Beautiful Night

we were very lucky again with the weather while away,we only had one day of wet weather and that was just for a few hours. we were rewarded that night by this beautiful sky.

I have so much inspiration from this beautiful place, I shall never run out of painting material!!

Lilian---star pupil!

This is lilian painting her waterfall painting.

She wont mind me telling you that she is 83 years old.

We met lilian last year when we at St Audries.She said then''I feel like Ive known you for years,'' ----the feeling was very mutual!!!

Lilian painted her first painting last year and she painted 2 more this year.

The waterfall painting was much admired by everyone who viewed them--- all the paintings were put on display next to the dining room, and she actualy had someone want to buy her painting, but she didnt want to sell it!!!

Her grandaughter claimed her black and white birch tree painting last year, saying it was beautiful. Lilians son Graham who is the bar manager at St Audries wanted her to paint the poppy field painting which she promptly did and gave to him!

When she returned to Neath her grandaugher said to her that she had found her vocation in life, must say I agree.Lilian is a natural and although I said she was quite capable of painting at home she said she would wait til next year cos she enjoyed the classes so much!

I have a feeling that we will be seeing more of Lilian well before next year!!!

Her son Graham is the bar manager at SA and he had requested that she paint the poppy field painting. She did so and no one could tell hers from mine

Terry and Anne

Here are Anne and Terry with their Summer Day paintings they did at St Audries.

Anne thought she would have to attend every day in order to produce ONE painting.

When I explained to her that she could do one in less than 4 hours she didnt belive me.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating they say--Anne is coming to me at Ludlow in the near future as she lives not to far away in Brum! She was gobsmacked by the result and her husband couldnt belive his eyes when he came to collect her.

She admitted after the class that she hadnt slept all night worrying that she wouldnt be able to do it------she was very pleasantly surprised!!

Terry returned a week later and painted another beautiful picture.

Another Sunset

Another of the beautiful sunsets--I never tire of seeing them!

a Beautiful Sunset

I have so many photos of the sunsets taken while away.

I have this one as my screen saver,its so peaceful to look at and reminds me of the great times we had there!

Terry's Painting

Terry was just one of the great people that we met while doing the painting holiday.

He is one of the caravan owners and spends a lot of time there.

This is only his 2nd painting and what a great job he made of it!.

He was a very easy student to teach and made very detailed notes throughout the class.

He wants to go and paint St Audries Church which is just down the road from the holiday club. He was very ineterested in how I painted my last commission of Corely Church.He had a look at the picture on my blog to get some idea of how it was done.

I gave him a quick lesson in a few other techniques that we hadnt used in the previous 2 classes. When we were through with the quick demo, he was able to buy one of my painting knives paint and brushes that I had taken with me for students to buy in order to carry on at home.

All my students know that they can ring me anytime if there is any thing they are not sure of when they start painting at home, but Im sure that Terry will not have much problem with it.

I am looking forward to seeing the results of his

St Audries Bay Waterfall

This is the painting of St Audries waterfall that I painted for Mary.

I have tryed to capture the mystical feeling that surrounds the beautiful place.

It is one of the most peacefull, quiet places I have ever been.

This painting was done on a new canvas and although I primed it twice it started to dry out the very next day.

We will give it a coat of varnish the next time we are down there to bring out the colours.

marys painting

This is Mary with her Birch Tree painting.

Mary is the owner of St Audries Bay Holiday Club.

Last year she painted the Summer Day painting,and was over the moon with the result.

She exelled herself this year with her latest painting!!! Her husband didnt belive she had painted it.

It is on display in the reception area by tarriff board for everyone to see!!!

Boot Sales and Freecycle!!

I have had a lovely day today, we went to the boot sale this morning and ended up buying some stick insects for my little nephews and nieces.

A little boy was selling them at the boot- 10 for £1. After checking with the parents that they would like them we bought 2 lots of 10 and I have ended up with 4 myself.

We have read up about them on the interenet and found out what they like to eat etc and I am looking forward to watching them grow and mature.

They only hatched out in the past couple of days and will soon reach full size of 3-4 ins.

Ater the family came round to collect them, we had a quick look at the freecycle site and saw some lovely pine bedside tables on there,really well made and handy to hide away the clutter-luckily for us they were still available and very local so we went to fetch them.

We have previously had some storage stands off the same lady Tracy , so I took one of my small oil paintings for her as a thankyou.She was chuffed to bits with it-and exchange is no robbery!

We have been very lucky on freecycle , only yesterday we went to fetch some more storage stands for the garage, and also a brilliant back door for the garage.

While we were chatting with the owner of them, it came out in conversation that I'm an artist and the lady said she had a lovely big easel to go as well, Its a hand made one and is going to be every useful for bigger canvas, so we came back with more than expected!

Freecycle is a fantastic site-we have given lots of stuff away on there, from computer moniters to double glazing. Well worth a look at your local site if you are looking for anything, you never know what you will find on there!

Home again!

Well we are starting to get back to normal again after our painting holiday at St Audries.

All the washing is done and everything packed away again!

I have to get back into the swing of things soon, I have a talk and demo at Ledbury Art Society on Tuesday and a full class next Saturday.

Must say I am looking forward to meeting my ladies again plus one of their husbands as well for the Poppy Field painting!!

I have spent 30 mins updating the latest paintings onto http://www.protectmywork.com/

and I have some time left then to try and understand the new computer!!! Ive lost loads of photos on there somewhere-very frustrating when I have so much to update here on my blog--things may be a little muddled for a while cos I will post the pictures on as I find them, so they may not be in order!

Painting St Audries Waterfall

Here I am starting the painting of the falls.

I decided to paint it as a night scene to capture the mystical feel the place has.

I had a really enjoyable time painting the picture and everyone likes the finished result!

St Audries Bay Waterfall

We had a lovely walk down the beach today and went to see the beautiful waterfall that cascades down the cliff.

I took loads of pics because I wanted to paint a picture based on it.

It is one of the most tranquil spots I have ever been, there is so much to see down there,the way the rocks have formed around the base of it is just beautiful, never seen the like before,lots of inspiration for weeks to come

paddy's holiday

Paddy is enjoying his holiday.We decided to bring him with us to St Audries because he gets depressed when we leave him with the pet sitter,although he gets spoiled rotten while we are away.

He is out of his cage all evening which he cant do at at home because only Bill can get him in again!

He has a cage with a view now and loves to watch the seagulls flying around outside.

St Audries Bay

Here is the view from St Audries lately,isnt it beautiful.

relaxing times!

We are having a great time here at St Audries. We have been out and about all weekend, found 2 great boot sales, got some lovely bargains! Some painting videos for just 30p each, a brand new furbie for 50p.I also bought a beautiful pottery cat for only £10. They retail for at least £60 in Ludlow so I am really pleased with that.
I have just finished getting ready for the painting demonstration I am doing at 4:30pm.The canvas are prepared and the paint is on my palette ready to go.
The place is already filling up with organ players.It promises to be a busy week.
Stilltrying to work the new laptop,cant get the pictures loaded on here at the moment.I have computer wizz Terry coming for a class tomorrow so hopefully he will point me in the right direction.!!!!!!

Lilian---star pupil!

This is 83 year old Lilian with yesterdays Poppy Field painting.This is Lilians 3rd ever painting.She painted the birch tree painting last year,and this year she has painted the waterfall painting and the poppy field.
We had a lovely day today we went shopping with lilian to Minehead and went shopping for an outragous shirt for her son Graham to wear tomorrow night. Graham is bar manager and tomorrow night is the grand finale night when Ian the entertainments manager ,wears his most glamourous shirt,so he has some competition tomorrow!

Hello From St Audries Bay

We are having a great time at St audries .The weather is beautiful and it looks like staying that way!
I have had to buy a new laptop since we arrived as I had a problem with the old one, I have yet to work out how to load the pictures on here, so you will have to wait and see the results of the classes.
Many thanks to Darren the computer wizz who has set up my lap top so far-he is a gem!

Off We Go-- To St Audries Bay

We are still packing everything ready for the off to St Audries Bay! There is so much to remember-the list gets longer each hour!

I should have stopped at home while Bill fetched my friend from Stafford who is house/pet sitting but decided to go along for the ride last night instead!

There is no rush to get there though-as long as we arrive in time for the lovely 3 course meal this evening!

I will have internet access while I am away so I will keep you all posted with whats happening at St Audries Bay!

Stanton Lacy WI

We were at Stanton Lacy WI last night-its just a small group,as are many of the country WI's.

We had such a laugh there, Dorothy won the draw and chose Winter Wonderland as her prize. I donated Summer Day to the group to use for raising funds for their chosen charity.

Commission Finished

At last I have finished the commission of a fairly local church-Corely nr Clee Hill. It has been a challange to say the least--one thing is for sure-there will not be another painting of Corely Church by Diane Jennings in existence!!

I tend to stay away from doing paintings of buildings and stick to landscapes!!
I am very pleased with the results as was the lady who commissioned it. She came to collect it yesterday and was thrilled with it.

Childrens Encaustic Parties

After an inquiry today after a mum who I met at the weekend, I am able to announce that I will be available for childrens encaustic art birthday parties.

The children will be supervised and shown how to create beautiful melted wax pictures.
I will also supply a frame for the birthday child to put his/her favorite picture in.
They will be able to make some postcard size pics and also 1 A4 size.
If you are interested in having an encaustic party please get in touch with me.

New Classes

I have been inundated with requests for new classes. I cant fit in any more classes this year so I promise I will get some dates sorted out while I am on the painting holiday at St Audries Bay .
I will ring all of you that have enquired about particular classes and let you know when they will be held, before I advertise the classes on my websites.

diet

How can I stick to a diet when there are such things as real cream coffee cakes!

Me and Bill had an attack of the nibbles today, and I sent him off down to de'greys to get a cream cake each---naughty but nice!

I couldnt belive the size of it when he bought it back--it couldnt be eaten in public !!!

Im afraid it was a fingers in and lick the cream off job first!

I did try really hard but I couldnt finish it-dont know if I will be going to weight watchers on Wednesday--we tryed the sausage and leek hash and also had 2 rare breeds sausage baps today-well you just have to have quality control!! It was all beautiful-but Im afraid the scales will not like it!!

Bluebell Woods

This is the latest in my ''almost monochrome collection.
It measures 70 cm x 50cm and is painted in acrylic paint and encaustic wax.
It has had 3 coats of artists quality varnish to protect it.
The price is £120 including P+P in Uk
If you are outside Uk please get in touch
PLEASE BE AWARE THAT ALL MY WORK IS LOGGED AT http://www.protectmywork.com/

Get A Wobble On

This is the latest in my ''manic series''

It measures 16in x 20in and is very intricate! Some of the lines are not straight-hence the title!

The sides have been left black.

The cost includingP+P to UK is £100 if you are outside the Uk please get in touch

ALL MY WORK IS LOGGED AT http://www.protectmywork.com/

Day and Night

Day and Night has gone to live in its new home--I was beginning to think this work would never sell--it aways had many comments about it, everyone seemed to love it-but it waited until today to get the right new owners!

They have told me where it will be hung and have promised me to email me a pic of it in situ-I am looking forward to seeing it!

Latest Encaustic Artists!

As promised --2 of the latest encaustic artists at the Ludlow Food and Drink Festival craft fair in aid of the Air Ambulance.

Oliver and Hannah--- Little artists in the making!

Hannah had a go at encaustic art yesterday and bought back nanna and grandad today to have another go and to choose the colours she used today--I think they were very impressed!

Oliver is going to join us in a class to paint Tropical Summer Day in the near future----well- after Christmas! I now have a waiting list of people who want to join a class, and I have a full capacity of students until next year. I will be planning next years classes hopefully while on the painting holiday at St Audries Bay, the time seems to fly by--there is not enough hours in the day to get everything done that I want to do!

Little Stars !!

As Promised --Kate and Sarah who both had a go at encaustic art and really enjoyed them selves--Its been very busy today with everyone wanting to try it out!

Robbie , craft fair and radio shropshire!

I have had a call today from Robbie from Wolverhampton, who has been to me many times, wanting to know if I can squeeze in another private class this week--he has a fantastic idea for a painting-unfortunatly I havent got a spare minute between now and next weekend. I will see Robbie in Oct to help him create his painting!

We have just got back from setting up at the craft fair at the college--Chris who organises it for the air ambulance is very good-she gives me plenty of space because I demonstrate.


We had a terrific plug on Shropshire Radio from Colin Young who I met at Onslow Park, his young daughter had an encaustic lesson and was so impressed with it her dad came back and bought the entire kit for her! I had a lovely letter off Alice thanking me for her lesson.
It sounds like her dad is getting good at encaustic art too as well!
Thanks Colin for the mention,I am sure we will get some more people coming in for a go after all your praise!

For once I hadnt taken enough paintings down there with us--I usualy take too many.I have had another sort out and some more to take with us in the morning.

Exhibiton

I

have had a great response for the ''From Small Acorns'' exhibition. I have people from a long way away coming to exhibit their work.It is growing bigger every day and with room to put around 150 paintings, promises to be an exciting time for everyone concerned!

I have recently heard from one of the ladies who attended the class that was held at the college a few months ago, Nikki showed her painting to some friends and one of them was dying to have a go, so Nikki is buying her one of my gift vouchers for her birthday and they will come to Ludlow for a class.I am looking forward to meeting up with Nikki again.

I have also heard from one of my Hadnall WI ladies--she has booked herself and her daughter in law in for the Tropical Summer Day class, she phoned yesterday to book another place for Christine whose home we did the class in.

That means that that class is now full--in fact its more than full--we have an extra one to normal but thats not a problem-I have taught this painting quite a few times in classes now so 7 instead of 6 people wont be a problem!

Commission Finished

I have had such an interesting time painting the glass porthole windows---they have been a fascinating subject and I was really pleased with the result.

They are so vibrant with the light shining through them.

Its always a nail biting time waiting for the commissioners to come and view the piece--thankfully it was recieved well and I was informed that the glass portholes are in fact going to live in Mallorca, Spain.

They are going to email me some pics of them in situ in the doors, and I must say I cant wait.

I have been unable to get decent pics of them so hope they have more luck with the camera!

Ive Lost------

Had a great surprise when I went to weight watchers yesterday--Ive lost 5lb !!!! Im a happy bunny now--although after the beautiful spread ( the coffee and walnut cake in particular!) we had at the WI yesterday I may have put a Lb back on!

Just checked and and Ive lost another LB !

Im going to try really hard to shift some more before we go on the Painting holiday at St Audries Bay. I will without doubt put some on while there-the food is second to none and 3 courses every night--there is aways a salad option but the other stuff always smells and looks so nice it will be hard to resist it!

This Weekend's Food And Drink Festival

This weekend see's one of Ludlow highlights--The annual food and drink festival take a look at http://www.foodfestival.co.uk/ Ludlow will be heaving with people from all over the country and the world.

There are beer trails and sausage trails amoung other exciting things going on in the town.

The Streets Alive will be in town with the stilt dancers,music and loads of things going on in the town square.

We will be in the college Saturday and Sunday doing the craft fair which raises money for the Air Ambulance.

I will have room to put lots of paintings on show and as usual I will be demonstrating both the encaustic and oil painting techniques.

Several people that we met at Onslow Park steam rally will be coming to the craft fair to pick up their encaustic sets, that I had sold out of!!

I have stocked up with plenty of supplies of encaustic stuff so hopefully I wont run out of stock this weekend!

From Small Acorns

After announcing at the beginning of August that I will be holding an exhibition of my students work, I have given a lot of thought as to what it should be called and

I have decided to call the exhibition ''From Small Acorns'' As from the old saying'' From little acorns mighty oaks grow'' which is exactly what I see happening with my students when they come to me.

They walk in the door the first time and are usualy a bag of nerves and convinced they will fail to produce a decent painting---- they leave full of confidence and pleased as punch with what they have achieved--its the best part of this job.

I will be having a children's section as well as the adults. If there is any wall space left I will maybe hang a few of my own!!

If I have not already contacted you about putting your paintings into the exhibition, please get in touch-- via the telephone preferably.

There is no charge for putting the paintings in the exhibition and if you want to sell them you are free to do so--after all one of my students Catherine has sold 4 out of the 5 paintings that she has done in my classes--the last one for £180. She said she had priced it high because she didn't want to sell it!!
Its a good reflection on my teaching though and Im as pleased as punch for her!!

The way the year is going it will soon be here!!

Paper Boy

When we came out of Saturdays class this is what we saw outside--Cheek-a--boo the shropshire star paper -pony! He was waiting while his owner popped the paper through the letter box-isnt he cute?

Saturdays Class

I know----- I said I wouldnt be on here til next week!! well after todays brilliant class I couldnt resist it!

We were working in just black and white paint and the results were just astounding!

Shirley had the prize for the tidiest palette-the result can be seen here! This was her palette at the end of the class--amazing!

From left to right--Yvonne,Carole,Jan,Pete, Sharleen , and Shirley.

What great time we had today--Yvonne and Sharleen were both with me for the first time.

Yvonnes hubby Jack, had dropped her off at 10am and when he came to pick her up he asked how much had been sketched onto the canvas first-when I said nothing he was amazed!

They had quite a distance to come from Upton Upon Severn

He has booked for the next class along side his wife-the next class is now full.

Carole, ( and her daughter Hayley)

Jan has put the most touching message in my guest book,on my website http://www.paintingmyway.co.uk/ It makes my day when I get feedback like this.It has to be one of the most satisfying jobs in the world.!

I forgot to take a photo of Jans painting that she did last week.She bought it back this week for Bill to varnish and frame.

The difference it made was astounding. It is to be a present for her daughter birthday, she will be pleasently gobsmacked when she receives it!

You can see it in the background of the photo of Shirley signing her painting.

Carole who is very talented in other ways than painting presented me with another of her beautiful dried flower arrangements, done this time to match my kitchen, after she found out I have a silver theme going on there, I was so touched with this thoughtful gift.

Bill had traveled to Leominster this morning to fetch Carole, because her daughter Hayley was going to a wedding, Carole had said she would come on the bus, but we wouldnt hear of it-Bill set up the easels in the room and while I prepared the canvas and put out the paint, went off to fetch her from Leominster--its all part of the service!! as was varnishing last weeks canvas and framing them.