work in progress

You can see the 3 basic stages that went into my latest work-yet to be named-any ideas for a name please email as usual! The flowers are irises.

It will not be dry in time to take to shobdon, we will be setting up there tomorrow, but it should be dry enough to take to the craft fairs next week!The forcast is not great but we will be in the dry in the marquee.There are lots of busloads of people booked to come to it the organisers have told us , so whatever the weather it should prove to be busy!

Little Cow

This is the little cow that Bill bought for me from the 3 Counties Show--isnt he beautiful-he has yet to be named.

The cat and the parrot are both scared of it at the moment but Im sure they will get used to it!

More Craft Markets During Festival

I have just booked an additional 3 craft fairs on Ludlow market.

Tues 26th June, Thurs 28th June and Tues 3rd July.

The famous Ludlow Festival starts this weekend.The play this year is ''The Comedy Of Errors''.

The opening night is on Saturday and it runs for 2 weeks.The town is heaving with people for the duration as there are loads of other things going on day and night.

This year the grand finale in the castle this year features Dodgie Williams and Kelly Monogue both tribute singers. As usual there will be a massive firework display at the end.

I expect we will do the usual--sit outside on the patio with a glass or 2 of wine listening to the music and watching the fireworks for free as we have a great vantage point from where we live!

for more info about the festival check out the website www.ludlowfestival.co.uk

Caravan Site

We stayed at a great site while doing the Three Counties Show.It was quiet and clean and the food served at the pub was fantastic.

The Marlbank Inn is highly reccommened by us--just £10 a night with electric hookup and awning- great locals and cosy too!

We met a great couple from Neath who were also on their 2nd outing with their caravan, Wayne and Diane were a great laugh on both nights we were there!

Friday at Malvern!

As you can see from the picture it rained very heavy on Friday-it came underneath the marquee like a river-thankfully there was plenty of straw to put down over it and it didnt deter the visitors to the show!

At Last --Back To Normal!!!

We are back to normal at last today! What a mad time we have had of it!

We dashed off to Cressage WI on Thursday night after spending the day sorting out everything for the 3 Counties show, loading up Bessie and the car.

We had a great night at Cressage, the ladies had a great time and want to do a class.

Jenny won the raffle and chose Summer Day as her prize.

We got back late and were up early to get to Malvern for 7am. It takes over 2 hours to set up our display-the bacon butties and cups of tea supplied by the WI ladies were great!

Because of all the rain the previous week the ground was a bit soggy to say the least but they had given us loads of room for us to display my pictures.There was a sprinkling of straw on the floor to soak up the rain water but as you can see it didnt detract from the final result!

Bill is relaxing with his book in this photo!!!

Only 4 places left!

I have had 2 bookings already for the childrens class. Jordan who is shown on the previous photo is coming along with his younger brother Kieran. Jordan has already done 2 paintings with me but this will be a first for his brother who is just 8years old.

Childrens Class Thursday July 26th

At last I have sorted out a class date for the children as promised.

Thursday 26th July at the Guy Thornycroft rooms in Ludlow.

I have chosen the Winter Wonderland painting as the subject for the class.

It is quite a simple painting to do and it gives a lot of scope to make the painting very individual to each child.

Children from the age of 6 years are welcome to join the class.

We will be working on the same size canvas as usual 16in x 20in.

These classes promise to be very exciting for the children--they take to the painting technique like ducks to water and accept that its normal to bash the canvas with a big brush and then tickle it afterwards!

As you can see from the above pic they produce some brilliant results in the classes.

Next Weekend--Three Counties Show

We are at the Three Counties Show next weekend--Fri 15th ---Sunday 17th June. We are really busy sorting out everything to take there.
Just read in the local paper that Prince Charles and Camilla will be attending the event and will be shown around by the president of the Three Counties Agricultural Show during its opening day.
There is so much to see here -its the 50th year for the 3 counties show and they are celebrating big time!
On Saturday night there will be the ''Legends'' concert which is a rock concert featuring top ''sound-a-like stars such as Elvis Presley,Freddie Mercury, and Tom Jones to name but a few--something we will be looking forward to very much-

Todays Class

This is the happy class of today! Pete, Hayley and Carole painted 'The Beach'

The paintings turned out great as you can see.They were all quite different to each other-Petes was quite subtle and subdued while Hayley had a much brighter sky-Caroles wave turned out to be the boldest of the three!

We spent a lot of time giggling with each other about various things throughout the whole class--everyone gets on so well together, it so easy on!

Carole and Hayley bought back their Summer Day paintings to be photographed again, after the photos didnt turn out good last week!

Next Class

This is the subject for this Saturdays class. Everyone has been before so it should be pretty straight forward.

I will make some small changes to this painting before Saturday,just to ring the changes!

Scenery

This is the scenery that we look out over every day.Its so beautiful and peaceful.
I dont think we realise how lucky we are sometimes-just to be able to sit out on the patio and relax with a bottle of wine and listen to the birds and take in this beautiful view!
Since the farmer cut the grass a couple of days ago we can see the rabbits and birds in the field much better--trouble is so can Sparky cat.

Paddy

Im not the only one in the house who likes Weight Watchers yogurt! Just look how he turns his head right round!He licks it out clean with his huge black tongue--I have tryed to get photo of his tongue but hes too quick!

Paddy

This is Paddy waiting for his shower--he only has to see the silver spray bottle come into view and he gets into position like this ready for his shower!
You can see all his beautiful wing feathers have grown back beautifuly--they were clipped off very badly when we bought him 2 years ago.It has taken 2 years for them to get back to normal-he is a little beauty-although he terrorises poor Sparky to death!

Rescued!

This little baby sparrow was bought in on Saturday night by Sparky Cat.We heard him coming across the roof mewing so we knew he had caught something! When told to 'DROP IT' he always does so and the sparrow was taken downstairs given a drink of water and put in a pryex bowl with some kitchen towel until morning.I took him outside and put him on top of the summer house roof and he flew off down the woods!

Birds

Bill spent an hour in the garden yesterday filling up the various bird feeders and tying some fat balls to the washing line.We were rewarded this morning by this woodpecker who loves the fat ball!

We alos have a family of bull finches who come down to feed at the one bird table-its beautiful to see the more unusual birds here.

I Wish I Was There

I have decided to call this painting"I wish I Was There" because so many people have said that when they have looked at this painting!
I painted it during the class yesterday and finished off some of the poppy detail later at home.

We have had a lovely relaxing day today-went to the boot sale at nearby Leominster and bought another 3 furbies-all in good condition! I paid just 20p for one of them-bargain!

Back home for a lovely lunch of ribeye steak with salad and jersey royals, and a glass or two of white wine!
We are both stuffed now, so am catching up with some updating websites and copyrighting the latest paintings.

Todays Class

Kevin is deciding how many more poppies to add to his painting!

Todays class went really well.

We did the revised version of Summer Day.Everyone settled down to painting without the usual nerves and very soon it was clear that they would all turn out a little dfferent from each other!

Hayleys sky started out looking quite bright as we used some pinky purple as well as the usual blue to do the sky.But as we tickled the canvas gently with a special tickling brush it soon started to fade down and become softer.She was amazed at the end result" I cant belive Ive really painted that" she remarked after she had finished.

Carole and Kevin were also very happy with their finished paintings. I will ask them to bring them with them to the next class so I can take a another photo of them all-the photos have turned out far too light!

Summer Day painting for Saturdays class

This is the new version of the Summer Day painting that I painted while on the craft fair yesterday.It is showing up a bit bright-it is much more subtle in real life!

As you can see we have some pinky purple clouds in the sky and a different beach with rocks on instead of the usual folliage.

I am sure we will have some fun in the class tomorrow painting it!

Craft Fair

Today, although the weather was a bit iffy to say the least,was busy.As you can see we had plenty of warning of the showers that came along and had chance to cover things up!

I managed to paint the alterative "Summer Day " painting for Saturdays class and it recived a seal of approval from onlookers!.

Childrens Classes

I will be running a couple of childrens classes during the summer holidays due to demand!
As you can see---children produce beautiful works of art in my classes, they take to it like ducks to water.
They dont seem to have the fear of the canvas that some adults have.
They accept what I tell them without question--if I say'' bash the canvas with the brush'' they will do so, while the the adults look as if to say you are not supposed to bash the canvas!
If I say tickle the canvas the kids tickle without question!
I know its not the normal way to paint but thats why its called''Painting My Way''.
Anyway the class dates are to be sorted out shortly and will be posted both on here and my web site.

Mixed Bunch

We have a mixed bunch of people who come to the classes-ranging from small children to adults as old as 90 have been.

This Saturday Kevin is coming back for the 2 nd time and he is a Methodist Minister-although he was quick to point out in the last class ''dont hold it against me I am human as well'' which had us all laughing and broke the ice!

The same week Pearl came for her one to one lesson that her daughter had bought her, after we were finished she mentioned that she was a Jehovah's Witness and she would be doing more paintings to give as presents for her 5 daughters!

Talk about a mixed bunch!

its Kevins wifes birthday on Saturday so the painting will be an ideal pressie for her-we are doing a version of Summer Day. There are going to be several changes to the original painting,something I will be working on when on the craft fair on Thursday.

Another busy week!

Well after the busy weekend- we were looking forward to a bit of a quiter week, unloaded all the paintings and lugged them up the stairs ready for the next big event when we will need them all-----then Bill checked and saw that we are on the local Ludlow craft market this thursday so they all have to come down again!
Thats the trouble when its so busy, its easy to forget-I had it in my head that the craft fair was next week!

Craft Fair

Well it was soooo busy today at the craft fair-its a good job Bill was there too! I was kept busy all day with teaching children how to do encaustic art and doing demonstrations of my 4 minute paintings for people!I have to post one wet painting off --when it dries.Funny how people always want the wet ones-it doesnt matter how many similar ones are dry and mounted in the rack-they always want the wet ones!

The weather stayed dry but cold which was great for the carnival and everything else that was going on in town.

I have 10 small wet paintings drying in the garage which will be mounted and for sale at the next event. I have to catch up with the small paintings-I have nearly sold out of stock and with there being over 130,000 people expected at the 3 counties show in a few weeks, I need to replenish my stock!

Starfish

This painting created using an electric iron and special beeswax caused quite a stir when I was creating it at the craft-fair today.
It measures 21cm x29cm and is created using just coloured beeswax and an electric iron.
This is the affordable way to buy this successful artists latest work.
The more you view this work, the more you will see, creatures from the deep or just weird things-you need to view this work live to see it at its best!
The price-un-mounted and un-framed is just £40 including P+P in UK.if you are outside UK please get in touch for details.

Star Gazing

This painting drew so many gasps from the crowd as I painted it -it was unreal!

I used my special tool instead of the useual iron to create the image that measures 21cm x29cm.

So much depth and so much to look at-this painting has everything if you are into abstract art!.

The colours are vivid and crisp but there is so much to look at, and the more you look the more you see!

This is the affordable way of collecting my work,which is getting more and more collectable ---un-mounted and un-framed.

This work is priced at just £40 and comes unframed and unmounted so you can choose how to display it.

Fantasia ll

This is one of the encaustic paintings I worked on today.The detail has to be seen to be belived.
It measures 21cm x 29cm and is available unmounted and unframed for just £40 including P+P to UK. Please get in touch for P+P outside UK
It would look great in a black mount and chunky frame but that is just personal preference!
It is called 'Fantasia ll 'and is very bright and vivid.
A great chance to buy art from this popular british artist ar affordable price's.

Brilliant Day

Despite the weather-which in a way worked to our advantage because people came in the craft fair out of the rain-we had a great day!

I sold loads of encaustic art-which people saw being produced as they stood watching, and some of the encaustic art materials I sell were going to be making their way to the USA and Canada!!!

Coventry Class

This happy group came all the way from Coventry to do the class today.Cheryl (2nd left )had booked it for Grant (on left) 40th birthday.

We had such a laugh- they were a great bunch and I think we will see them again!

As you can see the paintings turned out quite different to each other-some were quite bold with the colour wash and some more subtle!

Grant certainly had a birthday to remember after the class they were off to The Feathers for tea, then back to Coventry to go to the theatre-and Im told there are more suprises to come tomorrow--Grant should think his self lucky he has such great friends!!!

Talking of friends-a lady and her hubby came talking to us for quite a while after the class,then about an hour later she was back-they had lost their keys and were retracing their steps.We looked and couldnt find them anywhere, so phoned my son who is a mechanic to see if he could help-he was on his way to a rally so I phoned the owner of the garage where he worked and he said he would come and get it started for her.They had a dog with them and they were looking at either staying in B+B for 3 nights until Tues cos they thought the keys might have been left in post office or having the streering lock broken and fixed which would have been cheaper!

She kept saying how good we were helping her-we said no problem.She went to find hubby to say we could get the car going for her and came back to say hubby had found keys-she had a beautiful bunch of flowers for us for helping, a lovely gesture.

They say what goes around comes around and I am finding more and more that this is true-you get what you sow.

Travel Lodge

Great deals at the brand new Travel Lodge that has opened up a few hundred yards up the road from us.
If you book 21 days in advance over the internet you can book a room for just £15 a night, if you book 7 days in advance you can stay there for just £26.
Ideal if you want to take in the beautiful sights around Ludlow and the surrounding areas as well as painting classes.
Check out their website www.travelodge.co.uk
The Travel Lodge is situated just over the road from the new venue where we hold the classes so it ideal and very easy to find.

Ludlow

There is a lot going on in Ludlow this weekend-the annual green-festival is taking place just outside the venue where the craft fair is,on the market square. Check out www.greenfestival.co.uk
On Sunday the market will be full of plants and things for the garden at the green fair

Lots going on for all the family, demonstrations and lots to see and do.

Also going on in the same building as us will be a big book sale that always attracts lots of people.
It promises to be a very busy weekend even if the weather isnt great.
Its also the annual carnival with proccessions all through the town, so if you are in the area pop in a and say hello!

Bank Holiday Weekend

These paintings are all done the same way,The back ground is produced using a variety of different sized and textured natural sponges and black and white acrylic paint.

Then if you wish a oil wash is applyed, it takes just seconds to transform a monochrome painting to one with lots or little colour.

This is going to be the class subject this Saturday.

We have a busy weekend ahead- we are incorporating a class in the craft fair at Ludlow college this Saturday.The craft fair is in aid of the air ambulance which is a very worthy cause.

I have a group coming from Coventry-long trip for them so it has taken the pressure off them a bit to get to the venue on time beacuse we will already be there!

We will be at the college the night before setting up to save time on Saturday morning, there is quite a lot extra to do with putting out easels and tables as well as putting up the display stands and hanging paintings!

The painting class is a birthday pressie from Cheryl to her friend,but they are bringing along 3 others to join them.It will be great for members of the public to see what exactly goes on in a class!

Pearl's Painting

I have had Pearl here today to paint a one 2 one. Her daugter bought it for her as a birthday present.

Pearl had been to my exhibtion in Leominster a couple of months ago and had told her daughter that she fancied having a go at painting, as her daughter dosent live localy she had to do some detective work to track me down!

In the end she just put my phone no in her mums card with a message saying to ring up for her birthday present--Pearl was over the moon with her gift, but because she runs a busy pub/hotel she couldnt come on a Saturday for a class so had to have a one 2 one.

She admitted to being very nervous when she arrived here this morning, but soon settled down and was amazed at the speed that she created the painting, we stopped for a couple of breaks but we were still done in around 2 hours.She handled the knife as if she had used one for years, and loved the effect it gave on her trees.She was chuffed to bits with the finished painting and wants to do some more.

It turns out that they have a great funtion room at the pub(The Black Horse) that we can use for classes.

As we have several students that come from Leominster it will be useful for holding classes there. Pearl has also gone away with some of my flyers and a big poster to put up in the pub.

I would imagine after her regulars see her painting I will be getting a phone call to book a class there!

Silvery Moon

This a triptch that I started some time ago and got put to one side!
I have had a finishing up day today when I went through all the stuff that I wasnt quite happy with.
I have done the sky again and added a moon, and also gone over the sea again.
I am very pleased with this painting now, the metallic paint really works well on water.
It measures 72 cm x30cm and it is £80 including P+P to Uk

Yachting

I have been trying out my new oval canvas today.They are a little different to the norm.
Staple free sides, they make a lovely addition to any room.
This painting 'Yachts' is painted in acrylic, using some metallic paint to add texture to the sea.
I am really please with the overall painting and it is for sale for £95 including P+P in Uk

Desire

As you can probly see, I have been tempted to have a play around with one of my recent works'Desire'
I was not completely happy with it, it just wasnt vibrant enough in some places.
I have reinforced the bits I wasnt quite happy with and also turned it round again, from vertical to horizontal.
I am much happier now.The strength of colour is much stronger in real life than on the screen.

You can see why so many people love my easel-when we do the craft fairs and demos we often catch people standing looking at it,it is a work of art in itself!!
This painting is 90cm x30cm and is for sale at £150 including P+P in UK

Reflections 3

You can see from the pictures here how I painted 'Reflections 3'

This one is painted on a much bigger canvas measuring 90 cm x30cm.

Again it is painted in acrylic, but built up in many thin layers--up to 10 different layers in places.

I love the vibrancy of the reds and yellows,it really glows.

It is for sale for £150 including P+P in UK.

I always use special delivery to send my work when it is sold. It is insured, trackable and is next day delivery -signed for.I have never had any trouble sending work this way.

Bill and Callum

Our grandson Callum was bought round to see Bill on his birthday yesterday-as you can see little Callum was engrossed in watching the tropical fish.
He is such a happy little baby and so knowing-he laughed his head off at Paddy the parrot-who didnt find it very funny being put back in his cage for safety's sake.
We cant take any chances with Paddy-he is so jealous of everything that comes here--he attacks poor Sparky on a regular basis, you would not belive how scared of cats he was when we bought him 2 years ago!

Rabbits

This is what Sparky bought back yesterday-poor little thing!

This was the 3 rd one that we found yesterday.

The other 2 he had killed and ate! He brings them in first for us to see-unfortunatly they were already dead.

This one was rescued and let go up the field.

Then when we got home tonight Sparky was loitering by the shoe rack in the hall and low and behold when Bill moved it there was another one, even smaller.

So another journey up the field for Bill to release it.

Latest Painting

This is my latest work. Bright, vibrant and bold, blues merge with reds and yellows to produce all sorts of beautiful colours inbetween, its hard to see where one colour starts and another one ends.
A great piece for the modern contemporary home.

Its painted on deep edge box canvas and is painted on all sides for easy hanging with no framing required.I created it using high quality acrylic paint.
It measures 30cm x 90cm so its quite a large piece.

It started off life as a horizontal painting but when I turned it on its side to paint the bottom-everyone prefered it this way!

At the end of the day its personal preference, the painting can be hung in 4 different ways-you can choose which way you like it!

The title is 'Desire' and it is for sale at £150 including P+P in UK.

If you are interested in buying it or commissioning one like it please get in touch, through either of my wesites
www.paintingmyway.co.uk
www.dianetheartist.com

Lovely Day

We are just home relaxing with a glass of rose wine after the most enjoyable day. We have been to Pershore to see fellow artist Rob Kirbyson's fantastic work in exhibition at No 8 in the high street. He's a fantastic artist working mainly in acrylic's. The exhibition is called 'Beyond The Concrete'
His new website is well worth taking a look at www.acrylicsandoils.com

After that we called round at the 3 counties show ground to suss it out before we attend for 3 days next month, then a quiet drive back to The Salway Arms near Ludlw for a beautiful steak as it was Bills birthday yesterday-great meal and very reasonable too! Can highly reccomend it!

WI demo at Bishops Castle

There was a lovely atmosphere at Bishops Castle WI last night, it was held in a lovely cosy room next to the local church.As you can see there was a lovely lot of goodies for after the talk!

The winner of the draw chose the waterfall painting and I left the Summer Day painting for them to use to raise funds for their chosen charity.

Bang goes the diet again! Put 1 lb on today when I went to weight watchers!

As its Bills 59th birthday on Friday I expect we will be going out for a meal so the diet will definitely out of the window this week!

Bishops Castle WI

We are going to do a demo at Bishops Castle tonight.Its not to far from home for a change!
Will post photos here later !