Kierons Painting

This is 7 year old Kieron, he has made a smashing job of his very first oil painting, some very dramatic trees and a lovely sky! He decided he wanted an owl his paintng, and the result was great-a cartoon owl, he was really chuffed with the result!

He couldnt get comfortable to sign his painting and had us all in stitches as he kept changing position!

Childrens Class

Here is Paige creating her own masterpiece, she is looking very serious signing her name at the end!

Everyone seems to find that the hardest part of the whole thing-as you will see when I put on Kierons pictures !

More Pics From The Childrens Class

Here is Svanah who painted a great picture in todays class, some really spooky trees, and she tryed really hard to get her reflections right in the pond too!!! She did really well, and listened to what I told the class very carefully!

Some More Pictures from Childrens Class

This little star got more paint on herself than on the canvas-but she is only just 5 years old and Rivkah produced the most beautiful painting! David is putting the finishing touches to his painting by putting a moon in, he is only 7 years old and is Rivkahs big brother.

I have just had an email from Sarah, the childrens mum saying how much the children enjoyed their day painting with me-well all I can say to they is that they were a joy to teach and I look forward to seeing them again when they come next time with all the family!

The Childrens Class

As you can see from the photo we had some brilliant little artists in todays class!!! Jordan on the left has been to me twice before-all the others were new to it! Will post more later!!

Sparky

Been to the vets again this morning with Sparky for another long acting antibiotic and more painkillers.

He has been fighting with another cat and managed to get bitten on the other side of his rear end to last time-so he has had a matching pair of scars now!

He has been shaved off and you can see the teethmarks very clearly.

You would think he would have learnt by now.

He isnt too happy about being kept in the house, have got him another Felaway plug in to help him feel better-they are expensive but worth every penny!

Childrens Class Full

The childrens class this thursday 26th July is full--I have children coming from Litchfield, Telford and Ludlow--weather/flooding permitting!!!

We will be painting a version of ''Winter Wonderland''

The ages range from just 5 years old to 10 years this thursday-3 girls and 3 boys so a nice balanced class!!

New Painting

In between everything today, I have been doing a little more to what was a practise run for a commission I did before Christmas last year.

I still have to paint the top and bottom of the canvas but overall I am quite pleased with the result.

Its called ''night fishing'' and the little silhouette of the father and son fishing at the end of the jetty is a scene that we have seen many times when on holiday!

The picture measures 36in x6in and will be ready to post in around 3 weeks, when it is dry, top and bottom. The cost of the painting is £230 including P+P in UK. If you are outside Uk please get in touch.

Flooding

These are a few of the photos we took when in town yesterday.They are all of the area around the famous Ludford Bridge. They have been testing the bridge today to see if it is still sound after the freak weather we have had. In the first picture you can see how the water was banking up before it came under the bridge---you wouldnt belive the smell and the noise that was coming from the water.

Our hearts go out to all those affected by the terrible floods of the past few days.

Sparkys done it again!

I swear the cat knows when we have a little extra money--without fail he gets into a scrape and needs the vet!

Today we got back to find him very sore on the back end and blood all over the spare bed.

He has been fighting again with something.

He will have to go to the vets again tomorrow for anti-biotics and pain-killers.

He is feeling very sorry for his self at the moment!

Amazing!!!

This is a an amazing story--3 weeks ago Bill cleaned out our 4 ft tropical fish tank using the syphon as usual to clean all the muck from around the gravel and plants.It is pumped into a plastic dustbin and we slide it across the room and out of the patio doors on a plastic bag.Then it stays on the patio and Bill uses it to water the patio tubs.

Because the weather has been so bad of late, it has just stood there-- when Bill looked at throwing it away on Friday, he saw a movement in the water, and realised that there were 4 baby fish in there.He caught them and they lived in a coffee jar until he bought a special net so they could be returned to the tropical fish tank without being eaten by the big fish!

They are baby sword tails and they should need warmish water to survive! To think they have been out there in the rain etc for 3 weeks and survived is amazing!

They must have been hiding in the plants and been sucked up when he cleaned the tank!

Moving!!!

we have spent the afternoon helping my daughter Becki and Wayne her partner to move house.Luckily the new house is about a quarter of a mile away from the old one, so not far to lug the stuff!

We had shifted most of the stuff yesterday, but its surprising how much more there was to get today!

The picture is of their cat Lila who is trying to get to know the goldfish Magnet and Steele a little better!!!

She couldnt get near them before-looks like they have to find another place for the tank!

I decided not to do the craft fair today, my back was a bit iffy after yesterday, but I will be there next week--weather forcast permitting!!

Paintings

After finding myself with a free morning after all the floods, I decided to do some tweaking of some of my previous paintings.

There was just a few bits annoying me in each of these Winter Walk paintings!

I just altered the paths a little bit and added a bit more snowy foliage and Im very please with them now!

To Cheer You Up!!!

My sister has sent this link--it will cheer up the most miserable day!!!
Watch it with the sound turned up! http://joe-ks.com/archives_may2005/Elastic_Baby.htm

CANCELLED

Due to Ludlow being cut off from the outside world with floods, I have had to take the decision to cancel the class.
I had people coming from Dudley, Shobdon,Leominster, Hereford and Telford. Luckily I caught Brian from Dudley as he was leaving. He must be keen, he was quite prepared to take a chance on the roads being passable.
The class has now been arranged for Saturday 4th August.

What A Day!!!!!

I have spent most of the day on the computer sorting out all my sales off ebay. I decided to sort out my clothes that have become too big since I lost weight, and sell them on ebay--they all finished last night and today--amazing what they have fetched!!!!!!
Trouble is Im a bit rusty when it comes to ebay so my dear sis has had to come round tonight to sort out a couple of things,now we have got paypal sorted things will be a bit quicker next time!
I have loads more stuff to go on there--trouble is I havent much time to do it all-my Beckie is moving house tomorrow-we have class -all being well and Im on the craft market on Sunday, so will have a busy time next week doing it all!

We have had torrentual rain here all day again, everywhere is flooded and I have had a couple of tomorrows students ring up worried they wont make it because of the flooding.We will have to wait and see--several of them have quite a distance to drive and at the moment Ludlow is more or less cut off from the outside world!

Busy Weekend Again!"

This is the subject of this Saturdays Class. I have 5 people coming to it so far.

Its one of the most popular painting classes that I do

It is a busy weekend--my daughter is moving home on Saturday--we wont be much use to her cos I wont be free until 3ish but my son Jim will be on hand with a big van to help her move the big stuff.
Then we are going out in the evening to wet the babies head-Lyndsey and Darren and little Holly are coming all the way down from Sunderland on Saturday.
Cant have too much to drink cos we are on the craft market on Sunday!!!!!!!


The childrens class is almost fully booked, just 2 places left--the local paper is coming to take some more pics at the class on Saturday--after we came back on Wednesday night and found that the local paper had dug up an ancient pic of me with short hair(YUK) and 2 stone heavier for a otherwise brilliant review of me and my demos at the WI's in Mondays paper.

I am working on some other ideas at the moment-re the kids classes-I have a lot of enquires about other dates for the classes-will keep you posted via email for those interested.

Spoiling The Little One!

I went shopping this morning and couldnt resist this beautiful little dress-its soooo pretty- it cost more than I would usualy spend on something that will only fit her for a few weeks, but hey if you cant spoil them when they are little when can you?

Todays Class

Here is todays student Penny.What a great painting Penny!!!

This is her third visit to me and we have become firm friends!

She bought me a beautiful gift of some silver earrings--she knows exactly my taste-they are what I would have chosen for myself!

She runs a lovely jewellery shop in the grounds of Ludlow Castle, called Astra Gems.

She sells the most beautiful things there, and always stops by for a chat when we are on the market, as its on her way to her shop.

We have a lot in common and are so on the same wave-length its unreal! We are going to have a girlie painting night at her place with some more friends some time in the future, I cant wait!!!

Her hubby is very much like my Bill--kind, caring and very helpful-as well, they will get on as well as me and Penny do!

Meet Holly

Meet Holly,our 1st grandaughter born on Monday 16th July at 10:10pm in Sunderland.She is the daughter of Bills middle son Darren and his partner Lyndsey.

She weighed 7 lb 1 oz and she is absolutely beautiful.

We left the caravan at home on Monday and went up there when we heard she was in labour.They have moved into a new big house so we stayed with them.We will have to try and get away again soon in the van!

House Sitter

My friend is coming to look after the pets this morning--lucky she has a easy going hubby who dosent mind her coming for a few days at short notice!
The animals are in for an unexpected treat--they get spoiled rotten when she comes to stay!
She will also be checking my emails for me and letting me know if there is anything that cant wait til we get back.
What did we do before mobiles?

Irish Lottery

Just checked irish lottery and found I have all 4 numbers!!!!!!!
Got to get my friend in to parrot and cat sit and then we will be away!!!!!!!!!!
YIPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEE

Still at it!

I am having a well deserved break for 5 mins after even more clothes sorting!
I have sent 3 black bags full of clothes down with Bill to the local cancer shop, and it looks like there might still be more.
I didnt even stop to cook dinner last night-instead we had a chinese take away and forgot the diet for once! Ive just finished off the spare ribs that were left over for my lunch!
Its one of those jobs that you wish you never started-the place looks like a bombs hit it-but it is nice to have some room in the wardrobes!

I will be at it all day I expect--I want to get finished so we can go off to Sunderland when our 2 nd grandchild is born-its due today.
Dont want to come back to an untidy house and Ive got a full class tomorrow so must stick at it--mind you it must count as exercise, so I may work some of the takeaway off!!!

Sorting out

I have spent the day sorting out my clothes, jewellery and bedroom.
After losing weight I have loads of stuff that is too big for me, so decided to get rid of it. The local charity shops are going to be very happy!
I have so many necklaces and earrings I could start a shop, so a thining out session there too!

Clifford WI

We went to Clifford WI last night to do a talk/demo.

The evening was great-a lovely bunch of ladies they were! We had hoots of laughter all night as I told them all about my life as an artist!
Some of the ladies are going to do a class later in the year,end of September/early Oct time-its pretty manic til then for me.

Silvia won the raffle and chose Summer Day as her prize. The other painting shown ''The Waterfall'' was donated to the WI to use for fundraising.

For Sale (sadly)

This is Bessie the caravan.

She is for sale due to us buying another caravan.

She is 17ft 6in long including towing hitch.She is in very good condition for her age.

Bill has done a few jobs on her that needed doing and she is a lovely little van.

The upholstery is beige draylon and is in excellent condition. It is a 2 berth which can be as 2 single beds or one very large very comfortable,double bed.

The curtains are cream and there are brand new net curtains, less than 3 weeks old.

Loads of storage space in cuboards all around the van.

The fridge is a 3 way one and even has an essentual freezer compartment for the ice cubes!.

It also has a 2 burner hob, a grill and oven.There are 5 electric sockets in place-more than enough.I have included the water containers and waste water container.In the shower room there is a fold down basin and a brand new porta potti, still in its box.There is also a shower, but the shower tray has a crack in it so it cant be used at the moment.There is some evidence of previous damp in the van(in the wardrobe) which can be traced back to this leak in the shower.We have seen no evidence of damp at all elsewhere in her now, even with all the wet weather we have had lately, so think its ok as long as you dont use the shower.Most sites have great showers anyway.

It comes with a PDQ awning, and a inner tent, a toilet tent which we were told was only used to hang their coats up in.A very long electric hook up cable, gas bottle, also a little 2 man tent.

She tows very well, and is an ideal 1st caravan. I am only asking £550 ono with everything.

We have had a lot of fun in her and will be sorry to see her go!

Meet Gertie!

This is our latest caravan Gertie. She is a little younger than Bessie, and came with a much bigger awning, thus giving us more storage space-essentual when we go off for the 2 and 3 day craft fairs.She has the all important wine glass cabinet with stained glass doors and is really immaculate inside and out.I just know that me and Bill will have a lot of fun in her!

Clifford WI

Here are the ladies of Clifford Wi getting ready for the demo , last night.Also pictured is the lucky winner of the raffle with her waterfall painting.

We had a lovely night and we managed to get home fairly early because the ladies allowed me to go first before they had their usual minutes etc!

Tom

Today is the anniversary of my dear dads (Tom) death, just got in from taking him some flowers at the cemetary.
It does not seem possible that it is 2 years since we have seen him.
I am donating some money to the British Heart Foundation in his memory-last year we had a write up in the loving memory section of the papers but he wouldnt have approved really-he would rather have had the money doing something useful!
I am rushing round like a headless chicken at the moment, trying to get sorted for the WI talk and demo at Clifford tonight, and I know he would have been laughing his head off at me!

Craft Fair.

This is me and Helen, a fellow artist member of the forum I am on, she was in the area on holiday with her husband for their anniversary.

They called by the craft fair, it was great to meet up with her and have a chat and a laugh!

All in all we had a very good day-the weather stayed beautful for us and there was LOADS of visitors about!

What a start to the day

This beautiful bird flew into our patio doors this morning as we were getting ready to go to the class.It must have been attracted to the ponds.
Bill had never seen a kingfisher in his life-the only time I had seen one before here,it flew off before Bill saw it.
Unfortunately this one broke its neck when it hit the glass.
My friends son used to be a taxidermist and he came and collected the dead bird from the class. I do not like stuffed animals myself but kingfishers are so rare to see these days, I am glad that Dave is able to preserve this beautiful bird.

Festival Night

The weather forcast is good for the weekend so we will be shopping after the class tomorrow for some BBQ food for Sunday Night.
We are at the craft fair on Sunday and as it is the last day of the festival it should prove to be very busy.
We will be inviting friends around for drinks and food Sunday night and we will be able to hear the Robbie Williams and Kylie sound alikes and see the grand firework display with ease from our patio.
I cant wait--its seems ages seen we had a BBQ due to the awlful weather so its something to look forward to!

Frames

I have been asked several times in classes lately about getting the paintings framed when they are dry.
I have been to see Dave The Frame-- the chap who does my mounts and frames and he has agreed to frame the box canvas at a special rate for my students.
The frames will cost just £10.
I have left 2 paintings with him today and Bill can pick them up in the morning while I am doing the class.
He will also give me some samples of the different frames that can be used on the canvas so people can see which they prefer.

The class is only a small one tomorrow because one of my ladies has gone into hospital and her friend usualy had a lift to the class with her, so we will see Pauline and Irene in the near future.
I wish Irene a speedy recovery.

Encaustic work

Examples of some of the paintings created using the melted wax today on the craft fair. They are all for sale at £5 each including P+P

please get in touch if you would like to purchase one of them. They all come unmounted and unframed and is the latest affordable way of collecting my art.

Craft Fair

After a wet start to the day-fortunatly it stayed dry while we set up the stalls, we had a very good day.

We had 3 stalls today because some people didnt turn up, due to the weather forcast.

We had one good downpour at 10;30am and then it stayed fine.

I was busy with people doing encaustic paintings most of the day, although I did get some other paintings done as well, I have a lot of uploading to do to my websites.

I have booked 3 more dates for the craft fairs they are Sunday 22nd July, Sunday 29th July and Thursday 30th Aug. All are taking place on Ludlow's Castle Square.

Another Day

We are busy getting ready for the festival craft fair in the morning.

Lots of packing to do, and things to check!

The weather forcast isnt great but we are well covered by the stalls and backsheets, so should have a good day!

Day Off

It was lovely to have a day off today for a change.We went round to see mum and had a catch up with the news, been too busy to call for a couple of weeks.
Then me and Bill went to Hereford to buy some more paint and brushes to replenish the stock sold at yesterdays class.
While we were walking down the High Street we smelt a wonderful aroma of roast beef coming from one of the best hotels-so on the spur of the moment we went in and had the best sunday dinner that we have had for a long time!
Bill had a field mushroom sauted with garlic on a large crouton and I had an asparagus and cherry tomato tartlet with warm salad and redcurrant jelly to start and then we both had roast beef and all the trimmings!
It was beautiful, the veg's were cooked just right, not hard but not soft either. There was carrots,broccoli,swede,cabbage,roast parsnips, and poast potatoes! As well as a gigantic yorkshire pudding!
We have both worked very hard lately so we enjoyed the treat and will cook the shoulder of lamb that we had bought for today,tomorrow!!!