Richard Bolton



Geraldine artist and member of Watercolour New Zealand tells his story. We recommend his publications on the art of watercolour listed below.


My initial interest in watercolour painting started after buying a book on John Singer Sargents Watercolours. I was impressed by his mastery of the medium. It encouraged me to take a tin of watercolour paints and make my own impressions. It began a passion that has remained with me since.

I was fortunate to attract the attention of publishers early on in my painting career and worked for British, American and Chinese Publishers, which in turn lead to work with Art Magazines such as Artists and Illustrators, Artist, and Leisure Art. I was also commissioned by British Telecom to paint a series of paintings to place on the covers of their telephone books.

Much of my painting material came from close to home. I livedin St. Ives, Cambridgeshire near the River Ouse. Many of my paintings feature the lazy river, and willows as they change through the seasons. A number of my paintings hang in the gallery at the local museum, and many of my exhibitions were
held in the town.

Through my books, I received much interest from Taiwan and China, and was commissioned to paint both countries as well as Tibet. Students from Taiwan were often visitors to my studio and the Taiwanese Ambassador to London was a major collector of my work. Further travels took me to Israel with a group of British Artists. Paintings from this trip were then exhibited in London, Glasgow and Liverpool.

In 2004 I moved to Geraldine with my New Zealand born wife and enjoy the challenge of the more rugged landscape that surrounds me. My paintings have been exhibited in galleries in the South Island, and in December 2008 I had a successful one man show at the Saffron Gallery in Timaru.

  • Publications by Richard Bolton
  • Painting Landscapes and Nature
  • Creative Drawing and Sketching
  • Painting Weathered Textures in Watercolours
  • Buildings in Watercolour
  • Painting with Brush Pens
  • Texture and Detail in Watercolour
  • Creative Watercolour Techniques
  • Landscape Watercolour Painting
  • Weathered Texture Workshop

Website : www. richardbolton.com