Loose and Lively with Wild Life - Watercolour
Julia is never more at home than en plein air in the African bush, sketchbook in hand with wildlife in the landscape in front of her.
As an award winning wildlife artist, using her art for wildlife conservation has become important integral part of her work, and most of all a privilege.
With sketchbooks full of studies and lines of movement, she works these up into full paintings, choosing between watercolour, ink, or oil. Her fluid approach, for which she is now well known is portrayed beautifully through the spontaneity of her watercolours, or the more substantial challenges of oils.
Having travelled widely and lived in Africa and Nepal, Julia now lives in England painting from her Hampshire studio, tutoring art workshops and leading painting holidays worldwide for Art Safari Ltd.
Her work is found in many collections worldwide and she represented by the following galleries in the UK: Cricket Fine Art in London & Hungerford and The Wykeham Gallery , Stockbridge.
Winner of the Watercolour Award at the David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the Year 2026
Winner of the 2021 International Wildlife Art exhibition hosted by Artists for Painted Dogs (AFPD)
Finalist several times for the David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the Year Exhibition.
See Julia’s website at
Information about the day:
Watercolour is the most wonderful medium, and like no other. Being light and quick drying it is easy to carry, and ideal for taking on holiday. A quick watercolour sketch can capture more than words or a photograph through its beautiful atmospheric and luminous quality.
Julia likes to teach by guiding and demonstrating. She uses a variety of techniques and brushwork to gain certain effects, and will be taking you through from the initial sketch, to the finished painting allowing each student to work at their own pace.
With observation being the key, you will learn how to abbreviate a landscape and still capture it’s essence, how to sketch something moving quickly like a café scene or group of flamingos, the perspective of a village scene and even make a still life seem lively!
Above all while painting, one looks at the landscape, its shapes and colours in a new way which is fun and enjoyable.
Materials to bring:
Please use this list as a guide. By no means everything on this list is necessary. If you already have your own equipment, materials and favourite colours please do bring those. The only essential items to bring are your own watercolour paper, paints and brushes.
- Paints and Palette
- Brushes
- Kitchen roll or rag
- Watercolour Paper (around A3 size)
- Masking tape and/or clips
- Water pot
- Pencils, rubber etc
- Sketchbook for taking notes.
- A Board – to tape single sheets of paper to
- Easel & lightweight camping stool or chair
Colours:
- Prussian Blue & Pthalo Turquoise (Cool) – Pthalo creates brighter, punchier zingy greens
- French Ultramarine, Winsor Purple & Cobalt Blue (Warm)
- Alizarin, Permanent Rose or Quinachridone Red (Cool)
- Cadmium Red (Warm)
- Burnt Sienna, Vandyke Brown (Warm)
- Raw Sienna, Indian Yellow, (Warm)
- Aureolin or Winsor Lemon (Cool)
Extras: These are optional but personal favourites and useful to have to hand:
Sap Green & Transparent Orange (Warm), Cobalt Turquoise light (Cool) and a small tube of white Gouache for that missed highlight.
NB: The colours in BOLD will be needed for the Kingfisher workshop plus some masking fluid.
Workshop specific instructions – hide or delete if none