Author: simonbirtall

I am an artist and art tutor based in Merseyside, UK. I paint in an Impressionist-influenced technique in oils or acrylics on canvas and make drawings in pencil, pen, pastels and more.

Tap, Tap, Tap

This hot-off-the-easel painting depicts a (partly hidden) Great Spotted Woodpecker having a go at a tree trunk. It was painted from a photograph taken by my wife Judith during a visit to Burton Mere Wetlands in May this year. Completed this afternoon in a couple of hours either side of an all-important tea break, it…

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Thanks and Goodbye, Summer 2015

It’s mid-September and starting to feel distinctly chilly here. A fleece-lined shirt has been donned and the warm socks are out. The summer is fading to a vague memory, thoughts are turning to central heating and cocoa, and high street shops are trying to flog us Christmas. So… I thought it might be nice to…

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Beyond the Madness

I was asked last month to make a painting demonstration for a group of non-artists. Given a challenging time limit of not much over half an hour in which to complete the demonstration I unwisely chose too complex a subject – chrysanthemums in a glass vase. My approach to the early stages of painting can…

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Painting Made Easy?

Earlier this month I started running weekly art classes at a local community centre on the Wirral peninsula. It was my intention to use these classes to put students on a personal creative ‘journey’. The experience garnered in my painting workshops, which I’ve run from home since summer 2014, is that the majority of students,…

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