Stormy Skies Jan 16th

I have already got 10 booked in for this class but can fit in 2 more.
Its proved to be a popular subject over the past few years and has a choice of colours in the class.
You will use a variety of brushes and techniques during the class.
Check out the website for more details
www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Emerald Woods Jan 23rd

I have already got 7 booked in for this popular class that is done using acrylic and oil paint..

We get some stunning results every time with this painting-even with first time students.
Check out the website for more details
www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Summer Day Jan 30th

Summer Day is one of the most popular classes I run. Painted in oils it is a lovely calm painting suitable for all ges and abilities from first timers upwards.
You will learn to use lots of different brushes and techniques during the class.
Check out the website
www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Birches Feb 6th-CLASS NOW FULL

Birches has proved to be one of my most popular classes to date. You have the choice of monochrome or sepia shades. There is also a choice of canvas size as well.
Panted in acrylic it will be dry to take home.
EDIT--THIS CLASS IS NOW FULL WITH 12 STUDENTS IN-I am holding another class doing the Birches on May 15th
check out the website
www.paintingmyway.co.uk
for more details

Winter Wonderland Feb 14th

Painted in oil onto a black canvas Winter Wonderland has had some brilliant results in previous classes.
You will learn to use a variety of brushes and techniques during the class.
4 booked already

Suitable for all ages and abilities check out the website
www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Grasses Feb 20th

Grasses is a new class subject-there is the option of adding in the tree as well if you want.
This will be painted in acrylic and will be dry for you to take home.
I painted the original painting from a photograph taken by my friend Lin who makes my greetings cards for me-the copyright for this picture remains with her.Lin is joining us for his class so it will be interesting for her to paint this one!

There are 6 places booked already -places are going fast-so book early.
We will be using a chunky 12in x 24in box canvas as that suits the pictur best I feel.
Check out the website www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Serenity Feb 27th

There is a choice of colour and canvas size for this popular class.Serenity has been done in green,brown,blue, mauve, dusky rose and grey in previous classes.You will also have a choice of the standard 16in x 20in canvas or an oval one.There is several different changes of scenery you can make as well-from snow to fences-plenty to ring the changes!
Painted in oils you will learn a variety of techniques-suitable for all ages and abilities.
check out the website for more details.
www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Poppy Field March 6th

We get fantastic results in this class-lots of scope for being very individual ! Its a simple but effective oil painting-using a variety of brushes nd techniques.Its suitable for all ages and abilities.
Check out the website for more details
www.paintingmyway.co.uk
3 places booked already

Waterfall March 13th

The Waterfall is painted onto a black canvas
-which makes life easier for the more nervous students! The general feeling is that it is harder to 'spoil'a black canvas than a pure white one!
Anyway-this is one of my most popular classes and gets full very quickly-2 places have gone already.
Suitable for all ages and abilities
for more details please check out the website
www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Tropical Sunset March 20th

We will use both oil and acrylic to paint thistropical scene-fantastic results every time we do this in class--

suitable for ll ages and abilities from first imers upwards.
2 places booked already
for more details please check out the website www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Mellow Moods March 27th

This was a very popular class subject last time round--several of the sdtudents chose to do this using autumn shades rather than the green and ochres--to great effect! I will paint an autumn coloured one to show the difference shortly and post onto he website.
We will use acrylic and oil paint and a varaety of brushes and techniques-its suitable for all ages and abilities from children upwards.
for more details please check out the website www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Sunflowers -April 3rd

Sunflowers is a new class subject--I'm still working on the final image at the moment and will put the finished one on my website.
It will be done using acrylic and oil paint and is suitable for all ages and abilities.
You will use a variety of brushes and several different techniques during the class.
For more details please check out the website www.paintingmyway.co.uk
2 places booked already

"Yesterday" April 10th

"Yesterday" proved to be a popular subject last time we painted it.
We use acrylic paint which means the painting is dry for you to take home.There is a choice of colours and also canvas size. The results were stunning in the previous class and it is suitable for all students from first timers to more experienced ones.
You will learn how to use various brushes and how to blend pant and create perspective too.
Check out the website for more details
www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Christmas

Well we have had an hectic time of it over the past few days--today its just me and Bill relaxing and taking it easy. Ive got a bad chest infection-had it for nearly a week now-off to the docs for some more antibiotics in the morning for me!
Christmas Eve was lovely-I spent the day getting some festive goodies done for the big day--the fresh cranberry sauce,bread sauce and my special stuffing loaf-Bill sorted out the turkey and put loads of butter under the skin so it would stay nice and moist!
The trifle was made and I got the melting Camembert's ready for when our friends Marion and Phil came round as usual in the evening--
The mulled wine smelt beautiful-and the smell of freshly baked bread to dip in the melted cheese made us feel very hungry!
We had a lovely evening with them-the time flew by!
Christmas dinner was small affair for once--just us along with my daughter and my mum. The rest of the family decended on us for tea as is usual and the house was packed to the rafters! Every year the children get a bit bigger and take up more room than the year before--thank goodness we have a large kitchen and dining room as well as a big lounge!

Photos

I manage to get this photo through the kitchen window yesterday--the little tom tit seems to be looking down at the woodpecker to see when he will be finished on the nuts!
I love to get photos of the sky-it never fails to amaze me just how much the sky can change in minutes.

Christmas Is Coming!

We seemed to be later than ever this year getting ready for Christmas!
But we got the tree put up yesterday at last--I wanted to get the carpets shampooed before that happened.
I had bought a new carpet cleaner months ago and just hadn't had a minute to use it.
The carpets have come up like new so its shoes off for everyone now and we have bought a new runner for the hall way just in case.
Its such fun unpacking the boxes of decorations -there is always something that Ive forgotten about in there.
As usual there are a few new decorations on the tree as well-found some beauties in a charity shop in Kidderminster the other week.
Ive managed to get round to marzipaning and icing the cakes today-not as many as last year just 6 to do.
I gave Karen hers before I got the photos done! Still got one big one left but we usually take one to Shobdon Food and Drink Festival so will save it for now.

Last Market Of 2009

We woke up to a cold damp morning today--I had decided that this was to be the last market we would do this year.
Its so cold to be stood around in the winter on Castle Square--no good for Bill or me!
The damp wont do the paintings any favours either--we had to put a plastic sheet up between the stalls today so I could have the card stand out as it kept drizzling with rain.

I intend going back up there and running the stall again in the spring when the weather is starting to get warmer!
We will miss the company of our fellow stallholders/friends -many of whom will be suffering the cold weather on the market right through the winter months-though Im sure we will be calling by and having a chat with them now and again.

It was a lovely feeling to get back home tonight, unload the car, pack away the paintings and know that we wont have to get them out again for a whole month!

I have 11 already booked into the first class of 2010 "Stormy Skies" on the 16th Jan and wont need the paintings out until then.
I have got lots to do between now and then--new painting subjects for classes to design and experiment with--dates to sort out for future classes-have only done til April so far!

Cant believe Christmas is so near-we still have loads of Christmas cakes to marzipan and ice, carpets to shampoo and a Christmas tree to put up-never been so late doing that--all being well will do that tomorrow and then get Lins poppy painting finished at last!

Fionas Painting!

Ive had a lovely time painting with Fiona today!

Fiona didn't have a clue where she was going or what she was going to do when Ally picked her up this morning.
Ally loves to surprise her friends with a painting session when they least expect it.
Fiona is getting over a serious illness and yesterday had some good news that cheered them both up :-) Ally had worked out when Fiona would be at her best to paint because the treatment has been making her quite poorly for a couple of weeks after she has it.
Fiona's face when she realised what she was going to be doing today was a picture--pun intended!
"But I cant paint" she kept saying--"I don't have a clue" " You will be fine" I tryed to reassure her!
She was at a bit of a disadvantage to most people who know they are going to be painting--must be quite a big shock to have it drooped on you a few minutes before you start!
Anyway after a coffee and a look through the photo album of previous students Fiona decided that she wanted to paint "Serenity" in the dusky lilac colours.
I mixed the colour on her palette , gave her the brushes and she was still very nervous bless her!
After making a start on the sky-she settled down a bit, and as the time flew by and her picture came along she relaxed and really enjoyed herself. She laughed at the names of the brushes we use--bashing brushes, bush brushes and tickling brushes etc--in less than 3 hours her masterpiece was finished--Ally came to collect her and asked which one was hers!
Her children will have a big surprise when they have a look on here-she isn't telling them what she has been doing -just to take a look at the site--they will be gobsmacked!
I have a feeling I will see Fiona again!

January Classes and Other Bits!

Well Ive taken the last class of the year now--seems weird that I haven't another class until January 16th when we are painting Stormy Skies--I already have ten booked in for that class but can take another 2 in there.
I have 8 booked in for Jan 23rd class Emerald Woods so 4 spaces left in that class
and in the Summer Day class on January I have 5 booked in so 7 spaces left in the class..

I have a one to one coming on Tuesday -she knows nothing of it at all-and wont until she is delivered to my door!
Ally has surprised many of her friends in this way-as birthday and Christmas presents--she doesn't tell them where they are going-just to wear old clothes!
So I cant prepare anything until they arrive at 10am on the day-then Fiona can choose which painting she wants to do.
No doubt she will say she wont be able to do it-and then 4 hours later be completely gobsmacked at what shes done!

We are really over the moon to hear that Dave is home from hospital at long last--after a major op on his heart he suffered some setbacks and was rushed back in to Birmingham for a while--but he is now back home and no doubt being spoiled rotten by Lin--big hugs to them both-and see you both soon xxx

Class Of Dec 12th "Yesterday" (updated!)

What cracking day we had today! 10 students- 3 of whom had not been before--all of whom used the biggest canvas size 36in x 14in .
"Yesterday" was a new class subject--and the students were given a choice of orange/reds browns/creams or blues and purples.
We had a mix of old and new students--Sally and her friend Jan have been 3 times before--while Samantha and Gemma were newbies--within a few minutes there was lots of laughter going on between the 4 of them--Sal and Jen and Sam and Gem had discovered that they were a drugs councillor,and ex-family worker, a social worker and a mental health worker! So they all had lots in common and I believe they will be keeping in touch with each other!
They were laughing at their names being so alike as well!
Sal has asked if I will do a class just for her people she is dealing with in the future if she can get funding--we have agreed that it will be a helpful tool in helping them have a sense of achievement that they thought not possible-watch this space!


Everyone had some wonderful ideas of the effect they wanted-and the finished results were very individual-we all had great fun -and are seeing everyone again!
Pauline and Chris have been with us loads of times now-Chris has developed his own style up to a point and always does his own thing in his paintings--today he added a golden sun using the metallic gold paint-and a volcano as well! Sal followed his idea and added a silver moon as her painting was in a dark purple --- it looked great!

Two gift vouchers were sold as well-they have been very popular this year--there will be some happy artists in the coming year! Cynthia's painting is going to be a Christmas pressie for her daughter-they came by the market one week and she told Cynthia-that's what Id like for Christmas please!--I'm sure she will be over the moon when she opens it on Christmas Day!
14 year old Jess made a great job of her picture--she is not afraid of colour or using too much paint--as older students can be! Pauline really excelled herself today--she really got to grips with mixing the colours and was quite bold with it--she has been a bit unsure of using a lot of paint in the past.
It was hard to believe that Karen had never painted before-she really took to it like a duck to water-her first coat of paint was nigh on perfect-she had lots of light in the centre of her painting which was really warm and glowing. Her second coat of paint went on like a dream as well--she had to sit to paint -due to a recent op -as did Jan-and working on a 3ft wide canvas wasnt easy for either of them due to the size of it-but they both made a great job of it!