Leisure Painter

Leisure Painter - the number one learn-to-paint magazine featuring practical painting and drawing features from top art tutors. Includes step-by-step tuition and easy-to-follow advice on how to draw and paint.

Editor's welcome

Leisure Painter

Editor’s choice • This autumn, Battersea Park blossoms into a vibrant art hub as the Affordable Art Fair returns for its 2025 edition. With over 100 contemporary galleries presenting thousands of original artworks priced from just £100, the fair offers something for everyone

Spotlight on art • A round-up of events and ideas to enjoy live and online

Wild At Heart • Winner of the Leisure Painter Award at this year’s TALP competition, Lisa Bruin talks to Ingrid Lyon about how her love of animals gives her limitless inspiration for her art

Down The Allotment • Cultivate the rich subject matter of allotments and sheds to produce oil paintings packed with colour and detail,

Lessons in watercolours • Luminous pigments and the thrill of applying them in a variety of ways – learn the perfect palettes and materials to work with when using watercolours,

Artistic Escapes • Unleash your creativity with inspiring painting holidays & courses

The art of arrangement • Part 3 Creating a watercolour scene using a combination of photo references,

Talking Shop • Shop fronts make fascinating subjects, as Nina Squire shows how to develop sketches and notes into a finished pastel painting

Bokeh Backgrounds • Create a bokeh background using chalk pastels to enhance your pastel picture – adding subtle interest in contrast with foreground elements,

Q & A Fire & Flames • Professional colour pencil artist, Helen Carter provides helpful guidance, tips and tricks for using this versatile medium to create the effects of fire and moving flames

Art clubs • Over to you for the latest news on club exhibitions and activities.

Atmospheric Skies • Part 3 The forgiving and flexible nature of oil paints make them perfect for creating skies with atmosphere. Play with colour and texture for striking results,

ART BOOKS

2025 Wells Art Contemporary Exhibition • Wednesday 8 October to Saturday 1 November 2025. Wells Cathedral, Wells

Simplification, tonality and composition • Caroline Saunders talks to painter and printmaker Christopher Aggs, who concentrates on landscape and still life

BRUSH with the PAST • Grahame Booth travels back to his painting roots, exploring perspective, tonal values and connections and how these three elements contributed to his journey from a leisure painter to an artist. This month the focus is on connections.

A day in the life of PAUL TALBOT-GREAVES RI • Sally Bulgin talks to Paul Talbot-Greaves about his life and career as a professional artist

PAUL’S TOP FIVE TIPS

The road to ABSTRACTION • Barry Freeman talks to us about his transition from being a figurative to an abstract artist.

Sketch a day routine • Alan Bickley extols the virtues of keeping to a regular sketching routine.

MATERIALS

Watercolour freed! • Catherine Beale continues to encourage you to supercharge your watercolours with this fifth instalment, looking at whip lines: Strong and fluid lines which suggest movement

Two old SOLDIERS • Barry Herniman revisits two old friends he originally painted during the winter, which were featured in the Summer 2020 issue of The Artist – this time they are presented in resplendent autumn colours using gouache.

Mark Rothko The Colour Field Paintings • Continuing Sarah Edmonds history of art series, this issue Sarah looks at the ‘colour field’ paintings of Mark Rothko.

Turning PROFESSIONAL MONTH ELEVEN • Preparing for a...