Shobdon Food And Drink Festival

We are busy getting everything prepared for Shobdon Food And Drink Festival at the weekend.

Its one of our favorite venues-set in beautiful surroundings. This year they are incorporating a garden festival with it so it should be interesting.

There will be lots of exciting foods and drinks to try, and all sorts of things going on. On Saturday night there willbe a rock and roll band playing, a bar and hot food available. There is also an acution of promises, with a Manchester United shirt signed by the Euopean Cup winning team!

We will be setting up on Friday so we can take things easy on Saturday! I shall be demonstrating both the oil painting and the encaustic art , and there will be chance to have a go at the encaustic art too.

I shall have around 50 paintings on display.

We have got one of Bills famous Christmas cakes to take along to share with the other exhibitors as we did last year, it will be nicely matured by now--it went down a treat with everyone last year!

The website ishttp://www.shobdonfestival.co.uk/

Class for Saturday July 5th "Forest Pool"

This is a new class subject "Forest Pool" is painted onto a black canvas which makes it less nerve racking for total beginners !!
Its a lovely atmospheric picture.
I have been working on some new subjects for some time, the photograph of this one is not brilliant as the painting is still wet.I will take another one later when its dry.
If you would like to join the class to do this painting, please get in touch via the website www.paintingmyway.co.uk
I sure the places will get booked up quite quickly.

Special Students

Today was a special day for 3 of my students.I had decided that my advanced students needed some recognition of the fact.So Mandy Jack and Jan (who called by the class after me asking her to) were all chuffed with their artists badges that I presented them with.
The little lady artist badge complete with easel and paints are for my female students and the palette badge complete with brushes and paint tubes are for my male students.
Its just a token gift of my appreciation.
All of my students who attend at least 6 times will recieve their badges.
Jack has taken Yvonnes home with him as she couldnt attend today.I have a few more to give out at the next advanced class.

Easter Babysitting

We had our little grandaughter Hollie to stay on Sunday night.She just loves it in the kitchen sink as you can see! Its much easier to bath her in there than to empty the bath of the oil paintings that are drying in there! Good job we have 2 bathrooms though!
Once she settled at 10:30 pm we didnt hear her til 8am.But we both slept lightly,listening out for her!

Space in Class "Summer Day"

I have one space left for this Saturdays class "Summer Day" sat march 15th
This is one of the most popular paintings that we do in class.
I have had a cancellation due to ill health.

If you are interested in joining this class please get in touch via the www.paintingmyway.co.uk site.
This painting is suitable for everyone -even first timers.

Space in Class "Winter Wonderland"

I still have some spaces in the class of Saturday March 22ND which is Easter Saturday.
The painting shown is just another variation of "Winter Wonderland"
There is scope to create very different versions of this snowy picture.
I will show all the different things you can do during the class.
This is what makes all the paintings so individual in the end.Its a simple painting to do as it starts on a black background--far less scarey than a white one!

The painting is suitable for all abilities.
If you would like to join me in this class please get in touch via the wwwpaintingmyway.co.uk
website.

Reiki

Some great news recived today--Jan --my great friend is going to be starting up her Reiki practise at Clements Beauty and Natural Health Clinic in Teme Street , Tenbry.
She will be there on Tuesday 29th April , Wednesday 30th April and Thursday 1st May.

Jan charges just £30 per session and its the best £30 you will spend!!!!!!

Its the most relaxing experience Ive ever had.The tranquil music in the background helps relax you, and when you feel the heat from Jans hands as she works from top to bottom of your body, its very easy to drift away-I dropped off to sleep towards the end of my session, but when Jan gently woke me up I felt so relaxed it was unreal, then afterwards I had sooo much energy it was great!

It balances your body and your mind!
Give Jan a ring on 07837939797 to book your session which lasts aprox one and a half hours.

Frosty Reflections Class

We had an interesting class yesterday.The subject was quite a simple painting, of frosty trees reflected into the water. I gave the students a choice of 2 colour ways to do this painting.
Shades of orange, yellow's and reds or shades of purple.
Bill and Dennis both chose to do the orange version and Brian, Mandy, Sheila and Jan all chose the purple version.
When it came to do the shimmering water at the end I had a wide variety of special acrylic colours that adds that special effect. I showed everyone how each of them looked on my own painting. The gold shimmering paint looked great on the orange version.Jan and Mandy both used the violet shimmer and Sheila used the opalescence one.
The results were great and everyone enjoyed themselves.
The new students all agreed that it was far more laid back in the classes than expected, and everyone felt at ease very quickly!
Bill bought along his mother in law Sheila who knew nothing about coming until late the night before, so she had a great surprise. Dennis and Brian had travelled from Stoke On Trent, their wives went off into Ludlow shopping whie the guys painted.
Dennis's wife was enquiring about childrens classes for their little 5 year old grandaughter. I will be setting some dates for july again for childrens classes.

Oliver's Birthday Party

We had a lovely time today at Olivers birthday party.
We met Oliver a while ago at one of the craft fairs here in Ludlow. He came along to the first oil painting class of the year and is booked in to do the "African Dream" one on March 8th.
All six of the children had great fun using the encaustic irons,wax, and special tools. Their imagination ran riot with all sorts of wonderful things being spotted in the finished pictures.We had polar bears, foxes,dogs, people, fishes--you name it we had it!!
Everyone really enjoyed themselves, and apart from Oliver who had one go at it previously at the craft fair-no one had come accross this unusual way of creating art before!
Oliver was very pleased with his birthday present of a frame big enough to put his big picture into that he created today!

Tranquil Moods

Tranquil Moods was picked up today by its new owner.
Jan fell in love with it as soon as she saw it a short while ago when she came here for a one to one!
So its now hanging in Jans 'snug' Im going to call by and get some pics in situ soon, so get the kettle on Jan!!!

Latest update on Emerald Woods class

I now have only 2 places left for Emerald Woods on May 3rd.
Places are going very quickly and if you want to join this class please get in touch.
This class is suitable for all abilities even first timers!
Please get in touch via the website www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Ashford And Caynham WI

We had a lovely turn out on Wednesday night, the hall was packed with interested people.As you can see from the photo, there was an interesting backdrop on the stage, a painted scene of mountains!

I started the night with a demonstration on a black canvas--using transparent blue paint ,I started painting on the canvas--of course no one could see anything until I started putting on the white paint---then there were lots of oohhs and aaaahhhhs as it quickly developed into a snow scene.Using the same brushes but this time on a white canvas I painted the ever popular Summer Day painting.This is one of the most popular painting's that I do in class, and it always goes down well at the demos too.

Ann Tyler won the raffle and she chose" Summer Day"--she has just moved into the area from the seaside and she said it reminded her of where she had lived.

I donated "Winter Wonderland" to the WI to use for raising money for their chosen charity.

February 16th Class

"Oriental Dawn" is the subject for Saturday 16th February.

It is painted in oil paint and is suitable for all ages and abilities including 1st timers and children.

Beautiful colours and a tranquil scene.

There are just 3 palces left for this class.If you would like to join us please get in touch via www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Christmas Paintings

I have been busy over the past few days catching up on the 'christmas paintings'
I always paint the kids a new picture for Christmas, and so far have got 4 done! Got one more to do for my Becki and then 4 more for some special friends. Got to try and finish today,as Ive got lots of other stuff to catch up on.
The first set of Poppy Quartet have had their first coat of varnish, they will have another coat today and another tomorrow.
The kitchen looks like a bomb has gone off at the moment-paintings and paint everywhere!

Some More Pics For Jan!!!

The latest sky pics were all taken traveling to and from Wellsbourne last week.Every picture was taken out of the car window as we were going along.When I got home and loaded the camera onto the computer I found that I had taken 222 pictures in just over a day,mainly of trees and skies!!!

They are all good for practising techniques, and Jan was going to have a go at skies before the next class, Ive certainly given some food for thought again!!!

Lemon and Lime Cheesecake

I have been busy tonight making my popular lemon and lime cheesecake in preparation for tomorrow's Sunday lunch. We have Wendy and Gil, Rita's daughter and son in law coming round for lunch, so its given me the perfect excuse to get creating in the kitchen!

I haven't made this sweet for ages and couldn't put my hand on the recipe as everything is still a bit upside down from when we were decorating the kitchen, so it was a guessing game to some extent!

However with regular tastings of the cheesecake filling I got the tangy lemony,limey topping just perfect.

The cream thickened up lovely when I added the fresh lemon and lime juice and when the condensed milk went in , it tasted beautifully creamy.I baked the biscuit and butter base in the oven to make it extra crispy, a lovely contrast to the creamy soft topping.

Todays Class

Today we had Jan who was with me for the 5th

time and a first timer Samantha who had traveled from Albrighton, near Cosford.They both did a beautiful version of Snowy Day.

We didnt start painting til nearly an hour later than planed--I had a few things to show them on the computer that another of my students-Sharleen. had been sending me during the week!

One of the things gave us some ideas for a future painting class--if we can get a volunteer to model it!!!!!!!!!!

The whole day was a great laugh, as usual--it never fails to amuse me the conversations we have while painting tranquil scenes!

Its amazing how different the paintings turn out when doing a class, Sam's was a lot more 'hilly' than Jans with steeper sides down to the pond.Sam also turned out to be a natural at trees, and with the big tree up the top of the fields behind us as an example, she turned out the most beautiful tree!

Jan has got more confidence each time she comes to me and tackled her tree with far less nerves than normal.

Sam is coming back with some of her family to paint the birch tree painting early in the new year, I have set the date for 9th Feb for that one, I have some people waiting for me to set dates for the new year so will sit down and sort that out when I get a minute.

For Jan !!!!!

In class today, Jan said she was going to practise doing some skies at home,all the above photos have been taken by me and should provide some interesting material for her to work from.

SOme of the pics have been taken on wednesday night while traveling back from Shrewsbury, some are from St Audries Bay and some are outside our back door!!!

Class for 10th Nov

This class ''Tropical Summer Day'' is fully booked.

I will be setting another date to paint this picture early in the new year. I already have 2 children waiting for a date!!

I must sit down with my diary and get cracking with all the new dates for the coming year.

I have got a waiting list of people wanting to do specific paintings in the new year so I will work around those people and get the dates put on the website asap.

I have got quite a few WI's booked for next year already.

Todays Class

Here are todays students Jack and Sharleen.

We have had such a laugh today, in between the serious painting.

We tryed out some new tools today--Lydl the German supermarket have had art materials on offer all week, and I picked up this pack of 5 rubber tipped painting tools, designed to remover the paint from the canvas---they worked a treat and at only £1;99 for 5 a real bargain. Sharleen is off to buy up all their stock tomorrow for me, I had the last pack from the Stourport branch, the sets of fan brushes were good too-and again just £1;99 for 5

Chip came along and really behaved himself-Paddy didn't think much of having a poodle in the house and scared him out of the living room-even though he was in his cage!
There were plenty of bikkies on offer for him (and us )

Half way through the session I bought out the singing hamster toys that had us all cracked up, then out came the shelbies and furbies!! We were like a load of kids, laughing and giggling!

Sharleen has gone home with 2 new 'pets' a baby ferbie and an adult one-I know they will have an excellent home and they will probley enjoy a trip to the office on monday!

Oh and Jack the bottle of wine went down a treat thanks!!!!