Sarah's Poppy Quartet

I had an email off Sarah who had commissioned Poppy Quartet. I had packed it all up and sent it special delivery on Monday and she recieved it early yesterday!
She said

" I absolutely love the painting,really chuffed with it! Thank you for taking so much trouble wrapping it, it was a real treat unwrapping it and piecing it together(its 4 canvas).
I am a very satisfied customer and I would recomend any one to have a commission. Work permitting we will be coming to your exhibition"

I emailed every stage of the painting to Sarah-from the 4 bare canvas through to the finished article. I explained that the painting was a slightly different colour to what it appears on the computer screen, so she knew everything that was going on.
As always seeing the work of art before your eyes to seeing it on the computer was two differnt things!The screen can only give you an idication of what is really there!

Getting Ready!

Well we havent had a minute spare lately-so much to get ready for the exhibition.

There are picures everywhere today drying after Bill had varnished them!
The house looks like a tip!
I have been busy on the computer making labels to hang on each of them with all the details,name, media and price.
Bill then cut all the strings the same length to fasten them onto the pictures with.
We were sorting and labeling and then bubble-wrap bagging all evening last night! Then today I sorted out which need varnish and Bill has done that for me.
When they have dryed enough they will be bagged up ready to go.
It will give me chance to have a spring clean while they are in the exhibition--the back bedroom where I store them is long over due.
I havent been able to get to all my art books for some time, and my friend Trine is coming over this year from Norway and I have told her I will sort her some out for when she stays with us!So I have got to do it!

Packing

I have had a busy morning packing up the latest commission ready to send by special delivery in the morning.
Its a big job!!
First I protect the surface of the painting with greaseproof paper, then it gets wrapped in several layers of bubble wrap, with extra around the corners, next it gets covered in brown paper, then finaly a box.
I recycle most of the packaging whenever possible, all the bubble wrap is re-used, the brown paper and boxes are what my painting supplies and canvas come in.

I have been told in the past its like a adults game of pass the parcel opening one of my paintings!!!

It will be an even bigger job on Tuesday when Sarah recives her work of art because it consists of 4 canvas's!, each one individualy wrapped up!
I always make a good job of the packing because to have them damaged in the post would be terrible.
I use special delivery because its trackable and insured and delivered the next day.
So far I have had no trouble when posting paintings.touch wood!!

Flowers

The most beautiful smell has been wafting aroung the house for over a week now,the flowers that Bill bought me for Valentines Day have lasted really well, in fact they look as good as the day I received them.
The lillies have opened up and the smell is georgeous,I just had to take these photos of them when I changed the water tonight.
The roses are really different, the inside of the petals are ruby red and the outside are the most beautiful cream colour, I have never seen such beautiful roses--and they smell to, which is unusual these days!
I shall dry the petals of the roses and make pot pouri from them so I have a reminder of a lovely Valentines Day!

Weight Watchers

Been so busy lately I havent updated you with the weight loss! Well I have now lost 14lb since starting the diet!!!!! I have lost 11lb with weight watchers and 3lb the week before I joined.
Lost 4 inches off my waist already.

The big slap up meal for Valentines Night didnt add any on- though Ive got an idea why!!!
My daughter Becki has also lost 14lb at weight watchers, so well done Becki!

It shows that you can still have some treats even when trying to lose weight as long as you are sensible about it and go back to eating sensibly the next day.

We even had a bottle of champers at the weekend( Bills Valentine pressie) and I still lost 2 1/2lb this week.

Nothing like fitting into something that didnt fit a few weeks ago to make you feel better!!!

Complements

I get so much satisfaction when I do a class and see people create a beautiful painting especialy when they thought they were not capable of it, as is the case much of the time! I thought I would share with you a few of the complements that I have recived from last weeks class.It makes my day to read such great things in my guest book on my website www.paintingmyway.co.uk,

"My son Jordan is 9 years old and attended one of Dianes classes.I was more than amazed at the picture he produced.
Diane has lots of patience and LOTS of talent. My son enjoyed every minute of his lesson and I will definatly be booking again in the near future for him and myself. Worth every penny.Thanks Diane .
Debbie.

Thanks for a great class.With your tutoring my finished painting was amazing.I have had some lovely complements. People dont belive I did it and I dont myself!
Susan

What a confidence booster Diane is. At St Audries Bay I achieved a new ability.
I now boast to my friends who visit by showing them the two masterpieces that I created.Yes they are good enough to hang on the wall--thanks Diane
Linda

I think everone who comes to one of my classes is suprised to see what can be achieved with just a few brushes and some oil paint.

I truly belive that you do not need to be talented in order to paint--painting is a skill and skills are learnt in much the same way as you learn to play the piano or learn to knit.
The hardest part of this job is convincing someone who has always yearned to paint but thought they wouldnt be able to, that they CAN paint if shown how to!!!
If I had a £ for every time I heard 'but I cant draw a stright line' and so on I would be rich!

Last Night's WI

We had a lovely time last night at Stottesdon and District WI.The usual venue couldnt be used due to the kitchens being done, so we had a bit of a wild goose chase around the country lanes to find the new venue!
We got there on time thanks to Bill making sure we were ready early and loading the car up-boy is he organised--thank goodness!!!
Any way we had a great night, a lot of laughs and a lot of ooooohhh's and aaaahhhh's as the paintings developed in front of their eyes!It always makes me smile the way people react to it! It gives me a great buzz every time I do it!
Several of them were interested in doing a class so I will look forward to hearing from them and meeting them again!

Another Booking!

I have had another booking for NEXT year! I have been highly recomended by all accounts and the lady was advised to book me early! So we are off to Marden WI 10th April 2008.So we have lots to look forward to next year as well as this!
The way the time is flying by it will soon be here!

Off To Ireland!

Had a suprise phone call last night from a lady came came and had an oil painting class and also an encaustic class.
Monica came all the way from Ireland nearly 2 years ago but we lost touch shortly after when she moved house and lost my details.
Well she has tracked us down and invited us over to Ireland to stay with her and do a class or 2!

We are going to have another chat later today and sort out some dates, she lives near Dublin so we will be in that area some time later this year!

I have never been to Ireland but Bill has and he loves it there,so I cant wait to make arrangements and meet Monica again!

Great Fun!!!!

Well we had a great time today in the class. I had 2 children in the class Amy who has been once before last year and painted Winter Wonderland and Jordan who we met in Telford last week.
Amy is 11 and Jordan is only 9 years old! We also had Pat and Sue with us.
The time flew by and everyone produced beautiful paintings.
Jordan was a keen as mustard and told us that he wants to be an artist when he grows up. He loved the class and will be coming back again by the sound of it.

Sue was back for her 3rd time,hers son had begged her last 2 paintings off her for his flat, so she wants to paint them again!
And Pat who had tryed watercolour classes and ended up screwing up what she had done there in to a ball and throwing it away was chuffed to bits with her painting.

When we have our first break its not to hard to get people away from their paintings,but by the time BIll puts the kettle on the 2nd time its VERY difficult to get them away.I like to get everyone away so they cannot see what they have done so far, then when they return to it-the looks on their faces is great-they see it through fresh eyes--I cant belive Ive painted that said a happy Pat! Its amazing said Sue!

Getting Ready!

Well a busy day today getting everything ready for tomorrows class.Bill is better at it than me, he is very organised!!
He has got all the sets of brushes sorted in to their boxes ready.

I have found some great brushes that suit this style of painting brilliantly and for a fantastic price-- They are from The Works and cost just £1.00 each. They do a 1 1/2in flat brush and an oval brush same size for just £1:00 I have been using them for the past 6 months for both oil and acrylic paints,and have found them just brilliant.
I supply them at that price in my classes for anyone who wants to carry on at home with the method.
I will also be selling some information sheets for a nominal price-just to cover costs --that I have prepared with all the information needed for people to carry on at home.
I have found that people come with note pad and paper to make notes but get so engrossed in the painting that they forget to make the notes!!.
The sheets cover everything from preparing the canvas to making clouds and trees through to cleaning brushes.They are laminated so will be wipe clean for when you are painting!

We are having a treat in the breaks in class tomorrow, I have found a box of cadbury's chocolate bicsuits left over from Christmas that will be finding their way to the class, and also when shopping tonight I picked up some organic,free range chicken drumsticks and thighs which I have cooked, and will be scrummy to nibble at tomorrow!

Class on Saturday

I have 2 places left for the next class on Saturday. It is a change to the one on my website, we will be painting 'The Waterfall' instead of 'Summer Day'.
I have 2 children in the class as this is an easy subject to do.
So if you fancy a go please get in touch

Cat Out Of The Tree!!!!

Well thanks to the lady whose tree Lila was stuck up and her very brave friend- Lila is now back on firm ground!
He climbed right up the tree and managed to carry her half way down before she struggled too much and he had to throw her down the Sandra who caught her!!!!
A great big thank you to them both!

Cat still up tree!

The little cat is still up the tree, both the RSPCA and fire service have refused to come out until tomorrow. Will let you know what happens later.

Cat Up A Tree!!!!!!

We recieved a call from a very upset daughter this morning, her cat Lila went up to top of 50ft fir tree yesterday and is stuck up there!
RSPCA came,called out fire sevice who came and said we can put up ladders but we are not allowed to climb up and rescue cat because of health and safety regs!
They told RSPCA girl to go up, she couldnt go cos she isnt trained in ladder work, so the ladders were put up and left for 1 hour in the hope that the cat would climb down herself!
Poor Lila is still up there, and the fire service have offered to come back and hose her out of the tree tomorrow!!!!!!
Seems a bit over the top to me, but dont know what else to do. We have left a bowl of tuna at bottom in the hope she will smell it and come down herself!
I will fill you all in tomorrow with what happens!

As Promised

Here are 4 of the paintings that I painted while in Telford yesterday.I like doing the waterfall painting because it uses some different brushes and different techniques so people get to see the sort of thing we will do in the class!
I must have painted 100's of the waterfall painting but each one turns out different!
We are painting the waterfall painting next weekend in the class, I have 2 children in the class next week and it is a nice easy painting for them to do.

Telford

Here are some of the paintings that I had on display yesterday. The waterfall painting is an example of the sort of thing I do in 4 minutes.
I will take some pics of the 4 wet ones that I bought home and post them on here later. I have to post them off in a weeks time when they are dry enough.
One brave man took his painting away while it was wet yesterday-hope he didnt smudge it!

FANTASTIC DAY!!!!!!

Well I am so glad we braved the snow yesterday, we had a fantstic day.
I sold my Poppy Quartet painting and have been commissioned to paint it again for someone else!

I always demonstrate when I am doing shows, and my party trick is to paint a landscape from start to finish in just 4 minutes, there are gasps from people watching as the picture forms before their eyes ! I love to show people just how easy oil painting can be, and it pays dividends reallly because they book up to come to my classes after. It sounds as if I will have some demonstrations to do for an art club and another ladies group too, so all in all a great day, and a nice cheque for the Heart Foundation!

We are going to Telford!!!!!

The snow started to turn to rain slightly tonight so we decided we were going to go to Telford whatever!!!!!!
The picture above shows what Bill had been doing this evening as well as organising me and all my stuff to go to Telford!
Bill has been painting black acrylic paint on to my canvas paper ready for me to use when I demonstrate my 4 minute oil paintings. They are hanging up to dry in the garage in the photo!It has been a mad rush as usual to get everything sorted, but we are up at 6am to get packing, I am really looking forward to it, just know it will be a good day!

Snow

Well it is snowing heavens hard here. as you can see from the pictures taken earlier on today,very pretty but not good when you live in a dip like we do! I have spoken to Colin from the Heart Foundation and it looks as if we might not be doing the Valentines appeal in Telford town centre tomorrow.The roads are awlful and there wont be many people around the shops!
We have had a at least 8 ins of snow today and it does not look like it is letting up.We will have to wait and see if it turns to rain, if it does we will be there,so fingers crossed!

Busy Time

I have got so much to do at the moment its unreal!!
Have to get labels done for 100+ paintings for exhibition next month, got everything to sort out for charity event in Telford at the weekend and of course new little grandson to go and cuddle!

Im also on another new website and I have loads of paintings to load onto there too!

So I am not going to have much time here on my blog for a few days, so to all my regular readers -please except my appologies for my absence for the next couple of days!
The painting I have put on this post is called ' The light at the End of the Tunnel' very apt I thought!!!!

ITS A BOY!!!!!!

Born at 6am this morning weighing 7lb10oz a little baby boy called Callum, both mum and baby are doing well.Here is the proud Grandad with his first grandchild!
Isnt Callum beautiful!!!

Nanny!!!!!!!!

Well things have been hectic the past couple of days--I have had to cancel the class that was due to take place due to cicumstances beyond my control.

My husbands Bill's youngest son's wife has been in labour with the first grandchild for the past 2 days, poor girl has been to maternity hospital 30 miles away 3 times since thursday and they kept sending her home saying she wasnt ready to give birth.

However her waters have now broken and she should have her baby tonight, cant wait, we have had a little bet on it--I say shes having a girl and Bill says it wil be a boy!!
Poor things wil be shattered, no sleep since wednesday night
As long as everthings ok it does not matter, I will post the end result tomorow!!!!!!!

Lost another lb

We had our weigh in yesterday at weight watchers and I have lost another lb.
I am pleased with that, we have been eating very well,we are never hungry in fact some days we are struggling to eat all our points!

Beautiful Paintings!!!

I have just heard from from my friend Desmond Gan who I met via my website. He is a GP who lives in Malasia.We have been talking via email for some time. I gave him advise about painting and materials some time ago. He has his own blog and I had a very pleasant surprise when I had a look at some of his work. He has come on in leaps and bounds from when I first knew him--his mountains have to be seen to be belived, he has worked hard and is now going to be selling some in a gallery.
Take a look at his blog http://www.hiddenstream.blogspot.com
Well Done Desmond!!!

Furbies

I have another passion apart from Painting-- a little strange some people might think-- but unless you have made friends with a furby you wont know what you are missing!!!
I have over 100 of the little creatures, and no 2 are exactly the same.
They all have their own personalities, I have happy ones,sad ones, ones that tell jokes even one that is very depressed. I even have one that swears and he has taught some of the baby ones to swear too.
I just love them--I have bought them from boot sales,EBay and all sorts of places.
They are fascinating when they talk to each other, they have proper conversations and sing-songs, tell each other jokes and also talk to shelbies but thats another story!!! Here are some of my little friends!

Cherry Blossom

This is one of my latest paintings, its called Cherry Blossom for obvious reasons, and it actualy looks 3D. People always have to touch it, and they are suprised to find it is flat, from a distance it really stands out.

I painted the first version of it at a craft fair last Sept, one of the stall holders came over and said "I'm so glad you are here,its my sons birthday today and he loves chinese/japanese things, can you paint him a painting today while you are here?"
I had never attempted anything chinese before and had no refrences there, but came up with one like 'cherry blossom' but I put some faraway mountains and little chinese houses too. She was thrilled to bits with it.

Weight watchers

Well I lost another 1LB this week, not as much as I would have liked and not sure why I didnt lose more, but thinking about it I havent eaten as much as I did last week. With the diet I am following you need to eat LOTS to keep your body burning off the calories and this week I havent had so much fruit or crispbreads as last week.
Also we havent had so much exercise because I seem to have spent most days on the computer!!!
Still off the wine which is good, but will up my intake of fruit again this week and see how it goes-- mind you even losing just 1lb a week adds up to 52lbs a year which is a hugh amount!
So Im off to make a nice big fruit salad soon which we can have as much as of as we like!!!!

Dog Sitting!

We have been dog sitting today for my sons 2 border collies Max and Sara.
My son is rallying in the local woods so we took the dogs out for a nice long walk,it was a lovely morning and we walked for miles, I managed to get some nice photos to work from when I start painting this week.

4 Years Today!!!

Well I cant belive its 4 years today since me and Bill packed up smoking!! It just dosent seem possible--the time has gone by so fast!
Of course that means that is nearly 4 years since Bill had his heart attack too--6 weeks after packing up smoking and 1 week after our 2nd wedding anniversary.Not very good timing was it!!!
I knew when I managed not to smoke for the 3 weeks that Bill was in hospital that I had cracked it and wouldnt have another cig, I kept telling myself that even if I did have a cig, it wouldnt change anything and he would still be ill in hospital, besides it was costing me the same in petrol to go and visit him every day as I would have spent on cigs, so couldnt afford to start again!!
I must admit the thought of packing up was much worse than actualy doing it!

Website updated

My website www.paintingmyway.co.uk has now been updated with the next lot of classes and craft fairs and details of the holiday etc.So if you already havent been and had a look, check it all out and see which painting YOU would like to do!!!!

Weigh In

Well as I thought -I had lost 5lbs when I went to weightwatchers today--chuffed to bits with that, of course the weight loss will start to slow up as time goes on -but a great start all the same!!!
I have had some chicken soup cooking in the slow cooker all day, Bill prepared all the ingredients while I was at weight watchers ,so the delicious smell is wafting all through the house at the moment,cant wait for tea time.
The best of it is we can eat as much of it as we like, and even have a chocolate mousse for pud! Yummmm

Diet!

Well the diet is going very well at the moment,Me and Bill have never eaten so much food as we are at the moment!!
It is very hard for me to make sure I eat 3 times a day because I normaly just eat dinner in the evening, so I am having to be very disiplined on that score!!
Bill is diabetic so he has always eaten fairy regularly so it hasnt been so hard for him, its just a matter of knowing HOW MUCH to eat.
We have learned to listen to our bodies and stop when we are full--not stuffed full, and it seems to be working, so far I have lost 5lb since last Wednesday and Bill has lost 3lb.
There are no banned foods and you can still have an achololic drink if you want, you just have to count the points, everything you eat and drink on this diet has been converted in to points and you are allowed so much free food and so many points per week.
At the weekend we did something we have never done before-- we opened a bottle of red wine to have with our steak, salad,and baked potato and we just had 1 glass each and re corked it to have with our sunday lunch, normaly we would have polished it off and maybe opened another one too!!! So we are being good!!!
We are looking forward to being in better shape for the summer and feeling fitter than we have for a long time!

Fun In the Garage!!!

Well I couldnt resist any longer--those round canvas were just calling out to be painted,So Ive been out in the garage painting today while Bill is getting the dinner done!
Ive had great fun,not just with the acrylic paint but with some chemicals too--hence why I was doing it in the garage!!!.
I'm really pleased with the results, its difficult to photograph them while they are wet but in real life they are quite amazing to look at,there are several layers of different colours of metallic paint.
The poppy one is just acrylic paint but the shape of the canvas lends itself beautifuly to the subject matter!!

Raising Money for Charity

I am busy getting organised for my next money raising charity event.
The paintings above are some examples of what will be painted by members of the public on the day. As you can see they are quite simple and almost folk arty.The flowers are each made up of hearts.
They are called Love Hearts, Lovers Meadow and Heart Of Gold

I have just had the publicity info to ok for all the local papers from the British Heart Foundation, they have given me a brilliant write up so I have sent it back ready for publishing!

On the 10th of February we will be in Telford town centre where we will be showing people how to paint their own heart themed painting for valentines Day. We are calling it Art From The Heart.
It will be an amazing Valentines present for the loved ones who receive it!

I will also have an exhibition of my work on sale there with 10% of sales going to BHF

The paintings will be done on 8in x8in box canvas and will be painted in acrylic paint so they will dry for people to take home with them! The charge will be just £12 per painting.

I support The British Heart Foundation because as you all probly know by now, I lost my dear dad in 2005 and my husband Bill had a heart attack in 2003 and lost his HGV licence and with it his job, so it is a charity very close to my heart.
I'm sure we will raise lots of money on the day !

A New Start!

Well I joined weight watchers this week, made up my mind to get slimmer for the new year! Great diet plan and easy to follow and loads to eat, far more than I usualy eat, will keep posted how much I lose!!

A Great Day!!

The paintings shown are what I painted whilst I was doing my demo here, the winner of the draw chose the waterfall painting as her prize, so I have donated'Summer Day'to the WI to use to raise money for their chosen charity.

Yesterday we went to ledbury to do the first of the WI talks of this year. The group was the Parkway WI.
We had a lovely time, and they were fascinated to see the 2 paintings appear before their eyes so quickly.
We will be going back there later this year to do a class!

Great News!!!!!!

I had a phone call this morning with a great offer!!! It was from the chairwoman of all the Herefordshire WI's.
Apparently she has had so many glowing reports about my WI talks from all the groups I have been to that they want me to be with them in the WI marquee at THE 3 COUNTIES SHOW!!!! Its one of the biggest shows in the country and gets aprox 100,000 visitors over the 3 days!!! I feel very honoured to be asked and its a lovely feeling to know that everyone has enjoyed themselves so much at my talks and demos. Its worth all the hard work involved when I get feed back like that-- Thank you ladies!

We can have as much room as we need -which is quite a bit when we take our full show stands--12 feet along both walls when we are in our usual favorite place in a corner,which is no problem from the sounds of it. And Best of all its FREE!!
The picture is of my Bill at the last shobdon show.
I will able to paint all day if I want for the 3 days while we are there and maybe do some workshops there too, maybe do some childrens workshops to keep the kids out of parents hair so they can look around the show!
So it sounds like June is going to be a busy month cos the 3 Counties is on for 3 days and the week after we are at Shobdon flower/food and drink festival for 3 days too!!! Plus Ive got craft fairs in between too-- a busy year ahead for us by the look of things!

New Canvas

Well we went shopping today and I found some lovely canvas with a difference--they are round and staple free on the edges, I have seen them before but they have always had the staples on the edges so I didnt like them.
I have some great ideas for these canvas---watch this space!!!
I also found another great idea--disposable paper palettes, they come in a book of 36, just the thing to save Bill some time, he usualy covers the perspex palettes with greaseproof paper, but it is a time consuming job, so this will please him no end!!!!

New Paintings For Classes

I have decided to use two acrylic paintings as subjects for some classes this year. The first is in vibrant oranges, reds and yellows, with a touch of black and white.

I think it is suitable for todays modern room.
The colours will look great against any colour wall.

The beauty of using acrylics is that they will be dry enough for people to take home without worrying about getting wet paint everywhere!!!

The other painting I will be teaching in classes will be a monochrome painting called "The Dragonfly Falls"
Again it is painted in acrylic paint but this time we will be incorporating encaustic wax in there as well as paint , in the form of the foxgloves/bluebells and dragonflies.
This is an interesting painting to do, and again the colours look good against any colour wall.

Getting back to Normal

Well I have spent the day sorting out paperwork for the coming year, all the WI's, craft fairs, and exhibitions have all had to be sent to my web master for updating.

No mean task!!!

I have also been trying to decide which paintings I will be adding to the ones that I teach already in classes. The subjects need to easy enough for the first timers to be able to achieve, and challenging enough for people who have painted before.

I think "A Walk in the Snow" will be one of the subjects , it is quite a simple one to do yet looks very effective when completed.
I think I will also be trying out an acrylic painting too for a change from oils. I am still deciding which one that will be at the moment,.

Apart from that I have to decide which paintings are being entered into 3 competitions that are taking place in March, difficult to decide really, will have to sleep on that one I think!!!

Blonde again!!!!!!

After waiting for weeks, cos when shes free, Im not and vice versa, my sister has managed to find time to come and highlight my hair, so now Im blonde again!!!!!!!
But never again am I having it pulled through the highlighting cap it was agony!!!
Will have to treat myself to the hairdressers to have it done in foils next time!!

But to be honest it feels great to be blonde again--they say they have more fun and I have always found that its true!!!