Fish

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Ive been trying to get some snaps of the fish as I want to do some paintings of them.
It was lovely to sit and watch them for a while today-but so hard to get soem good pics! The water is lovely and clear now and the lillies are growing really well.Some of the leaves are 18in across.
We throw food onto the leaves and watch the fish try and work out the best way of getting it off there.Moby the big grey one swims across the leaves and takes the food with him while the big Silver favors coming up underneath and pushing the leaf out of the water so the food rolls off.
Its amazing how they have grown over the years-Moby is one of the original ones we had 8 years ago.

Latest Poppy

Ive finaly finished the ''Red Poppy'', I have added the wax centres to all of the 4 canvas and they have had their first coat of varnish.
The colour is absolutly vibrant now they have had the varnish, you can see all the different shades of reds clearly.
The only problem with painting the red poppies is getting decent photos of them-they tend to come out orangey rather than red!
I am very please with the effect of the lava rock paint that I used just outside of the wax cenres-it looks just like pollen-very effective.You can see me adding the melted wax with my special tool in th photo.
They will get another coat of varnish today and the final one tomorrow.

New Work

I had started these poppies a while back but have been so busy with other things they have never been finished.
Ive had an enquiry about one set like them on my website, that is already sold, so have pulled my finger out and got on with finishing them today.
Got a few more layers to go on, then the melted wax centre will be done.
After that at least 3 coats of gloss varnish will be applied by Bill over 3 days.Bill is better at the varnishing than me-he makes a lovely job of it..

I love painting these poppy paintings-each one turns out completely different to the last, makes them very individual!

class of April 26th --Encaustic class

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I am holding an encaustic wax class on Saturday April 26th.
You will be able to 'paint' using a special electric iron and special waxes- 2o postcard sized pics and 2 A4 size paintings with full instruction.
Its a fasinating way of producing art-its quite unpredictable to a certain extent--loading the special iron with wax and using it as you would a paint brush can produce some surprising results. The wax dries instantly amd its then polishe dwith some tissue.
Its going to be the most fun you will ever have ironing and polishing you will ever have!
You will see faces and animal's appear as if by magic in the melted wax, if you dont like what you see, its simple -just apply the iron to it and it changes in a flash!

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 beautiful painting's 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 also supply everything needed for this wonderful ,addictive way of creative art.

March 15th Class

"Summer Day" is the subject for Saturday 15th March.

I had another class subject for that weekend but have had a group booking so I have changed the subject to the one they wanted to paint.!!

This has been one of the most popular subjects ever with Painting My Way.

Its suitable for all ages and abilities including 1st timers.

If you would like to book for this class another time please get in touch via www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Rachaels Poppy Quartet

We waited with baited breath last night for Rachael to come from Wales to pick up her Poppy Quartet poppy painting.

Its really difficult to photograph red paintings and get a true colour.I have been emailing her each stage of her commission as I have painted it, but have never been completely happy with the image Ive sent--I have always had to say to her that the pic isnt as orange as it looks-its really dark red!!!---- ironic that a few minutes before she arrived last night, I took this pic of her painting and the colours came out as near as dam it!

Anyway she walked in with her friend and exclaimed "I love It"" brilliant , just what I wanted and you were right about the colour, its just what I wanted to match my kitchen!"

After some advice about how exactly to hang all 4 canvas ,we had a lift off them up to The Squirrel pub, next to the travel lodge where they were staying.

Its only just up the road from us-real handy for the classes , but it was freezing really hard and didnt want to drive so we could relax and have a drink!!!!

This painting along with all my others is logged with http://www.protectmywork.com/

Finished at Last!!!!!!

Now for some reason the colour has come out wrong on the 2 close up pictures. The correct colour is the finished 4 canvas but the close up pics will give you some idea of just how much detail is in each canvas.

There is at least 30 layers of paint on each canvas--it has been a long process creating the latest ''Poppy Quartet'' I have spent more than 2 days constantly painting on this project.

I have worked very differently to the previous 'poppy quartet' works.

This one has been created using very thick acrylic paint underneath and then using very thin paint as a glaze , building up layer upon layer of colour, the hair dryer has been used to create movement in the paint, which has been blended and allowed to run as well, making a very interesting background.

I have highlighted some of the most textured places with a special metallic dust that is intended for use with encaustic wax, the gold sheen really adds to the finished piece.

It is difficult working on 4 canvas at the same time, you have to keep checking to see that they are in line with one another, and its a case of on/off/on /off the easel to keep them all the same!

Then the centre of the poppy is created using melted wax using a special encaustic hot pen to melt it and place it in the right place.Then a final polish of soft tissue over the wax and its ready to be varnished tomorrow.It will have 3 coats of high quality artists varnish and it will be ready to go!!