This April I took part in the Sketchbook revival challenge. This is an 11 day sketchbook challenge organised by Karen Abend. The sketchbook revival is in its 9th year and consists of 11 days of free courses provided by lots of talented artists on various subjects, materials and techniques to get you using your sketchbook …
“Here we go a Maying” oil painting on linen board, May 2026, Rachel Crawshaw
This year for Painting Padiham Plein air competition I decided to challenge myself to using pastels instead of doing a painting. I am pretty new to using pastels so knew it would be a bit of a risk but I like to give myself a challenge! I decided to do some practice in the run …
Continue reading Painting Padiham 2026 : practice and the finished work
A watercolour painting of beetles from a series of artworks capturing the artist’s recent trip to Florence
A look at the last 7 days of the mini collage a day challenge and what I learned from the experience of making art everyday day.
Thursday Art Club is holding an exhibition at Pendleton Village Hall on 2-3rd May 2026
A collection of recent life drawings in pastel and conte crayon by Rachel Crawshaw
A look inside the artist’s sketchbook exploring the symbolic interpretations of birds and vessels. Mixed media artwork featuring gel plate printing, collage, pastel and conte crayons.
Here is a quick catch up of my Mini Collage a day challenge. At the end of the week I seemed to be drawn to bright, warm colours such as reds, pinks and oranges, as well as imagery like fruit and flowers. At the beginning of the week I experimented further with using text in …
This February my family and I took a special trip to Florence, Italy to celebrate my husband and I's milestone birthday. One of the places I enjoyed visiting most during the holiday was the Museum of Natural History, La Specola. This painting is from a photograph I took of one of the museum collections of …
Continue reading Watercolour butterflies: memories from Florence
Mushroom Moon Designs 