My Venice book is out. Published by SEARCH PRESS.

Edited by Katie Sparkes. Photographers - Roddy Paine, Gavin Sawyer and Debbie Patterson. Detailed step projects of Venetian scenes.
I have presented two TV projects from the book. Now out on DVD from Teaching Art and later in the year on TV - The Painting and Drawing Channel.

NEXT BOOK STARTING.
Commencing Tuesday 29th 2011. New work, new methods. First Joe Dowden Seach Press book was "Water in Watercolour", published 2001 and still in print. The new one will be a detailed study of techniques for painting water.

NEW ARTICLE COMING OUT IN ARTISTS & ILLUSTRATORS MAGAZINE
Artists and Illustrators Magazine often features great watercolour painters, such as Rob Dudley, whose brilliant brightly lit paintings feature South Devon tidal waters. Forthcoming article is a step by step project painted in Derwent Inktense watercolour inks.

NEW ARTICLE COMING OUT IN PAINT MAGAZINE
The nightmare of perspective - a trouble shooting piece to sort a few problems brought in by a reader, and enlarging on sublte angles and changes in level.

THE BRITISH AIRWAYS STRIKE - GATWICK will not be affected, say British Airways bosses.
Welcome to my 2011 Croatia course to all who have booked on.
This trip was fully booked months ago, but there are still places for May 2012 – (five booked so far – contact me on joedowen.com website contact page).

The planning is done and everything is ready. This is my annual trip. I have run the course many times before. The main party flies BA from Gatwick to Dubrovnik. Others are coming from Spain and Poland. We stay in the port of Mlini in the Shrebreno district. Its a beautiful place and I am looking forward to getting everyone painting very early on. As usual I will be teaching and demonstrating during some evenings, but during the day the emphasis is on the students.

You paint - I teach. I will be sticking close to the party at all times. New destinations this year include the Island of Lokrum off Dubrovnik, and we may explore Kupari and some new places in Cavtat. A new venture this year will involve a kind of "private studio session. I like to do some on site painting for myself away somewhere quiet during an evening when not demonstrating, but I invite the party to come and watch. Its different from the normal demonstrating because I am not directly teaching, just passing comments. Watchers are free to ask questions. I started to develop these "private sessions" last year and they have been successful. The sessions usually become a friendly informal gathering of fellow painters. These started because at the end of a days teaching, I sometimes went back to the studio to carry on with my normal output. You can really learn something by watching a painter working occupationally rather than to a teaching agenda .