Mystical Moon Workshop

Mystical Moon workshop..photo's don't show up the beautiful colours chosen by the students..

Anna used the lovely purples and pinks/blues to create her painting...very mystical when it was finished!

Evelyn and Ann came a long way today..from Rhyl,and St Asaph.Evelyn chose the blue shades-and used the metallic shades of blue and silver for the foliage.it looked beautiful when it was dry..hard to believe that Evelyn had not painted before!

Loved Jan's  combination of grey background and violet and gold foliage--will nick that combination at some point LOL!!

Jodie came along with her Mum- Helen who was painting her 5th painting...she wanted to do a sunset painting rather than a moonlight one...and it worked lovely--had to send Bill home for some yellow paint as I had not taken any with me for this workshop! But this is one of the quickest paintings we do in class and we were still finished on time.Wonderful results first time!!

Helen has been 5 times--artist brooch next time Helen! She chose to do the grey background but asked if she could use all of the different coloured metallic paint for her foliage.. I was not sure if it was going to work or not.but as you can see from the picture below it worked so well...blue,copper,gold,green,red,violet,silver,

you would never know this was Ann's first time painting would you? Beautiful results

Great fun and great results..well done everyone xx

Withington WI Demo

We had a lovely evening on Monday when we went to do a demo at Withington WI nr Telford. The room was not the biggest we have ever used and there was not room to put up the stands with all the paintings on  so we stood some in the windows for everyone to have a look at! There were a few artists in the audience and it nice to have the discussions about what to use and where..I'm pretty sure there will be some versions of The Waterfall and Summer Day going on at home!

We had a lot of laughs as usual during the demo--

waiting to see what emerges from my brushes...

The 2 finished paintings -both 16in x 20in and created in just 45 minutes...and I managed to lose my bit of paper with the names on who won them in the raffle--sorry ladies!

Beautiful views from outside the room--so we thought! We arrived at 7pm to find nobody there..a few mins later a man pulled up and asked if we were joining the Tango dance class! We realised we were in the wrong place...but luckily the room we wanted was just 5 mins up the road-- we did laugh! But we will look forward to seeing some of the lovely ladies here in Ludlow for a workshop in the future!

Yesterday Workshop

Apologies for the late blog post--life has been very hectic of late! We had a wonderful time on Saturday,,a mix of new students and some who have been before....you can see them watching me demonstrate part of the painting here,,,

Eric has been once before and tried oils--he used a dramatic combination of colours for his painting,,,,,

checking out how it looks before adding more paint..

Pauline was painting for the first time and was quite nervous--she couldn't believe her results...

Sylvia has us in fits of laughter all day--she was convinced she was doing it wrong--but in fact-once I stopped her being too heavy handed -she made a beautiful job of the picture..I think it was the nerves getting the better of her!

Derek has been many times before--he travels a long way to us and I always tire him out-his wife says he sleeps all the way home! He does really well considering he has Parkinson's..we always have lots of fun with him !

Margaret came along with her pal Joy..both chose the browns and creams..

Joy has painted this subject before--and knew exactly what she wanted to do different this time--she wanted to make the centre of the painting much lighter--and it did work lovely ,,

I love the warm glow in Karen's painting--so warm...

Alison was another first timer--and although she has tried watercolours this was a first for her on a huge canvas using acrylics! What a beautiful sky?

Maureen received her artist brooch today for attending 6 workshops---Joy should have had hers too but we hadn't realised she was on number 6 as well!

Steve reminded us very much of one of our oldest running students Chris when we first saw him! Another first timer--he seemed to find it quite easy too--lovely results--he bought some varnish to do his and Sylvia paintings when they have dried out--they will see such a difference when its done--it brings out the colours beautifully!

Tracey was painting number 5,,,so a badge for her next time too!

Eric had to leave just before everyone else--what a big difference the moon and stars made as a final touch!

Well done everyone!

Judiths Birhday Painting Party

Judith has been to Painting My Way previously--and she decided that she would like a painting party for her birthday-and it was to be held at her home in Bridgnorth..They had prepared the room with plastic to protect the floor and got out tables ready-I had not realised that she had kept the day a secret from her friends that had been invited--they had just been told to arrive in comfy clothes! Everyone started to arrive and we did get a few odd looks when they saw the easels etc being set up--but I didn't click that it was a surprise! When everyone realised they were going to be painting we had the usual reaction--" But I cant paint" After reassuring everyone that they COULD paint as long as they followed my step by step instructions-we began...

We had great fun--and everyone loved watching how each other tackled each stage,

Helen -the birthday girl is on the right of this photo..

lovely results from everyone..and a lot of surprised ladies!!

Well done ladies!

Lovely results!

Beautiful results-

Brilliant results--so glad that everyone enjoyed their unexpected painting day-and will look forward to seeing you again!

Saturdays Workshop..

Due to cancellations due to illness there was only Helen and Bob yesterday-and instead of doing the advertised abstract workshop I gave them free rein to do whatever they wanted..they chose The Big Poppy' which is done in acrylic and melted wax..They had travelled from Northampton and stayed overnight at http://www.bushfarmbandb.co.uk/ which is run by one of our friends/students Christina..
They chose to do 2 different colours with Helen using the more traditional reds and Bob the lovely 'bordaux ' purple.Helen made a beautiful job of her picture -with lots of texture in the centre..

Bob is adding the melted wax to the centre of his painting--although we started out painting a poppy picture we quickly realised that Bobs looked quite a like an anemone -it was quite stunning! Decisons had to be made on whether to add any silver wax to the centre-or to leave it black..in the end silver was added and it did work well.

Lovely results--the photos do not do the paintings justice--it is the hardest painting to photograph-and you cant see the texture that was created! We will look forward to seeing Bob and Helen again in the future!

Abstract Workshop

http://www.paintingmyway.co.uk/a1-gallery3.asp?roomID=6163&pictureID=48047 I have had a couple of cancellations for this weekends workshop due to illness.. this was a great day last time with some wonderful results..you will use transparent colours on a black background with is great fun-and very interesting to do.. a bit unusual in the fact that you get to paint and take home 2 pictures as we have a practise run first on a smaller 10inx 8in canvas then move on to a larger more unusual shaped canvas.
Click the link above to see what happened in the last workshop!
Its suitable for all ages and abilities..

Fun in Newport!

As it was me and Bills 13th wedding anniversary last week I treated him to something else he had never done--go-carting! We made a break of it and booked into a lovely motel nearby.. If you want to have fun on the track we can really recommend going to http://www.supakart.co.uk/ it was a special deal from Living Social Deals on line.. it was a Grand-prix night and great value for money--there are plans for a future visit--this time with my daughter Becki and a few more!

Bill waiting to start,,

its a huge track..on 2 levels..

had a huge comfy bed to go back too as well at The New Inn--recommend that place too for a good nights sleep-- drove back this morning and called by at Abergaveny where they have a great market and loads of charity shops..so all in all a great time was had by all!