Segway....

We had an eventful couple of days away this week--I bought Bill a Segway experience  for his birthday, as it was for 2 people I decided to join him on the day....We stayed at a lovely hotel overnight -The Wychwood-set in a beautiful setting overlooking a golf course.. couldn't fault the room or the food..

We set off for the course after a huge breakfast --its held in woodland,, we all had to get the protective gear on--armoured jacked and knee/shin pads...

Bill getting ready...

The segways are the most weird things to go on---takes a while to get used to it..but after a while it feels quite natural...

we had a training session before we started--and then off into the woods we went...and that's where it went wrong lol--I manage to hit a root/stump and went arse over head and landed in a heap..it completely winded me-so much that I didn't even swear when I landed on my back..I did get back up and back onto the segway and completed the course..but boy I'm suffering today.. I'm aching in places I didn't know I have..my knee is pretty bad and my chest and ribs are sore--but I have to say I really did enjoy the day--and would recommend it to anyone.. Bill stayed upright and also really enjoyed his day,,,will be doing something a little more sedate for the next pressie though!

Abby's Hen Party

We went over to Stourbridge on Saturday to do Abby's painting hen party--she didn't have a clue what was going to happen and the girls had been pulling her leg for ages and winding her up--telling her she had to do a sky dive among other things--it must have been a relief to find it was a painting workshop! She was blindfolded and lead into the room....

Jaye had organised the party and chose the subject-and as Abby loves bunnies we added some to the finished painting...

Everyone was a bit sceptical as to whether they could paint a picture...but as you can see from the finished results everyone did really well...

Lop eared  rabbits!

We used some pretty metallic paints to add detail at the end--it does not show up well in the photos but in 'real' life looked stunning!

the fact that the grasses turned into big beautiful flowers in the end didn't matter one bit!

Abby's Nan did this lovely one---bright and bold!

Amazing how different they all turned out--we had loads of laughs all day long!

We used twinkly glitter paint to add stars at the end--and left the girls with some varnish so they can give all the pictures a coat to bring out the colours and protect the paintings...

the metallic red paint looked stunning on this one...

love the grasses this one..

metallic purple for these grasses looked great too,

beautiful dramatic sky...

nearing the end now...

what a great spread of food the girls put on.....

love the willy shaped dishes..

Abby's mum, about to do the bunnies..

The happy artists,,all enjoyed their day-some beautiful results from them all--hope they didn't have very sore heads the next day--they were all going out for a drink after the workshop!

Bromyard Gala

We are back from a fantastic weekend at Bromyard Gala..first time out for our new caravan...few teething problems--like the fridge wouldn't work but otherwise its just great--far more comfortable than the old one--the bed is a bit softer and much bigger! We went over on Friday afternoon and got everything set up in the marquee ready to hang the paintings early on Saturday..after we did that we had to race over to our lovely friend Lin who had rushed through 80 new greetings cards for me as sales had gone mad and I had almost run out of them during the markets the previous week! We stopped and had a lovely meal at The Three Elms on the way back to the site...mixed grill for me---I was very good and left all the chips! We were sooo tired when we got back to the van we just fell into bed and listened to the bands singing in the nearby field!

We had a great space in the marquee..plenty of room to put up the tables and display stands..and I didn't get in the way of next doors stall when I was demonstrating and had crowds of people watching!

I have to get cracking again today and do some more tiny paintings--Ive almost sold out of them...

had a good display of cards thanks to Lin..

Three large paintings went off to new homes...Summer Day went off to Redditch...

I have to get another one painted like this as its a workshop subject in September and only have one version left now as an example...this one has gone to a lovely home along with The Birches

This soft green Serenity painting is off to Norway to live with a lovely family.

Bill popped into Bromyard to pick up some ice cubes on Saturday so we could enjoy a jug (or 2) of Pimms---it just has to be done when the sun is shining and you have had a good day! After a steak sandwich we went off to listen to the band playing-a lovely evening was had by all--even if I cant remember the last bit LOL...I had the best nights sleep for weeks Saturday night!

We had the lovely Gemma next to us again this year with her mum...beautiful silver/gems jewelry they were selling! Anyway I asked her if she fancied having a go-and got the usual reply I get off folk "I cant paint!" after persuading her that she could-I went through a step by step Stormy Poppies painting with her...she couldn't believe it--and was so excited to watch it grow so quickly-- 30 mins and it was done-- and yes the hardest part was signing her name on the bottom!

one happy Gemma! We are looking forward to seeing her and her sister in a workshop soon!

There were some stunning sunsets while we were there...

This lovely chap was just across the aisle in the marquee--Nick Grant is a brilliant water colourist and had a beautiful display of his work there along with the frames he makes...what a character he is--he had us in fits of laughter all weekend with his tales..

One of Nicks paintings....didn't get to take any of his beautiful sunset landscapes...

We arrived back completely knackered at 7.30pm,unloaded the van and caravan put the wine to cool and settle down on the patio to listen to the last night of Ludlow Festival--wow that bought back some memories--Bay City Rollers,Showaddywaddy and David Essex were performing...it was a lovely  still evening and we could hear them all as clear as a bell...

Bill fired up the chimanea so we were all nice and toasty..

We love watching the flames..and could see weird and wonderful faces in there like this one...

And then there was the fireworks finale...what a wonderful weekend we had...lets hope the weather holds for the next venue in 2 weeks time Festival At The Edge ...a 3 day  one then...looking forward to meeting up  with friends there and having fun!

Woodcock Hill Primary School Workshop, WewentBirmingham

We went along to Woodcock Primary School last Thursday to do a workshop with 10 of their pupils aged between 6 years old and 10 years old..They were all very excited and although only young had their own very strong ideas on what they wanted to paint---The theme was the Yesterday picture which has sunsets,trees,bunnies and cats in trees in it...just noticed the bottom right painting is not turned round the right way! Was bit of a rush getting the photos done as it was nearly lunch-time when we finished!

It was lovely to see how the kids tackled it-and what they wanted to have in their paintings...quite fascinating to see how their minds work---why not have a rabbit in a tree? He said there was a forest fire in his picture,,maybe the rabbit jumped in the tree to escape it!

love these paintings...wonderful bunnies!

Katie and Brandi-lee were the 2 youngest in the class I believe--just 6 years old....love the pink background-and the cats and rabbits in the trees are just so cute!

all of the teachers were very impressed with the children's results as they came through the room we used for the workshop...

After the workshop we went over to Ikea and stocked up on a few things from there--then we called at The Range in Kidderminster--and saw these beautiful rainbow drawers....ideal for all my button bouquet materials----just one thing--the colours were all wrong for my OCD

I had to change the order to this---feel happier about them now LOL...

Next job was to put the corresponding colour buttons into the drawers-made life much easier now!