New Show

We have been asked if we will attend the new Ludlow Spring Food festival which is merging with the Marches Transport Festival this year for the first time.
its being held on Castle Square on May 9th. It promises to be a great event.Lets hope the sun shines on us!
www.ludlowspringfestival.co.uk/

NEW Encaustic Class--May 8th

I have got 6 booked in for the encaustic class on May 8th-so only 2 places are left.
We will be using the special electric irons to create up to 20 postcard size paintings and one A4 .
I will show you how to get all the different effects with the coloured waxes.
There is a element of surprise with the encaustic art-which is lovely.
Because the wax is molten it isn't quite as controllable as paint you never quite know what it will do which makes it very exciting.
If you are interested in coming to class please contact me via the website
www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Christmas Day!

We have had a very busy day today--we had Christmas all over again--minus the tree! That would be taking things too far!
I had some boxes of canvas and things to move from the dining room to make room for Carl and Marce-its used as an overflow from the garage sometimes!

Bill got the turkey in the oven and did the veg while I made the bread sauce and my special stuffing loaf
--its really delicious--
I line a silicon loaf tin with streaky bacon and add layers of sage (from garden) and onion stuffing, sausage meat, a thick layer of garlic chives from the garden-cranberry sauce in the middle and repeat.
Fold over the bacon on the top add sage leaves and bake--
use turkey baster to take any excess fat off ( I put the crusts saved from making bread sauce into container and put excess fat over top for wild birds)
when the top is crispy I turn it out and put on baking sheet and return to oven until bottom and sides are crispy.
Its as nice cold as it is hot as well.

The Christmas Pud was served with clotted cream and was definatly no good for the waist line or the diabetes but as its a one off it wont hurt Im sure.
Marce is expecting our 4th grandchild in early August-and they are off for a 20 week scan at the
hospital tomorrow--but they are not going to find out the sex of it--that will be a suprise til it arrives-which will be lovely-

Classes Update

Im having 5 mins while on the craft market on the Castle Square--while we have been here the following classes have been filled.
Sunflowers On Sat 3rd,
Yesterday On April 10th
and Birches on May 15th .
I have a date later in year for the Yesterday class--July 17th
I will be updating the classes this week for June and July

Mellow Moods Class -March 27th

I had 9 students in for today's class. A mix of first timers--Paul and David through to Sara who achieved her artist brooch for attending 6 classes-and everything in between!

The subject Mellow Moods is a mix of acrylic under- painting and a oil wash along with some thicker oil paint in places.
The students learned to use a wide variety of brushes and tools, including a silicon wiping out tool and a knife.
It was really interesting to see how everyone tackled the first stage of acrylic--the trees soon took shape!
Before long the waterfall had gone in-along with splashes and and reflections.

The time seemed to fly by so quickly--there was just chance to have a look at which paintings are coming up and get booked in--Birches on May 15th is now full.
I am going to update the next lot of classes this week--all being well!

The new venue has a cafe which is open til 12.30pm so its handy for the students to get a coffee and sandwich.

There is also a lovely patio area to sit and eat and drink when we have a break-which Gary and Elaine enjoyed!

We are on the Craft market tomorrow--so hope the weather will be kinder to us than is forecast--

Christmas Is Coming!

No I'm not going round the twist!
Bills eldest son Carl is travelling back from Ghana tonight after 4 months out there working in a gold mine.

He works on all the big machinery keeping it all going
Cant believe how quick the time has gone! It dosent seem 5 minutes since we said goodbye to him!

Because he was away for Christmas we are going to have it all over again-complete with turkey , crackers, dinner and pressies.
We are busy over the weekend-- got a class of 9 class tomorrow and craft market on Sunday we have decided that Monday will be Christmas Day- though Tuesday will proberly be more exciting for him--he will be going with his partner Marce to have the 20 week scan of their unborn child.
They have decided not to find out the sex of the
baby which we think is lovely--it will be a suprise when its born!


must remember to get the turkey out of the freezer tomorrow!

Bevs Painting day

Ive spent a lovely few hours with one of my students Bev. Bev has been to a few classes with me now and has carried on painting at home as well--even going on to teach her son Tim (who has been to 2 classes) a few new paintings.
Bev wanted some advice on how best to tackle a painting she wanted to paint from a photograph of one of her favorite places Lake Vyrnwy.
She bought along the photos today and we discussed the pros and cons of different methods-
in the end she did some under painting with black acrylic paint and used oils on the top.
It didn't take long before the picture took shape.
She made a beautiful job of blending the paint on the hills-she captured the light and shadows easily.
The dark trees came about after using a 'bashing' brush to create texture and she used a small brush to add detail.
It was a first for me today as I opted not to actually paint a canvas myself--I didn't feel there was any need for me to do so--I knew Bev knew all the strokes we used in class-and really only needed a bit of back up of her own confidence as much as tuition.

She made most of the decisions herself and needed little prompting from me.
The water tower in the lake was properly the hardest part of the pic,and that turned out ok after a bit of careful blending and darkening of the shadows.
After she had finished I showed her the wonders of encaustic art--she loved it! As do most people who have a go at it!
She couldn't believe how quickly it came together.
When she had a go she soon created an undersea scene complete with moray eel peeping out of the seaweed.

Back home

We have arrived back home after our weekend away. Got a painting to get finished for the Ludlow Art Society Exhibition this Friday and another to get varnished so straight back to it!
I had a call this morning to say that Paul and his friend cant make it this weekend due to his wife having a stroke.

I have 2 spaces left now in the Mellow Moods class on March 28th.
Ive got to catch up and make sure all the student know where the new venue is at Helena Lane day centre. Postcode is SY8 2NP

Lovely Time

We have had a lovely time this weekend, we are staying at the Barons Court Hotel-a beautiful Edwardian arts and crafts building.
Lots and lots of original features here-the whole place has a feeling of tranquility and peacefulness.
Lots of ambient lighting-candles are lit everywhere as soon as it starts to get dark-all of which adds to the atmosphere.
Keith who runs the hotel is just brilliant-nothing is to much trouble for him at all.

Its rare for a hotel to allow you to bring your own drinks, but its encouraged here, and the hotels lounge is the perfect place to relax in the evening and have a drink and watch TV or just chat.

We had a massive full English today and it kept us going until early evening when we went out for dinner-steak with all the trimmings and garlic butter for me and roast beef for Bill- then we couldn't resist the sweet platter-the chocolate brownies were naughty but nice-and it is my birthday and wedding anniversary after all!
Back to the strict diets tomorrow when we get back home. Off to do some retail therapy tomorrow, got some things to pick up from Marks and Spencers that I ordered off the internet and had delivered to the local store here-then home to catch up with everything!

Birthday/Wedding Anniversary

Well I cant believe its been 10 years yesterday since I met my Bill and 9 years on Sunday since we married.
As it was my 40 th birthday when we married -he has no excuse to forget our wedding anniversary ever!

Many thanks to the friends and students who have sent pressies , cards etc--very much appreciated

We are off for a couple of days now-have re-arranged the "tropical sunset" class
will keep you updated with whats happening next!

Congratulations Peter

One of my online friends Peter Williams has got cause to celebrate today-one of his paintings 'High And Mighty' has been shortlisted for the DSWF Wildlife Artist Of The Year 2010. The competition is open to professionals and amateurs worldwide, there are literally thousands of entries which are judged by a panel.

The shortlisted entries will be exhibited at the Mall Galleries, London 24th-29th May where they will be for sale. This is a high profile exhibition and anyone who is anyone in wildlife conservation circles will be at the preview evening, where 50% of sales go to the DSWF to help endangered species around the world.

Its come as no suprise to all us artist friends who have watched Peter grow from strength to strength over the past 4 or 5 years-he really is an amazing artist--

peter-williams-art.blogspot.com/2010/03/david-shepherd-wildlife-foundation.html

Peter also has an exhibition coming up soon -wishing him all the best for that too-


peter-williams-art.blogspot.com/2010/03/fade-to-black-exhibition.html

Todays Demo

We spent a lovely afternoon at Four Rivers today.
As usual I painted two pictures, today I did The Waterfall and Serenity In Green.
Some of the nurses were able to sit in and watch as did some of the relatives of the residents.
Everyone enjoyed it, and the manager won the raffle and chose Serenity.
One of the nurses had called by our stall on Sunday and her hubby had booked up for Mellow Moods class, so she couldn't wait to go home and tell him that she had seen a preview of the sort of thing that will happen in class!
I realised that the deputy manager had been along to one of my Summer Day classes last year too when we got there!

Diabetes

Just got back from the doctors for the results of my blood tests. As expected he told me I was diabetic.
My blood tests before Christmas showed I had boarder line Diabetes, but a few weeks ago I noticed I was getting more and more thirsty and my eyesight was getting blurry at times.

I tested myself with Bills spare machine and it showed some quite high readings.So it was no suprise to be told this morning.
As Bills been diabetic for the last 10 years I know what to do to control it-so for now its just diet controlled and hopefully can keep it somewhere near like that.

Other parts of my blood tests have improved a great deal so it wasnt all bad news!

We are off to do a demo this afternoon at Four Rivers so off to load the car up now.

First craft fair

Today was the first craft fair of the year.
It was sunny but cold and windy.

It was busier than expected though and I sold Winter Wonderland in the morning and in the afternoon a young couple were looking at my greetings cards when they spotted Cat In a Tree and asked if I had the original painting there--sods law I hadn't-had looked at it the night before when we were loading up the car but decided to take something else instead!

Anyway they were on their way to Fishmoor hall to discuss their forthcoming wedding there and said they would call back later to see the painting after I had sent Bill home to fetch it.
sure enough they came back at 4.30pm for the painting-and loved it.
I sold right out of the cat in a tree cards today as well as several other new ones that Lin did for me-will be in touch for some more soon.
I also booked one more person for the Mellow Moods class making that one defiantly full now with 13 booked in.

Class of March 13th "The Waterfall"

We had 5 in today to paint The Waterfall painting.

Bev has been quite a few times before, and her son Tim has been once before.
Tims fiance Catherine joined us this time as well.

Alison who joined us for the 3rd time has her birthday today and bought along some lovely cakes for us all to enjoy as a treat!

Little Katlin is just 7 years old and came last week for the first time.
Her mum bought her from Telford and stopped while the class went on.

Everyone was amazed by just how different the paintings were right from the word go!

Alison has only worked in acrylic in previous classes before so using the oils was quite different-she loved it!

Catherine was quite nervous, but soon settled down and got a lovely soft landscape going on.

Tim really seemed to find the oils easy and his background took shape very quickly. He was quite bold with his trees and it worked really well.

The paintings took shape quickly,the actual waterfalls posed no problems today--sometimes people can be quite nervous about painting those in!
We used the silicon wiping out tool to add waterlines and grasses.

The time flew by somehow today-we had lots of laughs and Alison acquired a new nick name!

Katlin is coming again next week,and Bev and Tim are coming on April 19th to do the wide "Yeserday" painting.

We have our two little granddaughters stopping the night -hence the late posting on here--Hollie has just dropped off to sleep bless her!

Wellington Wi Demo

We had a great night in Wellinton tonight--the run up there was not too bad-around an hour or so.

I painted Winter Wonderland and Summer Day for the ladies in just under an hour-the ladies loved it!

They bought lots of cards after the demo-so many that I'm going to be a bit short on stock for this Sundays Craft market!
I will have to ring Lin who does the cards for me and ask her to do some more for me when she has a minute!

More money was raised for Breakthrough Breast cancer with sales of the Boob-tiful cards too!

Two of the ladies have booked up for the Birch Tree class in May--just 3 places left in that class now.
I have also been asked if 12 of the ladies can come as a group and do a painting too.

Jean won the raffle and chose the Summer Day painting--I have donated the Winter Wonderland painting to the WI to use for fundraising.

All in all a great night was had by all--we really enjoyed meeting the ladies and the lovely goodies we had with our tea and coffee were just so tasty!

Demos and Stuff!

We have an hours journey this evening to do a demo for Wellington WI. Will get car packed this morning so we are not rushing round before we go!

The demos always go down well with everyone-they find it amazing just how quickly the paintings happen-they see it all from start to finish!

Had a call this morning from Sue who was at the demo I did last week at Whitton-she has booked 2 places on the Forest Pool class for herself and her daughter as a birthday present.

I had a text from Justina who came for a private one to one a couple of weeks ago, she wants me to get a whole set of brushes, paints and mediums together for her when she comes back to Ludlow tomorrow.
Ive also got to get her booked in for another one to one!
She wanted to come next Tuesday but I'm already booked up to do a demo at Four Rivers In Ludlow, so we will have to sort out another date!

I'm on the craft market this Sunday for the first time this year-hope the weather is a bit warmer by then!

Its going to be a busy time by sound of it--we have the granddaughters Hollie and Lucie coming down on Saturday to stay the night as well while their mum and dad go to a wedding in town.
Haven't seen them for a while-bet they have grown a bit!

Ive got a commission to do for a lady who wants one of my Poppy paintings that I do in acrylic and wax-she likes the one on 4 canvas but wants the same thing on a 3ft canvas instead.

Ive ordered it and will make a start when it arrives-I love doing these paintings--lots of layers of paint built up over and over and then the touchy feely wax goes on before having 4 layers of varnish to protect it all.

Well I'm off to start getting paintings etc ready for tonight--

The Waterfall-this saturday

We are painting The waterfall this Saturday--we will be using a black canvas and working with oils.
Its a great picture to do , we use lots of different brushes to create it.
Its suitable for all ages and abilities-we have Katlin joining us again -she is just 9 years old an painted for the first time last week.

if you would like to join us please get in touch via the website
www.paintingmyway.co.uk

NEW VENUE FOR THIS SATURDAY

As of this Saturday we will be at our new venue Helena Lane Day Centre, off Hamlet Road , Ludlow, SY8 2NR.

Its a lovely room, lots of good light and parking right outside the door.
Looking forward to using this lovely new venue--for details on how to find it please get in touch-though its literaly just round the corner from our previous room!

Finished Off

While I had the paints out today, I found a few paintings that I knew needed a bit of finishing off---not a lot of work to do to them , just little bits and pieces.
I used a lovely violet iridescent paint to highlight the tree in the Mystical moon one-it looks great when the light catches it.
I can get them varnished tomorrow and load them onto my websites.

Simply Sunflowers ll

I
have been working on a large painting ready for the Ludlow Art Society Exhibition which is held next month. Its 30in x 30in and painted in acrylic.
Its been an epic to do--I really thought I would never finish it! Each flower had to be painted over at least 3 times as the yellow paints are quite transparent.
Im really happy with it now its done though-just to have 3 coats of varnish over the next few days and its ready to go!

NEW Encaustic Class--May 8th

When Ann brought her granddaughter Hannah to class today she also bought along her friend- we got chatting and they had a look at some of the encaustic bookmarks I had on display there.
They were all curious as to how they were created and want to come to a class and learn how to do it themselves.
I have set a date for this class on May 8th. I only have room for 8 students and 3 are booked already.
You will be painting 20 postcard sized paintings and one A4.
I will show you how to do landscapes and abstract pictures using the special iron and the coloured beeswax.
Its great fun to do and is very addictive.The effects you can get in seconds are quite amazing-the wax dries in seconds and can be re-worked as often as you want until you are happy with it.
all sorts of little creatures appear in the wax as if by magic and its great fun spotting them.
Please get in touch with me if you want to join us in this class via the website-Im sure th places will go quite quickly!
www.paintingmyway.co.uk