issues in the hope it can get through its MOT before I get back on a cruise ship the first week of November.

November also is a time when 3 pieces of my work will be shown at the Gallery in Holt, Norfolk. This is a group show with the SGFA and will be on from 3rd to the 14th of November.

Holt Gallery Exhibition, Norfolk

Van Life.

I had a number of issues with the van internally which I mentioned in my last newsletter. Some more wiring issues appeared thanks to my small rodent friends and my solar panel just needed to be bigger to deal with my fridge, but I wasn’t expecting the engine problems I encountered on top!! About a third of the way around the NC500 I had an engine warning light or 2 and a loss of power. A spot of googling and discussion with friends convinced me that it wasn’t terminal, and I could ignore until I could get back to home territory. Nothing quite like being 700 miles from home with engine trouble to add some stress. Added to this my phone died and had to be replaced at speed before I lost all my contacts and content. The final straw I thought was a diesel leak making sleeping with the back doors open the most effective way of avoiding the fumes. I wasn’t prepared for the smashed back light thanks to the strong winds and a farm gate. Thankfully apart from the storm most of the days were warm and dry and occasionally sunny.

On the plus side the scenery was amazing, the people were very friendly and there was a huge sense of achievement by completing the trip on my own. I also learnt more about the internal technical bits of running of my van and how to fix small problems, and some not so small ones!! Not so much painting achieved but a small price to pay for an incredible journey. I firmly believe that when life throws you a curveball you can deal with anything with the support of family and friends. I was asked recently how I cope with being away on my own, and do I get lonely occasionally, but the reality is that I am never alone as there is always someone at the end of a phone if I need help.

Back home and as mentioned some updating is going on. A far bigger solar panel has been installed and a new compression fridge which uses far less power.

I’m looking forward to trialing these out on my first short trip away soon.

add pictures

Art Life

I managed to keep a diary sketchbook while I was away, making the most of the beautiful scenery and colours. I had fun with the Schminke granulating paints on some textured paper for some loose sketches. It was interesting to see that once away in nature my work became far looser and more about the process of painting than the result. But rest assured I won’t be switching to a landscape painter any time soon! I like to take my handmade books away with me to work on as I can pick them up and do a little on them for short periods of time. I can also work on any page that takes my fancy at that time. I started a new little book with beach finds inspired by some of the amazingly beautiful beaches I visited. I like to pick up small items from nature to draw and paint but I return these once I’ve finished with them.

I’m now in the process of coming up with some ideas for the next SGFA exhibition in the New Year. Submission ends in the first week in January, so I need to get my skates on!! Being away working on a cruise for the whole of November is going to put me under a time pressure which is not always a bad thing and I suspect I will be taking my pencils with me.

Teaching and Travel in November, December and January…..

I will be travelling with SAGA again to the Caribbean on the 7th of November for a month. The longer cruises are always fun with a lot of painting done by both me and the guests.

December will be a relatively quiet month. On the 9th of December I will be running a Botanical Colour pencil workshop in Maidstone, details of this and other courses for KCC will be on the website as they are released.

Kent Adult Education

January sees me return to West Dean for a Detail in Nature Watercolour workshop. 12th to 14th January. This weekend course gives us plenty of time to complete a small composition and I will be supplying a variety of interesting subjects to paint and draw.

West Dean Course

The rest of the month I will be back aboard a ship headed to slightly warmer climates.

Thank you for reading once again. A reminder that I am available to teach private groups, art groups and individuals both online and in person so contact me via my website if that’s something you would like more information on.

Amber's Website

Have a lovely Christmas everyone and look out for my next newsletter planned for January. xx

Welcome back and thank you for still being here! I am a little late with this one as despite best intentions life got in the way of art. I’m currently sat in the van with a light drizzle outside in Ayrshire. Nothing to see except sheep and hills, beautiful.

Since my last newsletter I’ve had a busy time teaching and cruising amongst other things. West Dean Summer School was a huge success with some pretty impressive painting completed and it was lovely to have a whole week to paint and draw. The SAGA Western Med cruise was full and each day I taught 50 or more people to paint a variety of subjects in watercolour. It’s always great as an educator to receive such positive feedback, proving that it’s never too late to start your art journey. I’m still travelling to various locations to run workshops and private lessons so send me an email if this is something you may be interested in. It can be a struggle to find time and inspiration for new work, so this month I have come away to Scotland to slow down and catch up with family and to paint.

Van Life

Never quite how it looks on Instagram!! Taking the van away for a long trip to Scotland has highlighted some issues. It would seem I still have a problem with mouse damage, the only piece of wiring we didn’t replace was the bit that charges my leisure battery while I am driving, pretty essential as this means I don’t need to hook up to electricity all the time! Added to this my fridge uses way too much power, and as I’m not keen on a diet of tinned ham and dried noodles I will be needing to invest in a more efficient one!! My solar panel is pretty good, but I didn’t see the sun in the Peak District and Scotland seems to have had nothing but rain for the last few days. Lastly the reason my newsletter is late. Yep, you guessed it, my router decided to have a mind of its own for a few days. I can usually hot spot from my phone but no, this time not the case. So enough of the van life issues and onto the art. As promised in my last newsletter, I am going to share with you what materials I have with me in my van, this is an ever-evolving selection depending on where I am and how much time I have to paint and create.

Art Life

So, what art supplies am I carrying with me at the moment? As a normal standard I have my teaching folders and materials for both my watercolour and colour pencil workshops with me in the van. On top of this I carry my personal favorites to play with. At the moment that’s a mixture of the Derwent lightfast and Caran d’ache luminance. I’m still getting to know these as most of my time is spent teaching with Faber Castell polychromos.

For my journal and sketchbook, I like to have a fountain pen filled with Noodlers waterproof ink. I’m currently using black, but it comes in a range of colours. I love my Sailor Fude pen. The 45-degree nib angle gives me a choice of both thick and thin lines. I have my trusty portable palette from art-toolkit.com which I have had for many years, ordered from USA but now similar available in the UK from Amazon etc. I like a sketchbook that can take some loose wet washes, but it doesn’t have to be good quality watercolour paper, just something sturdy with some texture. I’m currently working in an Arteza Not surface square format. I also love my jelly gouache paints; they remind me of painting as a child and the range of colours are truly challenging for an artist who likes her transparent primaries!! Time to play and get creative with these.

For my Botanical work I travel with some pieces of Hot-pressed 100% cotton watercolour paper. In the van A3 is my maximum size. I have my usual palette of artist quality watercolours. I also carry spare tubes of paint to refill my palette; I can’t afford to run out of yellow!! The paper is attached securely to the board for travel and ease of storage. I try and limit the number of colour pencils and brushes I bring with me as space is at a premium, but more always seem to sneak their way in!

And lastly for my artists books I like to have parts of unfinished projects with me, spare threads, buttons, paints, needles, beads and anything else that inspires me. A range of ready folded papers makes life easier to start new projects. Scraps of paper and found items are always a joy to work with. Some pics below on the supplies I have with me currently.

Teaching and Travel in September, October and beyond……

I will be in Scotland for most of September and part of October so email me if you are interested in some tuition. First on the agenda after Scotland on the 11th of Oct is Knole Park for the big Draw event to run a colour pencil workshop on Autumn leaves. Delighted to be returning to this location. Spaces limited so book early as this one is always popular:

Knole Park, Sevenoaks Workshop

I will also be at the Old Bank Studios in Harwich for some colour pencil on 15th October. One of my favorite places to teach, fabulous lunches! Currently only one space left on this one:

Old Bank Studios, Harwich workshop

At the end of October, you can find me teaching some single day workshops for Adult Education at Kent County Council. I look forward to seeing some of my regular students there. These are special one-off days and spaces are limited.

Adult Education Courses - Kent Area

I am also delighted to be part of a group exhibition with the SGFA in Norfolk at

The Gallery, Holt 4th - 14th November 2023

The Gallery- Holt

Moving further into early November will find me back with SAGA heading to the Carribean for 30 days. These longer cruises are always a delight and a challenge.

I will aim to post a shorter newsletter before I depart for the Carribean in November just to update everyone for courses in Jan and Feb, and hopefully to share a few pictures of my Scottish travels during the next 3 weeks.

Thankyou once again for taking the time to read. I’m never the most prolific on social media but using this newsletter to respond to those of you trying to find me for courses and teaching. Until we meet again ……. Keep drawing, painting and creating.

Subscribe now