Latest Christmas Cards

The metal benches have been in place up on Whitcliffe since I was a child....a perfect place to sit and watch the world go by....but not on a frosty day....would be a bit cold on the bum! I have sold loads of cards with this view...and haven't had time to get them onto my website yet--between face book and the market/demos they have been selling like hotcakes! And because they are blank inside they can be used for any occasion-not just Christmas!

This is one of the most popular views of Ludlow---looking down over the town off Whittcliffe--the castle stands out beautifully against the frosty scenery..

Lin has got my latest cards done in time for the markets and the demo last night....I just love the spiders web one--I hadn't realised quite how much detail I had captured on the photo til she sent me the cards...just look at the drops of water underneath the web-isn't it beautiful?

 

This is another new one---I just love the little Tom Tits--we have loads of them here in the garden feeding at the moment...and I captured this little fellow last year--doesn't he look cute?Im hoping to find time to make a new page on my website www.paintingmyway.co.uk in the next day or so to sell the local scene cards so keep an eye out for them...

Fantasia

I have really enjoyed creating this work. I have used coloured beeswax and an electric iron, melting the wax directly onto the glass.... the colours are vibrant and all sort of things have appeared in the wax--in the close up photo you can see lots of eyes--at least I can! Because of the nature of the melted wax--each painting created using this method will be completly unique. I have used some metallic colours-silver,gold,green and violet-they catch the light beautifuly!I have reversed the glass into the metallic dark red/copper metal frame so the wax is protected. The painting will be on display from 25th July until 5th Aug at Church Stretton and South Shropshire Art Festival. If you would like me to create one of these paintings for you please get in touch

I can see all sorts of things in this small part of the painting--lots of eyes and faces! What can you see?

Workshops In France

Ive had some lovely comments from Vivien who is a sister to one of the students who attended the Button Oak workshop last week. Vivien lives in France and it sounds like there is a demand for art classes where she lives!
Im very busy this year but its definatly a possibilty for next year --so watch this space!
I will look forward to hearing from Vivien again!

February 12th "Grasses"

Maysoon enjoyed working with acrylics again---she had wonderful results-her sky changed quite a lot during the 2nd coat of paint...she was brave and decided to add the tree to the final painting--and what a great tree it was as well--very strong and bold!

Celia was really enjoying herself-as you can see! Maybe it was the thought of receiving her artist brooch for attending 6 classes! To be fair we all have loads of laughs during the classes--that is what makes them so popular I think--

Nita was with us for the first time along with her hubby Richard...

Maureen is a very competent artist now--she was brave and added the tree to this painting----students had the choice of just the grasses or adding the tree if they felt brave!
Maureen  goes home and paints the subject matter again-in her own way--she brought along some lovely photos of previous paintings she has done when she has gone home--well done Maureen

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Richard is used to painting in watercolour-so found the acrylic a bit different to use.Harder to blend and much stronger in strength of colour as well. His painting ended up quite strong and bold--but it worked very well--his grasses at the end balanced it up perfectly!

Susan received her artist brooch today as she had attended 6 workshops--she keeps bees and we had some interesting conversations about them during lunch--

Great results everyone-all very different--some tranquil, some bolder--but all very beautiful--well done ! Looking forward to seeing you all again!

January 29th "Winter Wonderland" oil workshop

It was nice to have a smaller class yesterday--7 students-I love teaching the workshops using a black canvas--its great fun to do and is a useful tool for students who are a bit nervous---Maysoon above-had never used one before and loved it!

Trina has painted once before with me and again used a black canvas--she loves it--and seemed a lot more confident -the end result was stunning!

Hard to believe that Jo had never painted before when you look at her painting--

Karen is quite an old hand at this painting game--she has done 16 pictures with me-and we have become very close friends as a result--she actually started out as a collector of my paintings--and still is.....!

Gill is a close friend of Karen's--when she took her painting home-her hubby was thrilled with it and said it was her best yet!

Maureen has become a very competent artist in such a short time--she is a very rare breed--she puts down her brushes and walks away and sits down when she thinks she has done enough of each stage--something that most people find hard to do---most stay at the easel and fiddle!

Pat's confidence has grown and grown with each class--she made a lot of decisions for herself yesterday-she has learned which brush does what and how much paint she will need for each bit .I love watching my students grow in confidence and ability-and as many of them come back time after time I have the opportunity to watch that-and feel very privileged to be part of that process.

Trina, Maysoon and Pat--beautiful results girls!

Jo,Karen , Maureen and Gill....lovely results-well done!. .I was hoping the swollen top lip I had during class-due to an infection would have gone down by now--I had a bit of ribbing from the girls who said it looked like I had had my lips injected to plump them up and it actually suited me! Looks like I'm off to the Docs in the morning to get it sorted,

facebook

A lot of the students who have been to my workshops are on Facebook and have made friends with me and Bill...if you havent already made friends and you want to.. the quickest was is to type my facebook email address into FB and go from there!
Its a great way of getting your art out there and showing your friends and family just what you have been up to on Saturday!
All of the photos taken in class are on my facebook page for you to tag!
find me on jennings.com@fsmail.net

Birch Tree Class Jan 8th

Well I'm slowly recovering from the flu and am looking forward to next Saturdays workshop. Its been put off from Dec 2010 due to the weather and fingers crossed its going ahead next Saturday.
There is as usual a choice of colours and canvas size--you can do monochrome or browns and creams--and if you are  feeling very arty you can have a go using brighter pop art type colours if you want!
The painting is very easy to do with great results every time--lots of fun with lots of interesting techniques to learn.
If you fancy joining us please contact me via the website www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Birch Tree Workshop

Well we are 4 down on tomorrows workshop due to the awful weather conditions---its snowing still at the moment so may get some more phone calls tomorrow as  well--fingers crossed the 10 that are local-ish can get here--if not I will make another date to do this class-maybe  Sat Dec 18th as I know a few people wanted to do this painting as a Christmas present for loved ones!
Time will tell!

Not On Market...

I will not be on the market tomorrow--my sciatica is playing up again and the cold weather does not help it at all!
I have got to go and see a chiropractor sooner rather than later.....
The weather is bad here as well-bad snow and ice so don't suppose there will be many folk about up there anyway.
I'm hoping to be there again on the Wed 8th, Sun 12th, Wed 15th and Wed 22nd December.
Then I'm having a break from the market until end of March /beginning of April-all depending on the weather!
I have 2 full classes-Summer Day and Stormy Skies already next year and bookings in all the other classes as well.
Lots of gift vouchers have been bought for Christmas pressies as well so I think the classes will be be booking up even quicker after Christmas!

Onslow Park Steam Rally

The time came round so quickly -it didn't seem a year since we were last there-
this year was much easier now we have Bunty Van !
The caravan had hardly any weight in it this year-usually its full of paintings and paints as well as the usual stuff we need in it!
We did look a bit like new age travellers towing behind Bunty!

We had our usual space in the marquee and were able to park next to it with the caravan.
We got everything set up on Saturday so we just had to go in and take off all the cloths and sheets covering it all for the start of the show on Sunday morning.
I always get my class subjects hung first and then see what space there is after to hang the other paintings.
I had loads of room to put out everything on the tables as well and sales of art materials/encaustic art went very well.

The weather didn't seem to bad at first then all of a sudden it went very warm and there was some huge gusts of wind -it felt like the whole marquee was going to come down on us--it really was scary.
Fortunately Bill always fastens the metal stands with cable ties to every post-so they cant move however much the canvas moves.
We heard after that we had a mini hurricane and it had blown a huge branch off one of the trees and onto some cars-writing them off completely. We watched it on the news that night-and it was front page news in the paper as well.
Luckily nobody was hurt-it could have been a lot worse.
The organisers had to go round bashing in all the pegs afterwards,as the huge gusts has moved them quite a bit. The weather was great after that, and it was heaving with people in there.
As I have an L shaped stall it means people can stand and watch/chat when I'm painting and not get in the way of everyone else's stalls!

A great time was had by us all--and big thanks to Ros who organised the event for the first time--she did a brilliant job of it-some great new ideas this year and more for next year as well.
We have the Bishops Castle Michaelmas fair next in September.

"Yesterday" new class date July 17th

I had been asked when I would be doing "Yesterday" again in class by Sandra, as she and her friend had both recieved gift vouchers for my classes and wanted to paint this picture.
However they couldnt make the date I had already set for it.
So I asked them to give some dates that they wouldnt be able to do and we went from there!
They sent me a list of dates they could do and July 17 th suited us both.
I expect this class to get booked up pretty quick as it is very popular.
If you would like to join this class please contact me via the website
www.paintingmyway.co.uk

So Lovely!

We popped into Tesco this evening to get a few odds and bobs, we were just unpacking the basket when we heard an excited voice--''Hiya you two--I cant thank you enough -he loved the painting--Ive never had so much fun--I cant believe I did it-it was sooooo brilliant thank you so much!!! "

Everyone was turning round to see what the excitment was--cant get better advertising than that can you!!?

Sally had attended her first class a few weeks ago and painted Stormy Skies for her Dad for Fathers Day--she had obviously loved it and had already booked to come again with her friend--we are looking forward to it!

Holiday -last day

We had a lovely last day in the village-lots to see and do-will add to this soon!

New Website-Painting My Way-coming soon !

There is a lot of work going on with the new website. Things had more or less ground to a halt with everything that has been happening over the past few weeks.

Now it looks like there will be not one but 2 new websites being launched shortly!

I will let you all know when they are going to be active-hopefully it wont be too long now!

Todays Class-Serenity in Green and Brown!

We had a great time in class today--Rosie on the left and her mum in law Hilda on the far right had never painted before-Rosie chose to do her painting in the green and Hilda in the brown.
They both produced great pictures and really enjoyed themselves!No one used the prussian blue preferring the other colours instead.

Jack , Pauline and Chris received their trophys for long service!
And Julie and Sheila recieved their artist brooches as they have been 6 times.
The last 5 times were a couple of years ago,and I wasnt doing the artist brooches then!
Julie and Sheila had to leave early to go for a meal across the road at the Squirrel, so had their pics taken on their own!
We all had a great day and we are looking forward to seeing them all again.