Happy Birthday Becki...

I can't believe that my darling daughter is going to be 32 years old tomorrow..where has the time gone?      I am as proud as punch of her-- a kind heart, compassionate soul, understanding mind,  hard working,  wonderful mummy to Tommy and loving wife to Wayne..and always a brilliant laugh! Loves you millions Becki xxxx have a wonderful birthday xxx

Donation to O'Connor Unit

We have raised enough money again to buy another Dyson fan for the cancer ward in the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital where my son Jim was treated for Hodgkins Lymphona last year..  the chemo can make the patients feel very hot and they don't have enough fans to give one to everyone.. so I have a sealed tin on my stall with a note asking people to put something in if they have enjoyed having a laugh at my funny quote slates... so far in less than a year we have raised enough to buy 3 of these fans for the ward.. We dropped the latest one off recently.   My son Jim is doing well after his stem cell transplant that he had the week before Christmas.. he is back at work part time now..but having regular check ups.. he really has had the best care possible from Dr Nigel O'Connor and his team at Shrewsbury, and also the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham where he had his stem cell transplant.. Thank you everyone..

Bits and Pieces....

I have had to cancel a few workshops of late because of my Polymyalgia having a major flare up...its very upsetting for me to have to do that , but I have no option when I can't lift my arms to paint!

It has been coming and going for a while now but each flare up seems to get worse and there are only so many painkillers I can have,,, it gets better when I rest-but of course it isn't that easy sometimes.
Between that and the discs in my neck degenerating and causing pins and needles in my arms and legs I have been in quite a state at times!

So a big thank you to everyone for being so understanding and moving to other dates..

I have now been put on a very high dose of steroids again, so the pain and stiffness should be gone again very quickly,,

We will be at the Festival At The Edge in Much Wenlock  this Fri,Sat and Sunday.. we will take the caravan, so I will be able to relax and chill if need be... Its a lovely event and the weather forcast looks like its going to be good...so it will do us both good..
I will have a huge display of paintings up--with the awning and the new Gala tent in use.. and lots of my ''Funny Quote'' shabby -chic slates..

We meet up with old friends we only see there, so looking forward to that very much.. some wine will be packed, and maybe some Pimms too...we just need the sun to shine and the pain to stay away and it will the perfect weekend!

Happy New Year....2016

I cant believe where the year has gone...but in another way its been the longest year of my life...we started the year with my son Jim being very ,very ill with Hodgkins Lymphona and Haemophagocytic syndrome--a very rare condition, that saw his ferretin levels reach over 21,000 instead of the normal 196. He has had a gruelling regime of chemotherapy through the year , ending up with a stem cell transplant just 3 weeks ago in  the QE hopsital , Birmingham. I'm pleased to say he came out yesterday-- very tired, after being in isolation for 3 weeks and having the heaviest chemo thrown at him..he needs too stay infection free now and fingers crossed he has turned the corner..

My lovely daughter and her little family Wayne and Tommy have bought Jim's house off him as it was far too big for him--it was our family home when the kids were growing up-- so it has gone full circle now with a young family once again growing up in there.. It was a manic few weeks though-- they managed to move in in about 4 days  after the mortgage was approved after a cock up with the building society! In ,but not straight yet... looking forward to helping them decorate it as they want!

Little Tommy has kept us all sane through the year-- always smiling, happy and cheerful- he adores his grandad Bill..

Bless him...

Of course we had Becki and Wayne's wedding in March... it gave us something else to focus on and take our minds on what poor Jim was coping with...and he managed to come and have some photos taken with us too...it was a wonderful day from start to finish and   I couldn't have picked a better husband for my daughter...

Family

And before we know it ,its time to put up the tree again..

It does make you feel festive once the decorations come out..

and of course the fireplace Santa's... I have another week off work- and will be updating the website  www.paintingmyway.co.uk with more dates asap..places for the workshops are going very quickly , with one or two having very few spaces left in them..I will be introducng a couple of new subjects too at some point!  It just remains for me to wish all our family ,friends and students, past, present and future a very Happy, Healthy New Year 2016

Big Poppy Workshop

Well that's the last workshop of the year done and dusted! Great fun doing the Big Poppy with 7 students last Saturday..there are a lot of technique's to learn in the class using different mediums-and great scope to be imaginative ! Any colours work with this subject too--and Pat bought along a cushion cover she wanted to match up so she could hang her masterpiece in the bedroom when its finished! First time for Pat and Jasmine who were bought along by Dave who has been several times before!

adding the black centre...

wonderful colours Jasmine...

Joyce managed to make loads of different colours from a quite limited palette..

Lyn adding several layers of black paint to her centre,,

The crackle effect is showing up lovely in Carolyn's painting

Sarah chose the turquoise colours as it is a present for her sister and will match her colour scheme!

This is the part everyone loves--adding the melted wax detail...we had some lovely new ideas going on with coloured wax being used as well as the usual golds and silvers..really stunning results!  Just realised that I have no photos of Dave with his painting..sorry Dave,,,

Sarah with her finished painting-- the middle will darken up as it dries over the next few days!

lovely results everyone!

Reeds In The Breeze and more....

Its all go at the moment--my son is at last in the Q.E hospital in Birmingham to have a Stem Cell Transplant and will be in about 3 weeks..my daughter is buying his house and has just over a week to get sorted and move in-   I am seeing a specialist tomorrow at Hereford hospital ,   then I have my last workshop of the year on Saturday and the market in Ludlow on Sunday--phew--I'm knackered just reading it all....   anyway back to the main thing--  last Saturdays Reeds In The Breeze workshop..we had a mix of newbies and folk that have been to me before. The newbies were nervous as they always are--with good reason I suppose--trying something new is always a bit intimidating, but they soon found there was no need to worry at all! As you can see we had wonderful results form everyone!

Sarah on the left was painting her 3rd picture with me and had a strong idea of what she wanted her finished painting to look like...Its quite amazing just how quickly people find their self confidence about what they want and how to achieve it during the workshops..She wanted a solid blue sky with no clouds,a path down to the beach and daisies instead of poppies--and we will see her again this Saturday when she will be painting the Big Poppy in shades of turquoise! Ana was painting for the 2nd time-she chose the brown foliage instead of the green--both work equally well! Anna was a first timer and really enjoyed it-said she will def be back..

William and Suzie were first timers with me-- William was tired out by the end bless him-- daughter in law Suzie chose to paint some other flowers rather than poppies too--and had some photos on her phone that she could use as a reference!

First time for Heather-who was convinced she wouldn't be able to paint anything decent enough to hang on her wall...however how wrong was she--another one who loved every minute and wants to come again! Cathy has been before--they both chose the yellow ochre shades-lovely warm colours..

2nd time for both Terry and Judith--both handled the brushes and knife with ease and created some lovely paintings!

Caroline was painting for the 2nd time and Chris was on her 3rd one-- well done ladies! I'm so glad you all enjoyed your day and will look forward to seeing you all again soon..

Standards and Scruples ????

I have been painting for over 13 years now, teaching it for 11 years...In that time I have met hundreds and hundreds of people who have come along to the workshops to learn how to paint ''My Way''.      In the past year or so , and more recently the past few weeks I have found that some ex-students who I had considered to be friends have been quite underhanded to me...and have  stolen some of my images to teach to people in their workshops that they have started running!  It has been quite blatant in some of the cases--even to the fact they had the paintings they had actually done in my class on their website advertising they were their own work and even claiming Copyright !   Talk about taking the piss.....!!!!!    .All of the paintings I teach in the workshops are logged with www.protectmywork.com and while I'm happy for students to go home and recreate the paintings and technique they have learnt with me, to give to friends , family and charities--whatever-- you should not make financial gain from my images.unless you have my permission .And I do give my permission in some cases--one lady Jackie has asked and has given me the credit for the images on her webite--but she has used them to make metal paintings---ccompletly unique!  I have worked hard coming up with ideas for workshops and its been very upsetting to be treated like this.  You cannot use one of my paintings like the one above and just change the cats to owls--and call it yours...adding a few leaves to the sunflowers doesn't work either...

Turning the canvas the other way around to landscape doesn't work either,,,

and changing the big poppies for little ones and vise versa does not wash !

All of these paintings I have shown on here have all been copied--plus others as well...and the sad thing is the artists concerned are quite capable artists in their own rights...and could quite easily come up with some of their own unique ideas...

You can't splatter some paint over a copy of my images and call it yours--

I was stunned to walk into a craft fair we were doing recently to find what looked like my stall.....mainly versions of birch trees, stormy poppies and summer days....and I came home to emails from some people who had also seen the stall and thought it was mine!! To say I was not happy is an understatement I can tell you..and I told her so at the craft fair..

To be fair she did ring me the next day and apologise and everything that had been copied was taken off her website etc ..but I really don't know how she thought she would get away with it--although she had changed her name from the one used when booking her workshops with me..She said she thought I would be proud of her--- and I would have been if she had got more of her own ideas on show instead of 3/4 of mine on her stall..  she had some lovely seascapes on her stall that were her own and I suggested to her she goes and does more of that style..

I have been teaching the Birches since 2006 -when I checked with my Protect My Work site,and Summer Day and Stormy Poppies even longer.

It would appear that my website has been looked at and my most popular subjects were stolen...    I think the artists concerned need to take a look at their standards and scruples--would you steal your friends husband?   Because in my eyes its just as low as that--and to be quite honest I have enough on my plate at the moment worrying about my son who is fighting cancer without having to worry about my work being used..   

Bluebell And Tommy

Meet Bluebell..my sisters new puppy---have you ever seen such a wrinkly little doggie?

My sister has always wanted one of these from a small child,,and has saved up for ages to get her!

They should have called her Norah Batty--she looks like she has wrinkled stockings on here!

Little Tommy is growing up soooo quickly bless him..a darling little boy --he is never any trouble-- quite happy to play with anything to hand--today he had fun with the cushions!

Always happy to be outside with Grandad Bill..

and always got a smile..

Fun on the swinging seat!

Look at this cheeky little bugger...

Summer Day Workshop Feb 21st

First of all apologies to the 15 ladies who came to last weeks workshop-the photos are only just going on tonight--I have not been very well since the workshop--coughing and spluttering..and then managed I to fall down the stairs on Thursday night and hurt my foot quite badly...Thankfully it was a very small group this Saturday due to some students having last minute things come up,,so not much walking involved -although I had to do the workshop in my slippers!  Anyway--the Summer Day workshop went really well--with ladies from all over the country attending-they came from far and wide! Ive managed to misplace my list of names of everyone as well...we had lots of first timers-though you would never know from looking at the results at all...

Some of the ladies wanted to do other flowers instead of poppies and sea thrift was the flower of choice--it worked very, very well , much softer end result..

Beautiful results ladies--well done all of you!

Denise on the left travelled from Bath and Pamela lives very near the venue--  both first timers--Pamela was very nervous bless her--but she enjoyed it so much she booked another workshop for her and her daughter the next day!

I hope Ive got this right !--Ro on the left was painting with me for the first time...Sarah and Kari have been several times!

Beautiful pics from The Gigglers--

Fantastic pics first time..well done girls!

Dru has been once before and Julie came along with her for the first time--love the sea thrift..