BBQ

We had a beautiful evening last night-my daughter and partner came round and we had a scrummy BBQ out on the patio.
Some big juicy pork chops , sausage and garlic bread went down a treat with some salad and spicy cous cous.
The wine flowed and we laughed all night!
Jake thought it was funny and joined in with hysterical laughter which made us laugh even more!
When we feed the fish in the pond we throw the food onto the lily pads-which are massive this year-its great fun to see their heads pop out of the water to see where the food is-then they throw them selves at the pads to get the food--Im too slow with the camera to catch them right out of the water-especially after a few wines!

Shobdon Food And Drink Festival

A more tranquil setting you couldnt wish for--the weather was beautiful,and it was lovely to meet up with our friends again-especialy Jones The Bead-alias Elaine!
She asked to be next to us when she booked so we could catch up on all the gossip since the last time we met up!
There was a relaxed atmosphere as always, the brass band struck up outside the marquee and everyone was sitting around enjoying the food drink and music all day long.
We saw quite a few of the members of Leominster Vintage club there as they had a display of cars, lorrys and tractors there-they were great fun-they kept praising me up to anyone who would listen--I did a demo for them a few weeks ago-and aparently they loved it!
Shobdon is one of the best shows we do -it dosent feel like work when we are there-its a real pleasure to be there meeting everyone again.
Cant wait for next time!

Shobdon Childrens Art Competition

I had a really hard job on Sunday--I was asked to be the judge for the children's art competition .It was held in the beautiful church next to the marquee where the festival is held.
Shobdon church must be one of the prettiest churches I have ever seen---its absolutely beautiful.
The childrens paintings were very good and it was a hard job to choose the best 3 out of each class!

Shobdon--Encaustic Painting Stars

We saw some new faces this year at Shobdon and one familiar one---Zac has been to paint with the wax for the past 3 years-he is now 7 which means he must have been just 4 when we first mat him.He had shot up in height by a lot but still has the same cheeky face .He couldnt wait to get stuck in to it and did 2 lovely pictures.
We are looking forward to seeing him next year as well!

Shobdon--David and Annes Painting

David and Anne were delighted to be able to see their painting develop before their eyes in less than 15 mins! Luckily I had made quite a pile of the same colour paint so didnt have to stop again to do some more.
There was quite a crowd gathered at one point and we caused a bit of a traffic jam!
They kept popping back all afternoon to have another look at it and make sure I hadnt sold it to anyone else!

Shobdon --Matts Painting

While I was demonstrating on Saturday Matt Teale the sports commentator off TV came by and asked me if I would do a painting for his home.His girlfriend wanted a specific colour to match the kitchen or Matt would have a big decorating job to do!
Luckily we had a lady selling cushions next to us and she had the perfect colour cushion for me to work from!
I mixed the colour when I got to Shobdon on Sunday and waited for Matt and girlfriend to come by as they wanted to see the painting being done!
They were amazed to see the painting completed in less than 15 mins and they loved the colour as well!
It was left on my easel for safe keeping and lots of people admired it, then along came David and Anne who asked if I would paint one for them as well!
I agreed and said I would make theirs a little different to Matts by adding a snow covered tree in the foreground.

Tranquility In Blue

I had sold the blue version of ''Tranquility in Blue'' so decided to paint another version of it while at the show today.
I used a 16in x 20in box canvas.
I completed this painting in 15 mins.That was from start to finish.

When chatting to members of the public who always ask ''how long did that take?'' they very often didn't believe me--all the other stall holders were chipping in--''She did-we saw her do it!''
Quite a few members of the public also came back to see how it was going and were amazed to find it finished before they had even finished going round the craft tent!
It caught the eye of Matt Teale the sports presenter off TV
He called by with his lady-who loved the painting but wanted another colour to match their kitchen-fortunatly the lady selling cushions near us had the exact colour they wanted--a kind of smoky purple colour, so I am going to mix the colour up when I get there tomorrow and paint Matt's Tranquility In Mauve in front of him in around 15mins! Bill will be taking photos as well so they have record of how it was all done.
Will post the pics on here as well.

Shobdon Food And Drink Festival

We were up at the crack of dawn again this morning to finish loading the car for Shobdon Food and Drink Festival.Bill got on and did the sandwiches and put Jake into his travel cage while I found the odd bits and pieces like the camera and batteries etc..
The venue is only 15 miles away from home and with Jakie safely loaded into the back of the car off we went!
The drive up to the venue is beautiful-an avenue of trees line the road giving a tranquil look to start with!
We placed Jake on top of some boxes near to the door of the marquee.He had lots of fuss all day long of everyone,he lapped it all up.
He didn't say hardly a word though bless him.Poor thing was soooo tired by mid afternoon though, he stuck his head under his wing and shut his eyes.
They even kept announcing it over the tanoy that Jake the african grey was in the craft tent waiting for a fuss!
We had a few of my students pop by and say hello--Carole and Jan to name two!
The children enjoyed having a go at the encaustic art--pictured are Nathon, Fern and Charlotte,they had all had a go last year and remembered it and wanted another go.-Dad watched them and said he was calling back tomorrow for a complete set of encaustic art equipment.
It was really busy all day--non stop enquiries about the classes, the gift vouchers also went well and everyone was amazed by how quick the paintings could be done!

The only draw back was having no Internet access at the venue--its up in the sticks and I couldn't get any connection there. I got back to a load of questions about the stuff I have on Ebay, I have just finished answering those--we went up the road to the Squirrel after arriving home at 6pm tonight-far too tired to cook.

Sobdon Flower Food and Drink Festival

We haven't long got back from setting up at Shobdon Flower Food and Drink Festival.
Our new stands fitted in nicely into out corner space-we didnt need to put up the material behind as we had a new marquee and the walls are a lovely cream colour which looked great.
Its our 5th year there and it gets bigger and better each year!
There is loads to do and see-of course there will be all sorts of lovely free samples of food and drink to try!

I have been asked to judge the art competition that is being run for the first time this year-and to say I'm nervous is an understatement.The art will be from children as young as 5 years old up to adults- there are 3 categories. I will be taking along my camera and will post the results on here tomorrow night.
I will have my laptop with me and dongle so I can show people the other paintings I have on my websites that I havent had room to take with me.
Another unusal addition will be our parrot Jake--Im sure he will love it there. Bill has been sorting out a new bigger perch for the travelling cage and its sitting alongside jakes cage as I speak so he can get used to it.
All the new labels and price tags have been printed and laminated ready so we are all set to go.

Looking forward to meeting up with some old friends--Made us laugh to see the note on "Jones The Beads" table next to ours when we got there--
printed on it under special requests was "Please put me next to Diane and Bill Painting My Way!" we always have a great time with Elaine and I always come away with something exquisite that she has created out of beads!

Bills Boozy Christmas cake is packed and ready to go--its become a tradition for us to take a homemade Christmas cake to share out between the exhibitors there--
Does it sound like we are in for a great weekend or what!!?

Yesterdays Market

The sun was shining brightly when we got up at 6.30am to get ready for the market.
We packed a few extra paintings as the forecast was great and we be able to hang some on the outside of the stall.
We were also able to get the new stands put up properly with the black material fastened behind it .Last week the weather was not so good so we didn't bother with the material.
It made a huge difference-the stall looked far more modern and contemporary with the chrome and black.
My new series of paintings "Up Through The Tree Tops"looked great against the new background.
We had lots of positive comments from members of the public about it!
My "managers" --students Pauline and Chris turned up and got chatting to some people who were browsing-they showed the people the photos of themselves and their finished paintings from my album-and got me a couple of new customers--they will be on commission soon!
I managed to get a new version of Winters Walk finished in between chatting to everyone, as the only other one I have of it is in a gallery and as its a new class subject need one to show people what its like at the markets!
As the Ludlow Festival is on at the moment the town was heaving with people all day-we met all manner of people who want to learn to paint!
I have a list of approved B+Bs that some of my students have stayed at that I can give people who live too far away to come over for the day.
Also we have the Travel Lodge just over the road from our venue we use for classes.There are still some £9 and £19 rooms to be had to make it a real bargain weekend!

Gloucester Arts and Crafts School

IVe had my list of students come through today for my 2 days teaching at Gloucester Arts and Crafts School.
We have 9 ladies and one man coming on both days, so Bill wont be completly out-numbered!
We have booked in at a lovely hotel so we dont have to make the journey back on the Monday night.
Imreally looking forward to this new experience--it will be the first time i have had 10 students in a class.The day is a lot longer than normal 9.30am -4.30pm which is loads of time to get the 2 paintings done. I will be taking along the encaustic wax sets for people to have a go at after we have finished-as Im sure we will be finished a bit earlier even with 10 people!

E Bay

What a day--Ive been in the bedroom all day long today!
Measuring , photographing and loading everything onto Ebay. Ive had a massive sort out of clothes and am now going to make room for some new ones!
I cant belive how long its taken me--Ive been flat out since 7.30am til now.Ive got to getmy stuff ready for tomorrow market yet but not until Ive enjoyed a large Voddi and tonic and put my poor feet up for a while-

Todays Class -Stormy Skies

We had people coming to class from all over today-- Sue, Jen and Peter (aged 12) came all the way from Wellesbourne Warwickshire-we first met when I did some demos for the art society there.
Diana's son bought her a gift voucher as a birthday present and I met Sally and Jenny on the local Market when we were up there a few weeks ago.
After checking out the previous results when we used other colours other than the grey-everyone decided to do either blue or brown-no one did the grey which was a first!
I think everyone thought I was being a bit mean with the paint when I first put out the colours ready to start-but they were all amazed by just how far the paint went! you can how little by the photo above.
As usual right form the start we had completely different painting's happening--its so interesting to see just how quickly the painting develops-we had a good selection of skies-stormy and calm!
The sea proved to be quite easy but there was bit of tutting and holding breath when we started to paint in the distant hills!Everyone was careful not to make them too big-or paint boobies in as sometimes happens--the amount of times a student has painted in two hills that look like a pair of boobs is amazing!
The next bit of the painting is usualy the hardest-using the painting knife--well this group seemed to have very little trouble at all with it--after just a couple of angles not being quite right all of them soon had the knack and made some beautiful waves.
I showed everyone how to make some simple rocks and grasses and I put in a tree as well--everyone went back to their paintings and did their rocks and grasses-and then decided they really liked their paintings without adding any trees! I must admit they did look stunning without-and least they saw how to do them for the future!
We had lots of laughs in class today--mainly about the state of Sally and Jens palettes--boy did they get them in a mess what they would be like with 6 colours on the palette I dont know!
Sally and Jen were already booked up to do the Waterfall painting on September 5th but enjoyed themselves so much decided they couldn't wait that long so have booked into the Winter Wonderland class on Aug 8th as well!Sallys Dad is going to have awonderful suprise tomorrow-she is planning on giving him the painting as a Fathers Day present--Im sure he will love it.
We will be seeing Sue, Jenny and Peter again to paint the Birches soon.
Its a shame the brown paintings havent shown up well on the final photographs-they look a bit pale on them, the blues have shown up better!