Portmeirion

We ended up at Portmeirion this afternoon, its the place where The Prisoner was filmed in 1966/1967
A beautiful place to visit-Ive got some lovely photos to put on once I get home--for some reason the photo editing suit dosent work properly on the laptop-so have around 500 pics to edit on the pc when I get home!

Its been a lovely break-we both feel completly refreshed---what was expected to be a short 1 night break has extended to a 3 night one-just right to recharge our batteries for the 2 day event this weekend at the Bishops Castle Michaelmas Fair-we are setting up early on Saturday morning at the event-then Bill will be taking the caravan to our friends yard just 2 streets away so we can stay overnight. We are meeting up with Karen and Steve for a meal out on Saturday--we have lots to catch up on-hypnosis being one of the things!

You cant go anywhere!

As the weather was soooo beautiful we decided to stay yet another night at Aberystwyth! A quick phone call to the pet sitter to make sure she could do another night sorted things out!

Today me and Bill decided to take a trip around the Welsh Coast, we ended up in Pwllheli where we had a lovely time walking around the market there-it was a lovely mis mash of stalls -a real market! We soon built up quite an appetite after walking round after the long drive-and found a lovely restaurant up loads of stairs , with a large window over looking the market--ideal for people watching.
As we sat there waiting for our fish and chips-a couple of ladies walked in--I said to Bill- ''shes from Ludlow'' after seeing a face I recognised! Couldn't remember a name for the lady but after we had our meal, I heard her mention an area of Ludlow so went over and said to her " you are a long way from home!"
She looked surprised but then laughed-and said ''Im Miss Waite''--then I remembered that she was my dads school teacher--she must be a good age now bless her! My dad would be 74 now!
My dad had brought her along to a family together a few years ago and she had loved meeting up with some more old students there!
Just goes to show you cant go anywhere where someone who knows you is as well!

Holiday!

In the space of just one hour this morning I had 3 bookings over the Internet for classes, one telephone call to book a class and one phone call to book a demo for a WI next May!

We are lucky that we have great Internet connection here in the caravan using my Vodophone dongle--its as fast as the broadband we have at home almost!

And all calls to the house phone get directed to my mobile so saves the pet sitter having to deal with any enquiries--good job I packed next years diary as an after thought though!

We have had a lovely day-been into Aber for a mooch around the shops and around the beach-- just got back and cooked something we havent had in a couple of years at least--a ham and pineapple thin crust pizza--it was yummy-and not too bad for the diet either.

Bills now sleeping it off before we go and try out the lovely indoor pool that is on the site!

Unexpected Break Away!

We are having a very unexpected break away at the moment--my friend gave us the keys to her static caravan in Aberystwyth yesterday , so we loaded up the car this morning and we are now relaxing after a lovely drive here over the mountain road round Rhaydar dams. bills got his feet up watching Harry Potter on the dvd while I catch up with some compter work. Then we are off for a walk round and have a drink/ food at the club.
Ive got some beautiful photos of the scenes as we drove up.The sun is shining and the forcast is good!

Ludlow Food and Drink Festival

Well it made a lovely change to on the other side of the counter yesterday! We are normaly in the collage doing the craft fair when the food and drink festival is on-but as I was getting a back log of people witing to come and paint I fitted in an extra class on Saturday instead.
So off we went to have a look round in Ludlow Castle where the event is held.
We didnt get there until nearly 4pm by the time we had been round the collage chatting to our friends who were in there working!
The castle was heaving with people trying wines and beers, and every type of food you could imagine!
Bill said the pint of Ludlow Gold beer he had was the best he had tryed there-must admit it was tasty!

todays class-birch trees

We had a real mixed bunch today in class-some did the sepia tones, some the monchrome , some the sage green and some (maisie and me )the bright pop art colours -pink and yellow!
Jan had treated her daughter Vicki and granddaughter Maisie aged just 6 to the class as it was Vickis birthday.
Maisie was a little star-she loved loading the paint onto the canvas-so much so that Bill had two hair dryers in his hands at one time drying her painting off! In between doing that Bill was kept busy washing sponges and brushes, and even doing a few trees on my canvas when I dint have time to keep doing them.We were using a 3 ft canvas so it took some covering at times!
Vicki didn't know anything about it until today!
They were up early to drive up from London-
My name sake Diane Jennings had driven down from Liverpool again for the third time-quite a drive for her- there was thick fog in Liverpool when she left and she met more at Prees Heath so not a good journey for her.
We also had Jess for the first time-we met her at Tenbury show a few weeks ago.
She took to it like a duck to water-Chris commented ''Thats scarey!'' at the end of the class when he looked at her painting and she told him it was her first ever! Big compliment Jess!

She has booked for the Poppy Field on October 3rd which makes that class full now.

Rhada had come all the way from Birmingham on the train early this morning so we had students from all over the country today!
Rhada wanted to make her painting lighter than the original green one-so she used a lighter green in the back ground-her finished painting looked very tropical.
Vicki loves colour as was apparent by her beautiful pink hair and bright pink boots-she wanted to do the monochrome version but wanted to add some red colour--the metallic red was ideal to paint the water-it really was stunning-
Chris asked about adding a blue pool to his painting-but I didnt think it would work as he was using the sepia shades-so he tryed the dark green--I still wasnt sure about it, but after he made it a little smaller with some sponging it was better. Chris does some painting at home and likes to try things out for himself and to be honest its good to have an experiment and just try things out for yourself..
Im sure he will go home and have a bit of a dabble with it! ;-)
All in all a great class- the Dec 12th class is now full- Jan is hoping I get a cancellation in Summer Day so she can join us!
Bill has cleaned all of the brushes while Ive done all my updating on my various websites , bless him-so we are off up to the local pub for a meal now-
we are doing this one all over again in 2 weeks time-had a waiting list for this one!

New Cards

We had a lovely day yesterday-we went over to Hereford to check out some new laptops and then called by on Lin and Dave to pick up the new greetings cards that Lin has done from the photos she took at Onslow Park Steam rally.
Luckily Lin took some pics of as few paintings that sold while we were there-and her photos are a great deal better than mine will ever be, so I have a permanent record of what they really looked like!
Lin was introduced to encaustic art by me at Onslow-and it was clear from the start that she had an eye for it the same way that she has an eye for a good card!
She has used bits of full sized paintings to create a completely different looks to the original. The little single poppy is a good example of that! Its just a tiny bit of a big painting-she has used another part to create the bigger card-very clever.
Some of my photos of the cards leave a lot to be desired-some have reflections in them, but it will give you a good idea as to what they are like.
You can buy them from my website www.paintingmyway.co.uk

BOOB-TIFUL

Well the Boob-tiful painting is now en-route to Sheffield to its new owner.
There are plans for a male version to raise money for Testicular Cancer-that's in the pipeline for now-
thanks to everyone who has supported the painting and its contribution to Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

Greetings Cards Available Now

Ive spent the evening putting the latest batch of cards into my new greetings cards gallery on my website www.paintingmyway.co.uk


My photographs do not do them justice- I wish I had Lin at hand to take them for me! Lin makes the cards for me after coming and taking the photos of my paintings with her super dooper camera-and her skill!
She knows just how to crop the full picture to make a beautiful card--I leave the size and shape up to her for the finished cards.
The cards are left blank for your message and are priced at £2.50 each or 5 for £10 prices include P+P in the UK
You can mix and match them to suit yourself.
I cant wait for the next batch of new cards to arrive now-Lin tool some more photos of some different paintings while she was at Onslow Park --2 of the paintings actualy sold while she was there-good job she had already taken the photos.