Stanton Lacy WI

We were at Stanton Lacy WI last night-its just a small group,as are many of the country WI's.

We had such a laugh there, Dorothy won the draw and chose Winter Wonderland as her prize. I donated Summer Day to the group to use for raising funds for their chosen charity.

This Weekend's Food And Drink Festival

This weekend see's one of Ludlow highlights--The annual food and drink festival take a look at http://www.foodfestival.co.uk/ Ludlow will be heaving with people from all over the country and the world.

There are beer trails and sausage trails amoung other exciting things going on in the town.

The Streets Alive will be in town with the stilt dancers,music and loads of things going on in the town square.

We will be in the college Saturday and Sunday doing the craft fair which raises money for the Air Ambulance.

I will have room to put lots of paintings on show and as usual I will be demonstrating both the encaustic and oil painting techniques.

Several people that we met at Onslow Park steam rally will be coming to the craft fair to pick up their encaustic sets, that I had sold out of!!

I have stocked up with plenty of supplies of encaustic stuff so hopefully I wont run out of stock this weekend!

From Small Acorns

After announcing at the beginning of August that I will be holding an exhibition of my students work, I have given a lot of thought as to what it should be called and

I have decided to call the exhibition ''From Small Acorns'' As from the old saying'' From little acorns mighty oaks grow'' which is exactly what I see happening with my students when they come to me.

They walk in the door the first time and are usualy a bag of nerves and convinced they will fail to produce a decent painting---- they leave full of confidence and pleased as punch with what they have achieved--its the best part of this job.

I will be having a children's section as well as the adults. If there is any wall space left I will maybe hang a few of my own!!

If I have not already contacted you about putting your paintings into the exhibition, please get in touch-- via the telephone preferably.

There is no charge for putting the paintings in the exhibition and if you want to sell them you are free to do so--after all one of my students Catherine has sold 4 out of the 5 paintings that she has done in my classes--the last one for £180. She said she had priced it high because she didn't want to sell it!!
Its a good reflection on my teaching though and Im as pleased as punch for her!!

The way the year is going it will soon be here!!

Saturdays Class

I know----- I said I wouldnt be on here til next week!! well after todays brilliant class I couldnt resist it!

We were working in just black and white paint and the results were just astounding!

Shirley had the prize for the tidiest palette-the result can be seen here! This was her palette at the end of the class--amazing!

From left to right--Yvonne,Carole,Jan,Pete, Sharleen , and Shirley.

What great time we had today--Yvonne and Sharleen were both with me for the first time.

Yvonnes hubby Jack, had dropped her off at 10am and when he came to pick her up he asked how much had been sketched onto the canvas first-when I said nothing he was amazed!

They had quite a distance to come from Upton Upon Severn

He has booked for the next class along side his wife-the next class is now full.

Carole, ( and her daughter Hayley)

Jan has put the most touching message in my guest book,on my website http://www.paintingmyway.co.uk/ It makes my day when I get feedback like this.It has to be one of the most satisfying jobs in the world.!

I forgot to take a photo of Jans painting that she did last week.She bought it back this week for Bill to varnish and frame.

The difference it made was astounding. It is to be a present for her daughter birthday, she will be pleasently gobsmacked when she receives it!

You can see it in the background of the photo of Shirley signing her painting.

Carole who is very talented in other ways than painting presented me with another of her beautiful dried flower arrangements, done this time to match my kitchen, after she found out I have a silver theme going on there, I was so touched with this thoughtful gift.

Bill had traveled to Leominster this morning to fetch Carole, because her daughter Hayley was going to a wedding, Carole had said she would come on the bus, but we wouldnt hear of it-Bill set up the easels in the room and while I prepared the canvas and put out the paint, went off to fetch her from Leominster--its all part of the service!! as was varnishing last weeks canvas and framing them.

Bargains At Onslow Park!

I was really chuffed when a fellow stall holder came by and said she had a little artist Teddy just like Tom the artist teddy that was sitting on my stall, I just had to have him, so Tom has been joined by Tony the artist teddy!

I went for a quick browse on Monday morning before the marqee opened to the public and found this beautiful handmade earrings in the form of little palettes complete with little brushes.

Nice To Be Appreciated

I have hd some lovely surprises over the past few days-on Saturday Carol presented me with this beautiful arrangment that she had made as a thank you gift for me, its really beautiful and is sented with rose oil so my room is filled with the most beautiful scent all the time.

I had a letter from Jan (Mrs Subtle!!!) who attended the class at Hadnall a couple of weeks ago thanking me for a great time and booking herself and her daughter in law in for the Tropical summer day class on the 10th Nov.

This morning I had a lovely letter from Alice who I met on Saturday at Onslow Park. She was a very keen student and created a beautiful encaustic painting.Her dad came back first thing on Sunday morning to buy an encaustic set for her as she was so excited by the experience.

Unfortunatly I had sold out of everything except for my demonstration set and a pack of card, I managed to make up a box of waxes out of my own and we eventualy managed to make up a set for Alice to start creating at home. Its so nice when youngsters take the time to say thank you. I will be writing back to Alice and enclosing a few more encaustic cards for her to frame and hang on her wall!!

Orange

I was without any internet connection all day yesterday, until late last night--very annoying-my orange live box had gone wrong--will update when I get back on Monday night now--Bill left early to go and fetch my friend who is pet sitting-her hubby needs the car this weekend.

Paddy and Sparky will be spoiled rotten again this weekend!

Grouting!!!!!!!

Just to prove that I have done some of the work!!!

I spent most of yesterday grouting the tiles in the kitchen-we had the morning at the boot sale at Leominster, but got stuck in as soon as we got home. Sat down at 9pm last night, totaly knacked!!

It has been a long job, but so worth it. The kitchen is really looking good now--just couldnt resist calling at Morrisons and picking up a new chrome bread bin and some new trivets to match!

Who Wanted Mosaic Tiles!!

I didnt realise when I chose the tiles for the kitchen walls, just how much work was involved in grouting them! 2 days Ive been at it, but what a difference its made, the whole lot looks much lighter than before, I will take some more pics tomorrow so you can see the difference.

I decided to tile behind the dishwasher and the cooker, or rather I wanted Bill to tile behind the dishwasher and cooker, so this has made more work for him-hes very patient with me bless him!

Getting On!!

As you can see-the tiles are taking shape very quickly-Bill satrted them at 11am and has finished that wall already-there have been a few swear words uttered here and there, and he says he will be seeing squares in his sleep-but I just love it.

I will have the job of grouting them tomorrow I expect-there will propley be a few more choice words then!!!

Lucky Toads

These are my 2 lucky toads-they are very special 3 legged toads that are supposed to bring money luck! They sit on a pile of money and hold a lucky chinese coin in their mouth.

You keep them by your front door and give them a rub when you pass them by!

I keep my lottery tickets underneath them and so far it seems to be working a treat!

When you have some money luck you have to thank them--I bought one for my mum when we went on holiday last year and she laughed when I told her they were for-within a few days she had a big win at bingo! My sister in law also had a lottery win shortly after recieving one as a gift from me!

New Class 6th Oct

''Poppy Field''

This is the subject for the class on Saturday 6th Oct. We will be painting it on a different shaped canvas though to ease transport !

It is suitable for beginners and experienced artists alike.

Please contact me through the website to book.

http://www.paintingmyway.co.uk/

Tern Valley Show

We have just been informed that the 2 day event at Tern Valley has been cancelled due to the adverse weather conditions.
So we shall spend the weekend getting the house straight or then again, we might just clear off in the caravan for a few days!!!