I work in a variety of mediums including charcoal, pencil, pastel, watercolours and oils from small A5 sketches to large 2 metre canvases.

I love the ease of graphite and coloured pencil as it’s possible to achieve many textures and depths of tone. It is clean and doesn’t require much clearing up and if I have to stop, I can simply put down my tools & pick up where I left off, on my return. It’s the perfect medium for black and white pet portraits.

Pastels are quick and soft, but need fixing with a fixative spray which can affect some of the details and vibrancy of colour.

Watercolours are lovely when they do what I want them to do, but they are a very different discipline to oils. Any mistakes can often mean starting over, so patience and time are crucial. The transparency of watercolour is wonderful for the right subject but they can fade over time so best kept away from sunlight.

Acrylics are useful when I want paint to dry quickly and can be used straight from the tube or diluted with water. I sometimes use acrylics as a base layer for canvas preparation, ready to paint over in oils the next day.

Oils are great for blending colours as they stay wet for long enough and have great colour vibrancy and permanence. Paint can be removed and/or covered with more paint when adjustments are required but they can take a while to dry, especially if not diluted. Oil paintings ideally need varnishing from six months after completion to protect the paint.

I paint round the edges of my canvases so framing them isn’t essential but optional for protection or personal preference. I always clean my brushes when I finish, so I can make a clean start the next day and it keeps the brushes in good condition. Some of my brushes belonged to my Grandad, Frank Wootton OBE, so they’re over 30 years old. He gave me some of his to start me off with oil painting when I was at art college. He told me once I’d got used to oils, I wouldn’t look back. He was right. Oils are a daunting medium to many starting out in art but I recommend paint by numbers kits to novices keen to explore.

My Grandad was a busy, popular artist, travelling the World with his exhibitions and commissions. When he had the time, he would give me helpful advice; a few tips from him were more valuable than months of studying at art college. His passion for painting was contagious and the beauty of painting means you can continue well into old age as he did. His love of aircraft meant his already successful career really took off during World War II as official war artist for the RAF and his beautiful paintings are still admired by many here, in the United States and Canada.

I like to have several paintings/drawings on the go at once. While I’m waiting for an oil painting to dry, before I begin the next stage, I can crack on with another project. Working with different mediums on different surfaces keeps things interesting and I’m always thinking about the next project.