Happy New Year

2008 is at the door,remember,life is short,break the rules,forgive quickly,kiss slowly,love
truly,laugh uncontrollably and never regret anything that made you smile!!!!!!!!

I want to wish all our family friends and students a VERY ,VERY ,HAPPY HEALTHY ,NEW YEAR FOR 2008

We are looking forward to meeting up with all the wonderful people we have met through the classes and having more fun and laughter as well as the more serious side of producing some fantastic works of art with you all!!

And also the new people who are joining us to experience "Painting My Way" Its going to be a year to remember in 2008!!!!!

2008

I have really enjoyed my rest over the Christmas season, but its back to the grindstone from Monday with a vengeance!!
Thank you to everyone who sent Christmas Greetings!!!!!

We are really looking forward to 2008 and wish all our good friends and family good health and happiness for 2008
Got lots to sort out and do for all the forthcoming classes.
I have to paint another "African Dream" because its sold and its also a new class subject so will have to get cracking on that one soon.
Got a new project coming up in 2008 which promises to be very exciting for all concerned, got a few things to sort out with it but I will keep you all posted!!!!
Some of the classes for 2008 are already fully booked, will try and get the website up to date as soon as possible with the latest dates.

Winter Light

These 2 pics were taken over Chrismas, we had a lovely frost and it turned everything into a real Winter Wonderland.

I took the other picture when we were driving to Tesco's on Christmas Eve, the sun going down over Ludlow was a sight to behold.

Callum

We couldnt even get a smile out of our little Callum on Christmas day-he had been up all night teething and he looks tired to death on this picture!!

Hollie

You can see why I havent been on the computer much lately!!! Little Hollie is down from Sunderland with her Daddy.

She is growing up so quickly- and shes such a happy little thing-as you can see from this taken last night!

She had her last feed at 6.30pm and she slept til 7.30am this morning.

Shes just discovered she can squeal--very loudly and has been doing it since she arrived!!!

Christmas Eve

Well its been a busy week, as you can see we were busy in the kitchen on Christmas Eve, Bill made some of his beautiful quiches and after we had a go at some ginger flavour shortbread biscuits.

I got on with getting the table set ready for the next days fesivities.

I love doing the Christmas table, this year we had some new floating candles which looked great when lit on Christmas Day.

A quick break!!

Having a quick 5 mins away from the hustle and bustle of the christmas preperations .

We have been busy all day, making the Christmas quiches , stuffings and are now making brandy snaps for the first time-the smell in our house is delicious!!!!!

We popped out to the shops this afternoon and picked up all the last minute things, salad and stuff so we should not need to go out tomorrow and can take things easy!!

We have cracked open a bottle of bubbly stuff and are now in the festive mood-just tryed one of the brandy snaps and dont think they will last till Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!
So if I dont get back on here-which I probley wont-Bills insisting on having a computer free Christmas, so have a
very very merry christmas and a happy new year from Diane and Bill xx

Rachaels Poppy Quartet

We waited with baited breath last night for Rachael to come from Wales to pick up her Poppy Quartet poppy painting.

Its really difficult to photograph red paintings and get a true colour.I have been emailing her each stage of her commission as I have painted it, but have never been completely happy with the image Ive sent--I have always had to say to her that the pic isnt as orange as it looks-its really dark red!!!---- ironic that a few minutes before she arrived last night, I took this pic of her painting and the colours came out as near as dam it!

Anyway she walked in with her friend and exclaimed "I love It"" brilliant , just what I wanted and you were right about the colour, its just what I wanted to match my kitchen!"

After some advice about how exactly to hang all 4 canvas ,we had a lift off them up to The Squirrel pub, next to the travel lodge where they were staying.

Its only just up the road from us-real handy for the classes , but it was freezing really hard and didnt want to drive so we could relax and have a drink!!!!

This painting along with all my others is logged with http://www.protectmywork.com/

Fireworks For Peter

This is for Peter!!!!!

New Year---Exciting Times

We have some exciting new things coming up in the new year--I am going to be working closely with one of my students to combine art with something else completely different.

Its unique and we cant wait to start putting our ideas into practise.



I will post more about it as and when it develops, but from the feedback recieved so far it will be very popular!!!!!

Getting Ready

We are off to Leominster tomorrow to take down the exhibition of students paintings.

It will be a quicker job than putting them up for sure.!

We have got some of the students coming to help pack everything away, and most people are collecting their paintings from there, so the car wont be as full as this coming home!!!!

We had Sharleens van to take them to Leominster as well as some in our car!

Its been pretty hectic here getting pressies to respective families, last minute shopping in Kidderminster yesterday-it was really quiet there, was able to get round the shops no trouble-it was lovely!!

Another busy day.

Well I suppose its normal to a certain extent to be busy at this time of year!
After spending the morning finishing off the last of the wrapping, we then went off to deliver the pressies to the respective homes.
We called by my daughters new home-they have just got back from the Dominican Republic-they had the keys to their new home on the Friday and flew out on holiday on the Saturday! They got back 2 weeks later on last Sunday, and then the decorating etc began.!!
We called by with a couple of pressies and ended up helping to paint the bedroom and living room----thank goodness for slow cookers--I had started a chicken and pepper dish this morning and it was cooked to perfection when we arrived home this evening!! We were both starving, and with all the garlic that was added , the dish was absolutely beautiful! Its one of our favorite dishes and being done in a slow cooker , you dont have to worry about it once its in there!

Latest Tree's

Here are the latest in my "Tree" series.

Tranquil Palm Trees.

Painted in acrylic and varnished to protect them, the largest is 12in square and the 3 smaller ones are 4in square. The painting continues around the sides of the canvas.

The price for all 4 paintings is £55 including P+P

Congratulations !!!!!

Big congratulations to my friend Cat Gibson of http://www.gibson-art.co.uk/

She recently qualifyed as the very first Bill Alexander technique teacher in the UK. Quite an achievement.
We have become very close friends, and we are always emailing each other with the latest joke's that are doing the rounds!!!!

She has 2 classes over the Christmas period, and I am looking forward to hearing how it goes!
I am sure it will go very well-she will make sure the classes are fun as well as imformative!

Latest Series--"Tree's"

This is my latest series of paintings. Called simply "Tree's"

Painted very simplisticly, and stylised-the tree's continue around the sides of the canvas.

The large canvas are 12in square and the smaller ones are 4in square.

There are any number of ways in which to display these pieces of art.

They are all painted in acrylic and varnished with 2 coats of high quality artists varnish.

The silver set sold less than 24 hours of being put on the http://www.affordablebritishart.co.uk/

website!!!!!

They were sent this morning to the new owner in Middlesex!

Got to be something of a record to sell so soon after being put online!

I have been busy logging all my latest work on to http://www.protectmywork.com/

as well as painting some more pictures in this series.

Will post the photos on here later.

Not Ayoub Art

It has been pointed out to me that a misleading statement has appeared on the home page of Sue Warnes Ayoub Art site.

Im sure she didnt mean to mislead people with the statement 'suggesting' that I have been one of her students in the past and learnt everything I know from her!!!

I would like to point out that I have never attended ANYONES class's.

My classes are called ''Painting My Way'' because its presicely that.

After watching videos , reading books and lots of practise I made the "painting my way" method of wet on wet painting technique mine-using different brushes and mediums and different ways of applying the paint to canvas .

I hope that makes things clear for anyone who mistakingly thought I had been a student of Ayoub Art.

Billies Christmas Cakes!!!!

You can see what we were busy doing last night!!!! Bill gave them all a last feed of brandy yesterday morning and we marzipaned and iced them all last night--long job, but they look lovely-and if the one we took to the exhibition is anything to go by-will taste every bit as good as they look!!!

Getting into Christmas!!!!

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Well it seems ages since Ive been on here and updated things! I have got my computer room christmas tree up as you will have seen, and Bill and l put up the main tree in the living room on Saturday!

All was well until late on Saturday night as I was doing some finishing touches to the 'family paintings' in the kitchen, when I heard "come here quick"--I ran to the living room to find Bill buried underneath the christmas tree and Paddy looking very sorry for himself back on his cage!! Poor Paddy had tryed to land on top of the fairy on top of the tree!!!!!

Email Problem

It would appear that some of my emails are not getting through again--Please if you email me for ANY reason and you hear nothing within 24 hours -give me a ring-or better still include your phone no when you email me and I can ring you.
It seems that I am recieving them ok but sometimes my replies are not getting back.
The problem is being looked into.

Christmas Paintings

I have been busy over the past few days catching up on the 'christmas paintings'
I always paint the kids a new picture for Christmas, and so far have got 4 done! Got one more to do for my Becki and then 4 more for some special friends. Got to try and finish today,as Ive got lots of other stuff to catch up on.
The first set of Poppy Quartet have had their first coat of varnish, they will have another coat today and another tomorrow.
The kitchen looks like a bomb has gone off at the moment-paintings and paint everywhere!

new pics for jan!!!!!!

Here are two of my most recent pics of the sky/sunsets/sunrises.I am very pleased with the results-the first was taken on the way to leominster and the second taken earlier that day out of the bedroom window.

I have loads more to put on my blog, the time has just flown, been doing a bit more to the commission, and getting on with putting the christmas tree up etc.

Will get back to norml posting tomorrow with luck!!!!!

A Bit Of Christmas Fun!!!!!

http://www.eyegas.com/sproutifarts/ this funny game will amuse all members of the family!!

The next one is a great laugh too!!!!!!!!!!


http://www.elfmovie.com/swf/snowball_fight/index.html

Infinate Hope

This painting is being used on the cover of a book called "Infinate Hope" By Jeff Lucas.

Its called "Guess Why He's Happy"

My Version !

Here is my version of Oriental Dawn painted yesterday in the one to one class.

Its amazing what can be done with just a few colours of paint.

We used just black, yellow and white with the tiniest amount of orange in the sky.

We painted on a large 80cm x60 cm canvas,something the student had not tryed before, she is used to the normal 40cm x50 cm.

It is suprising how different it is to paint large.

We thougherly enjoyed the day, it went really quickly, we had a nice lesurley lunch break with some ham salad rolls that Bill fetched from the local sandwich shop "Crumbs".

All in all a good day-we put the world to rights and had a laugh and a giggle-she is always good fun in the classes.

Oriental Dawn

I had a lovely day yesterday with one of my students. She wanted to paint a large painting for her partner for Christmas.

We had lots of fun producing Oriental Dawn for him.

We used the new wipe out tool quite a lot in this picture, its very useful for putting small branches and grasses, its got a silicon rubber tip and it takes the paint off the canvas, you see in the close up how effective it is to do distant birches.

Its been put up safely for her to pick up later this month--Im sure he will be delighted with it.

Birthday Cake!!

Bill has been busy in the kitchen all day making a chocolate birthday cake for my nephew's 12th birthday.Of course we had to try it, just to make sure it was ok---Bill trimmed off the top so that it would ice better and of course we cleaned out the bowl after he made the filling and topping- oh boy ---its beautiful and we delivered it to his home earlier this evening.

I hope they dont eat it all, we will be round for a slice tomorrow!!!!!

Class in Telford.

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The students are in for a surprise when we do the Birch Tree class in Telford.

Sharleen and Dennis run a company selling and setting up projectors etc for universities and companies etc and they are letting us use the room at their company headquaters.

The room is already set up with videos and camera's and a big screen, so the students will be able to watch everything on the screen, and we might even make a video of the class! Its already fully booked-an extra one is in the class actualy.I will be running classes there regularly hopefully, I get a lot of students from over that way so it will save them having to travel.

Book Cover

"Guess Why He's Happy" is safely in its new home in Goring By Sea.

The image is going to be used as a be used as a book cover by the new owner.

I will post more details when I get them.

I have a one to one tomorrow-cant reveal anything else as the painting is going to be a Christmas pressie for her husband!

I'm really looking forward to doing this one-its going to be a on a great big canvas so will be very impressive when finished!

The Private Viewing

The private viewing went very well on Wednesday evening , everyone enjoyed themselves very much.As you can see 2 of my 'smallest acorns 'came from Telford with their mum, they are stood proudly with their paintings.

The time went so quickly-one minute it was fairly quiet the next minute it was heaving with people.

There was plenty of cheese and pate for everyone and Bill had iced one of his christmas cakes that morning to take along--all of the students had heard about 'Billies boozy christmas cakes' in the classes, so they all tryed it and everyone agreed its the best cake ever!!! He even won a £5 bet off someone who didnt belive he had made it!

Everyone said about the quality of the work produced by the students. There was a comment in the comments book from someone who is a member of Leominster Art Society saying that they were very impressed with the standard of the teaching and what the students had on display, so that made me feel very chuffed!

Jack fell in love with one of the artworks on display ''the birch trees'' so it will be going to live in Upton Upon Severn shortly.This range of paintings is becoming very popular
African Dream is also going to a new home.

FROM SMALL ACORNS

Here are some of the pics from the start of the "from small acorns " exhibition.

Chip came down from Telford with his lovely owner Sharleen,you can just about see him in the company van-watching every move we made while filling the back of it up!

Many many thanks go to Sharleen for all her help(and Dennis)

Some of the other pics are of the paintings I have put in--I have not shown the rest of the paintings because I DO NOT WANT THE STUDENTS TO SEE WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE JAN!!!!!

look forward to seeing you all tomorow!! lots of love Di x

Todays Class

We had such a lovely class today-really relaxed and laid back! As you can see the results are absolutely fantastic-what a shame they wont be dry enough to take to the exhibition on Tuesday!

Everyone was in favour of the advanced class in January, so we will be going ahead with that too.

Throughout the class we had people dropping of paintings to be framed and put into the exhibition.

We also had a couple who had ordered a full encaustic set for a Christmas pressie, they came to the class to collect it and were amazed at what the students were achieving, they will be coming in the new year to have a go !!

Everyone is looking forward to Wednesdays private viewing!

I have to say a big thank you to Sharleen and Denis(who came along today to see what went on in the class) they are coming down in a big van to transport all the paintings to the venue onTuesday-that will save us an enormous amount of work getting them all into a couple of cars!

Its getting very near now, Ive so much to do still--lists of paintings, prices etc. Everyone agrees that choosing titles for the paintings is the hardest thing of all-after putting a price on them that is!!!

Another thing we will possibly be doing is holding the classes at a new time-the reason being, the squirrel pub just over the road from the venue is opening next week and some of the students agree it would be great to do the classes and go over there for a meal with their partners and make a day of it! There was a suggestion that we all went to the pub first and then do the painting-we were in fits at Jan who showed us all what it would be like!!!!!

So we may be starting the classes next year from 2pm -6pm. I will have the information put on my website.

Advanced Classes

I am going to be running some special classes for students that have been to me several times before.
These are going to ''Advanced Classes'' and will take the form of this---students will bring along their own idea's of what they want to paint, rather than me setting the subject matter myself.
This can be the form of photographs or a copyright free picture of some scenes that they would like to paint.
I have found that some of my students are still nervous about starting to paint on their own at home.
I am always hearing ''I need you by me to put me right when it starts going wrong!''
Now I know when the students have learned enough from the normal 'painting my way' classes, and after just 3 or 4 they will have had all the info needed to create their own masterpiece, but if you lack some self confidence the advanced classes are for you. I will still supply everything needed for the class, but I will guide you through the stages so you will get a satisfactory end result.

Mucking Fuddle 2

I have been working on the latest in the 'manic series' of abstract art today.

I am really pleased with ''Mucking Fuddled 2'' The vibrant colours really stand out from the black background.

This latest one is painted on a very deep edge box canvas, the sides have been left plain black for the contemporary feel.

Shades of blues, purples, greens, and yellows mingle and merge with each other, its hard to see where one starts and another stops.

It measures 28 in x 20 in but it could be hung vertically instead of horizontally if you prefer.

I have signed it on the side instead of the front so it can be hung as YOU prefer!!.

The price of this art work is £200 including P+P in UK. If you are outside Uk please get in touch for details.

It will be ready for posting after 15th Dec. I send all my work by special delivery, it is trackable , insured and next day delivery.

Congratulations to Becky and Wayne

We want to send my daughter Becky and partner Wayne all the best wishes for the future. They received the keys for their new home today.

After renting for 2 years they now have a mortgage.!!

They have bought a lovely house that was once my sisters first home, quite a coincidence.!

It does need quite a lot of work to get it has they want it, so I expect we will be doing some decorating over the next few weeks if we get chance with everything else that is going on.

There was a surprise when we opened the garden shed-there was a wasps nest on the door. It looks like they are all dead thank goodness. But the nest is a beautiful work of art!!

Poppies and Mucking Fuddle!!!

Well we went to the Art Bay Gallery in Stoke On Trent yesterday and delivered 8 paintings that will be on display there from next week Thursday Dec 6th.

Cheryl and Alan who run the gallery are really looking forward to the opening next week.

We have all sorts of exciting things in the pipeline coming up--watch this space!!!!

Didn't get chance to go shopping either!!!

Have been working all day, and most of the evening, on the poppy commission.

It has so many different layers of paint glaze, all in different shades of red, each layer of glaze has to dry completely before adding another, otherwise it isn't a glaze, it will mix with the wet paint underneath and become another colour, instead of enhancing the colour you've just put it over. So lots of work!!!.

In between waiting for the glazes to dry I have been working on the latest in my ''Manic ''series of abstract paintings.

I have called this one ''Mucking Fuddle'' a little tongue in cheek title, as most of the series has had.I realised when we got back from Stoke that I didnt have any of my Manic series to display in the''From Small Acorns'' exhibition next week. I had either sold them or they were in exhibition at Stoke!

So I got started on the latest, and Im really pleased with the result-fingers crossed it dries in time to take with us when we go to set up on Tuesday!

Its painted onto a large canvas 40in x32in, in oil .It will be dry enough to post in a couple of weeks, all being well-and the cost is £250 including P+P in UK

Latest Commission

I have spent quite a few hours working flat out on the latest commission, I have got the base layers on, various shades of reds and black--the top picture is the colour of it now, as you can see its started off layers of quite orangey reds, but that is just to build up depth in the finished painting.

As more layers go on it deepens and gets more depth.

The white blotches on the top picture is not paint, but a special impasto medium that will allow me to create the texture of the poppy petal.

Tomorrow I will start to add the 20 odd coats of coloured glazes, each one having to be thoroughly dried in between-a tedious process but necessary none the less.

I am emailing the pictures as I do each stage to Rachael who has commissioned this piece, she can have some input into the painting, if she wants the centre smaller or redder I can do it.

It works very well. I am very pleased with it so far. Its always interesting to see how each one develops-they turn out different every time!

Tomorrow we are off to take the paintings to Stoke on Trent to The Art Bay gallery.So may get to do some Christmas shopping too !!