Ireland

Here are some of the pics from our classes in Ireland
James had to leave both classes early so didnt get his 2 paintings finished in time.He looks pleased as punch with his 2 paintings. His Nan Monica is going to help him finish them off at a later date.

Having a laugh!!!

Well we just about have the packing done for our trip to Ireland tomorrow.
So much to get ready!!
We went out for a meal last night to celebrate my birthday and our wedding anniversary(The happiest 6 years of my life) and then back to the grindstone today getting ready for my friends arrival. Boy we have had a laugh since she arrived this afternoon,chatting about our school days and the pranks we used to get up to!!
Thank goodness Sparky is a lot better, had another jab at the vets today and is almost 100% again.
At least we can go away knowing he is being well looked after along with Paddy!!!
Cant wait to get to Ireland tomorrow and meet up with Monica again-she was a great student then and she has had loads of practise since!!

Stats

Its very intersting to see the visitors that visit both my blog and also my websites.
I have quite a lot of regular visitors that come from all over the world.
In the past week I have had people from France,Germany,Australia,Canterbury New Zealand,Richmond USA, Singapore, and Mexico as well as my many,many regulars in the UK.
It is intresting to see which pages people go to first and how long they spend reading them.
I notice that I have had quite a few from Ireland looking lately too, Monica is doing a great job letting people know we are coming!!!
The stat counter that I have on both sites can even tell me what type of computer they have!! All interesting stuff!!!

Great Painting

I had John here today to do a one to one painting class.
Johns wife Barbra bought him one of my gift vouchers for Christmas and he decided to do the waterfall painting.
We were finished earlier than expected so I showed him how to do encaustic art with the melted wax and an iron--he loved it--I think he will be treating himself to a kit soon!!! I did warn him it was addictive!!!

Sparky In the Wars AGAIN!!!!!

Poor Sparky has been in the wars again. We were watching TV last night when we heard such a commotion upstairs in our bedroom--we rushed up to find a big black tom cat fighting with Sparky having followed him in through the bedroom window--there was fur everywhere and the snarling and spitting was horrible, Bill tryed to shift the stray cat out and both Sparky and other cat fell fighting off the roof.
Poor Sparky couldnt walk hardly today so off to vet first thing for him. He's had the usual jabs and goes back on Thursday.
He hasnt been the same cat since he was attacked and badly hurt in NOV/DEC . He lost all his patch to other cats. He has been hissing and spitting at everyone since-- a very unhappy cat. The vet has reccomended a new product--its a plug in for cats. It releases a pheromone that makes them happy, got to be worth a try!!!.

Exhibition

It took a lot less time to take down the exhibition than to put it up!!

I have said goodbye to a few favorites but that gives me the excuse to get the paint-brushes out and re-create them again!!!
I do not try to copy paintings that sell exactly--I do not think that is fair to who ever bought the original painting. I will paint it along the same lines and it will have the same feel to it but it will not be an exact copy!
I will be working on Daisies and Dunes to start with, again a big painting 3ft square, but a lovely tranquil scene.

Weight Watchers

Went to weight watchers yesterday and found I had lost another 1 1/2lbs , I was chuffed to bits!!
My daughter Becki had done even better--even though she went away for a anniversary break last week with boyfriend Waynie and although they had a boozy few days she still managed to lose 5lbs!!Well done Becki.

New Addition To My Site

My webmaster has added a new addition to my www.paintingmyway.co.uk site.
There is now a site map which makes it easier to navigate the different pages !!

Weigh In

Ive lost another 1 1/2 lbs today at weight watchers, Ive gone down one dress size so far,be a good excuse to go clothes shopping soon I think!!!

Spring is Coming!

We have had an enjoyable morning watching a hen blackbird backwards and forwards with all manner of nesting materials! She is making her nest in a very clever place--in the thick ivy that grows around our bird table next to the pond!You can see some of the longer bits of grass sticking out of the ivy!

It should be safe from the cat there and we will keep the net over the pond for longer than usual in case the baby birds fall out!!It really feels like spring is on its way at last.
Last year we had a family with 4 baby wrens in the summer house or 'the bandstand' as Bill calls it.
It was great to go down the garden and sit quietly and see their little heads appear for the food.

This year the bandstand has a very welcome addition--a fridge for all the nice alcholic drinks we have when friends and family come around to our famous BBQ's!
Cant wait to be cooking my banana and bacon kebabs that go down a storm with everyone!
We have had a lovely new large silver fridge in our kitchen,complete with wine rack, so the old one will come in handy this year just for the drinks!!!!!

Start Of Exhibition

What a day! Over 130 paintings to transport and hang in the library--now I know why Im short of space at home!!

My Bill deserves a medal as big as a dustbin lid for all his help and support!

He has never wavered in his support of me and my painting and he was so proud when he looked around today after everything was hung perfectly.It took over 6 hours to do with 4 of us working for most of that time, but boy was it worth it.

I had several inquiries about classes while we were working, and quite a few people came in and asked "which art group are you?" they were amazed to find it was just me, as the work is so different.They find it hard to belive that the same person has painted in so many different styles!!!

Our friends helped us to get the pics to the venue and helped us to hang most of them.As you can see from the photos we couldnt get another thing in our car this morning!

I am artist in residence this Saturday and the local paper is sending along a photographer and reporter to interview me about my work and classes.

New Paintings

Whilst we were sorting out paintings for the exhibition which starts on tuesday, Bill came across some that had been put away too well!!
I had completely forgotten about these encaustic pictures.The detail has to be seen to be belived-photographs just dont do these justice!
If you study them closely you will see all sorts of faces and creatures appear in them.
I just love doing them, its totaly unpredictable what you will end up with-melted wax and an iron produce all sorts of brilliant things!!!!

New Guest Book

My webmaster has been busy organising a new guest book for my website www.paintingmyway.co.uk. The one I had before has worked great but as it was a free one it contained a lot of advertising which was a little distracting.

He has found me a great new one-very easy to use and control even for me!
PLease take a look and leave me a comment if you want to, I love to hear what you think about my work,classes or any other comments you wish to make!!!

Winter Wonderland Class

Its a shame I cant take decent photos! sorry about the rubbish photo guys!!
Kay,Susan,Andrew and Barbra with their Winter Wonderland Paintings!

We had a great class this morning.Kay,Barbra and Susan had all been before to me.Susans son Andrew who is 15 came along with his mum to have a go too!

HE loved it, he said he hadnt done anything like it in school and it was his first time working on canvas.
He made a lovely job of his painting and said it was much easier than he expected--he had tryed to chicken out of coming because he thought it would be difficult--now he cant wait to come again and paint another.
Quite a difference to the graffiti art he has done previously.

Kay has been to 4 previous classes and sold 3 of the paintings that she has painted with me in exhibition---She sold the 'Summer Day' one for £180!!!!!.I was joking with her that she makes a good profit out of coming to my classes!!
She had asked me if I minded her putting the paintings in exhibition to sell, she said "I will price them high because I dont really want to part with them!"
Good luck to her I told her,after all SHE did the painting.

At the end of the day it is good advertising on my ability to teach the method and is the ultimate complement when a painting created in one of my classes sells for that amount of money.


But it just goes to show what can be achieved with some instruction and a few hours work.