Author: Paul Regan

I asked Chat GPT to describe my latest painting.

I asked Chat GPT to describe my latest painting. Then I gave it a little nudge to look harder. This is what it came up with. It knows me well! Title: [Untitled – Sunrise Through Glass] Artist: Paul ReganMedium: Acrylic or oil on canvas (assumed)Dimensions: [Insert dimensions if known]Year: [Insert year if known] Description &…
Sunrise, La Defence

I’ve just finished a tricky oil painting of the sun rising over Paris, viewed through a dirty, scratched hotel window, with reflections on, in La Defence.
Is it cheating?

The challenge I set students this week was to paint a black and white portrait from the photograph they bought in. The process involved using carbon paper to transfer their image on to their painting surface. This resulted in a lively debate, as it always does, about whether or not using a transfer process to…
What are you working on this week?

I sent an email out to the brilliant Studio Fridays artists the other day, asking them to send me something they’ve been working on this week. Here’s what they sent in ……
Open calls and competitions for artists (Updated)

Being part of an exhibition where your work has been selected by judges, hung nicely, and lit on a crisp gallery wall can feel very special. It’s a chance to get your work noticed, meet other artists, take some nice photos to share on social media, maybe even sell your work, and generally feel good…
Figures in an Interior

Last week I was struggling with a painting of figures in an interior; especially the colour relationships between the figures and the spaces around them. I selected the following twelve works by six artists, to study how colour has been used in the background to highlight the figures, and brushwork to keep the painted energised,…
I wanted to find some new art podcasts!

I wanted to find some new art podcasts! I think I’ve listened to all the interviews with visual artists on the BBC’s Desert Island Discs and This Cultural Life, and I’ve caught up with the new episodes of The Banksy Story. I do still have a few Moving Pictures left to listen to, preferably whilst…
Dad with Martin Parr at Dorchester Hospital

Dad with Martin Parr at Dorchester HospitalWatercolour on Paper14x19cm2025 I find hospitals disorientating and time bending. Whether we are a patient or a visitor, it doesn’t take long before our connection with the outside world fades and we start to feel a bit institutionalised. Coming across art in a hospital can be a pleasant distraction;…
Success Stories for Studio Fridays Artists in 2025, so far…

The start of the year has been yet another very successful period for Studio Fridays artists. Here’s a round up from January to March: Melissa Harris’s paper sculpture, ‘Purple Legged Spiral’, and Diana Sandetskaya’s oil painting, ‘Sunset in Mill Hill Park (XVII), were both selected for this year’s Wales Contemporary, and shown at the Garrison…
Student paintings from the spring term

Whereas half of the term’s sessions are dedicated to lively, fast paced, one off, ‘mystery challenge’ workshop sessions, the other half are devoted to helping students develop their own ideas for making paintings. Here are some of the paintings that have been produced by painting students in the studio during the recent spring term.