Jacks Painting!

We were all painting away happily today when Jack started laughing and said ''look at this'' the sun had started shining and had come through the window nearby to Jack and was shining on his painting-it looked like he had painted the sun breaking through his clouds and across his sea!
Must say a big thanks to Jack for the lovely big Easter egg he bought for me-will share it with Bill though!

Caravan /Camping /Art Holiday

The venue has been decided for the art holiday combined with the caravan/camping.
We will be holding the meet at Westbrook Caravan park, Little Hereford, nr Ludlow.
Its a site which comes highly recommended,it won the regional prize last year for the Practical Caravan top 100 parks
You can find the website here
www.bestparks.co.uk/westbrook/westbrook.htm

I have just got to confirm the dates and I will let you know as soon as I have them. I will be emailing all the interested parties first who have already got in touch and then putting the details up for everyone else. It promises to be a great event-and we re looking forward to it immensely!!!!

Campsite Classes

There has been some discussion on one of the many forums I use about combining camping/caravaning and painting classes.

It would seem a lot of people are interested in having a go. I'm going to try and sort out a site and a date so we can combine the 2 pleasures in life!

I'm looking at sites nearby to us for now but am getting feedback from fellow campers as well.

With the weather being as unpredictable as it is we will have to find a site with a room we can use if the weather turns nasty or choose a site near to Ludlow and use my regular venue-then if the weather is good on the day we can do the class in the open at the site.
I will keep the you updated with whats happening here and on my website.

Book Marks

I have spent all my spare minutes lately making up a new batch of book-marks as I had sold out ages ago and not got them replaced.

Its a fiddly job to do-Bill helped by pre-- bending the carcase's and cutting the encaustic cards to size.

They are all original and unique due to the nature of the melted wax.After they have been labeled and put into their protective cellophane sleeve they make up a very pretty display.

My Painting Buddy!!!

I was stood painting in the kitchen last night minding my own business when I heard a flutter of wings behind me and in flew Paddy Bird onto my head!

Bill and I were both shocked as he as never been brave enough to leave the front room before in the 4 years we have had him!! He had to navigate the turns into the hall and into the kitchen, he was puffing a bit when he landed on my head!

He has never been that keen on me until a few months ago, he always seemed to like Bill the most. He simply tolerated me-what has made him change I dont know.

Most parrots take to just one of their owners, Bill can still do more with him-mainly because Im still scared of him-he has bitten me down to the bone on my fingers several times in the early days and it has always gone septic. But Im getting braver now hes being nicer to me.

He was very interested in what I was doing, he seemed to enjoy watching me paint.

He thought all his birthdays had come at once when Bill gave him a clean brush to hold as we are always taking pens and lipsticks off him as his beak goes through them like butter!!

I might get him some paint and a little canvas soon and see if hes picked up any tips!

Change Of Class Subject May 17th

The class for Saturday May 17th is now the picture above.The Birch Tree Walk will now be done later in the year.
Tropical Evening is suitable for all levels of ability's, from first timers upwards.
Please get in touch with me through my website www.paintingmyway.co.uk/main/contact.html

or http://www.dianetheartist.com/ if you are interested in doing this class.

PLEASE NOTE ONLY 4 PLACES LEFT ON THIS CLASS

Joyces Latest Painting

We had a great day today, Joyce had taken a look at a copyright free book that the SAA sell and chosen a picture she would like to paint.
We had a real laugh at the different colours that we added to the sunset sky, but when they were all tickled with the tickling brush and all the colours softly merged together and the effects were really beautiful.
When the bushes and palm trees were added in the black it really made a big difference.We used the rubber ended tool to make the water lines instead of the usual knife which worked very well.
She also added some little daisies to the painting she did yesterday, they are easier to do once the painting has had chance to dry off slightly and Joyce really enjoyed doing these!
Joyce is going back to Bradford with lots of helpful hints and tips-along with my fact sheet which will help her through the different stages of the paintings.She also has bought some art supplies from me, knife, paint etc.
I will be packing her paintings up safely when they are dry and posting them to her by special delivery in a couple of weeks time.

Bets Commission

At last Bets painting will be on its way to her! She commissioned this painting ages ago, I painted it straight away, and added some daisies detail to the bottom of it a short time after.
It refused to dry!!!I got it off the wall to pack and send last week only to find that the daises were still not quite dry, so a quick email to Bet to apologise and tell her it would be this week instead.
Well its dry at last and Bill has packed it up ready to be sent by special delivery in the morning.
Its a special gift for her hubbys birthday at the weekend.

Its a busy month for birthdays in March.I have sold 2 paintings for birthday presents this month, both are a complete surprise-one more so than the other-I will let you into the secret after the event!

Its my birthday and our wedding anniversary on Friday and still got to sort out a present for Bill yet.
Cant belive its 7 years since we got married!.
They say life begins at 40 and in my case it did. I got married on my 40th birthday-and they have been the happiest 7 years of my life!

A Busy Week!

We had a lovely drive down to Wallinsford in Oxfordshire On Tuesday morning.We stayed at the 16th century Fleur de Lys Inn in nearby Dorchester On Thames.We had a great time there--the food was second to none -as you can see the lamb shank and the duck breast are to die for!
Ive been and bought some duck breasts for tomorrow nights dinner-just got to try and re-create it again. It had black pudding and bubble and squeak, all with a beautiful plum sauce.Will let you know how that goes!
It was lovely to relax on the day before the seminar, which was the reason of being there in the first place.
Our room (the Abbots Room)had a beautiful bathroom, with a great big bath and power shower, all very tastfully decorated and with all soft white towels.The king size bed was very comfortable and the white bed linen set it off a treat.

class of may 17th--Birch Tree Walk

This painting of birch trees has been the most popular painting this year.
Its painted using acrylic paint and then we add detail with melted wax. The results have been brilliant as you will see if you scroll down a bit further!
It is suitable for all abilities from first timers to experienced artists.Every painting is completly unique to the artist, and it is a great painting top start with to gain confidence.
Please get in touch via the website if you would like to join the class.
www.paintingmyway.co.uk
Check out my 'snaps' pages on my site to see all my happy students with their paintings---you will see that many of my students come back time after time--my classes get booked up very quickly and I have a waiting list for some subjects.

The classes are very friendly,laid back and informative at the same time- great fun and a beautiful painting to take home as well!
Take a look at the guest book to see what some of the students have said about the classes as well!

I have kept my prices the same for the past 4 years--£35 which includes all materials used in class. We paint on a high quality box canvas which does not need framing-although if you wish to do so we supply a lovely frame to match your painting for just £12. Great Value!

Slide Show Of Some Of My Work

http://www.artwanted.com/artist.cfm?ArtID=25677&Tab=SlideShow
If you click on the link you will be able to see a slide show of some of my work
I hope you enjoy seeing just how many different subjects I paint!!
Its on one of my sites called Art Wanted which is an american site-hence the prices being in $ instead of £.

January 26th Class

"Summer Day" Bright and cheerful, this painting has been one of the most popualr painting's done in my classes.

I have 3 places left for this class on Saturday 26th Jan.

It is suitable for all ages and abilities even children and 1st time painters.

If you would like to join us please get in touch via www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Callum

We couldnt even get a smile out of our little Callum on Christmas day-he had been up all night teething and he looks tired to death on this picture!!

Tomorrows Class

All of tomorrows students have been to me before, so have some knowledge of the techniques used to create this painting.

I'm looking forward to the class-waterfall paintings always turn out fantastically different from one another in class,as each student shapes his or her waterfall different from the next person!

Hen Party

We had such a laugh today at the hen party, you wouldnt belive some of the conversations we had aroung the table! Make your hair curl!

As with the best hen parties we had to have a real giggle and this took the form of a wax willie painting competition!!!!

I showed the girls the best 'tool' to do this and there was no stopping them! We had willies coming in all shapes , colours and sizes!

We decided to let Bill judge the contest when he re-appeared to help clear up after all the fun!

Sparky

Just look at this cool cat!!!!

Home again!

Well we are starting to get back to normal again after our painting holiday at St Audries.

All the washing is done and everything packed away again!

I have to get back into the swing of things soon, I have a talk and demo at Ledbury Art Society on Tuesday and a full class next Saturday.

Must say I am looking forward to meeting my ladies again plus one of their husbands as well for the Poppy Field painting!!

I have spent 30 mins updating the latest paintings onto http://www.protectmywork.com/

and I have some time left then to try and understand the new computer!!! Ive lost loads of photos on there somewhere-very frustrating when I have so much to update here on my blog--things may be a little muddled for a while cos I will post the pictures on as I find them, so they may not be in order!

Bluebell Woods

This is the latest in my ''almost monochrome collection.
It measures 70 cm x 50cm and is painted in acrylic paint and encaustic wax.
It has had 3 coats of artists quality varnish to protect it.
The price is £120 including P+P in Uk
If you are outside Uk please get in touch
PLEASE BE AWARE THAT ALL MY WORK IS LOGGED AT http://www.protectmywork.com/

Latest Encaustic Artists!

As promised --2 of the latest encaustic artists at the Ludlow Food and Drink Festival craft fair in aid of the Air Ambulance.

Oliver and Hannah--- Little artists in the making!

Hannah had a go at encaustic art yesterday and bought back nanna and grandad today to have another go and to choose the colours she used today--I think they were very impressed!

Oliver is going to join us in a class to paint Tropical Summer Day in the near future----well- after Christmas! I now have a waiting list of people who want to join a class, and I have a full capacity of students until next year. I will be planning next years classes hopefully while on the painting holiday at St Audries Bay, the time seems to fly by--there is not enough hours in the day to get everything done that I want to do!

Craft Market

We had a fantastic day on the craft fair today.
The weather stayed good-sunny and warm-better than forcast!
Lots of people interested in painting classes-some interesting chats to visitors too--some people from Suffolk stopped by for a long chat. I am looking forward to hearing from them again.