Monday, May 31, 2010

Two Years Today


I cant believe that its 2 years today since we had our Jake.
We have had such fun with him.
The house is always filled with laughter as the little monster copies and makes things up all day long!
We have been entertained for the past couple of days with Jake singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, laughing like the pet sitter Jeannie, making sounds like playing the drums that our friend Phil has taught him and making farting noises ( don't know where hes got that from!)
As soon as he gets a reaction from us he remembers and keeps doing it-sometimes he changes a bit-but it always makes sense.
They are complex creatures-African greys- they defiantly cant be called bird brain at all !
Jake also has the most incredible hearing-I can pick up the phone in the kitchen and start to dial the number and he is shouting "Hello" "Hello".And as soon as Bill mentions going into town he says "Bye-see you later"
Its so funny when one of us comes into the front room first thing in the morning to uncover the birds and open the curtains you hear a little voice say "Who's come?"
When he spots Sparky cat outside the patio window he shouts "come on Sparky, come on , quick quick" Poor Sparky has got used to it now but at first you could see the puzzlement on his face when he realised the bird was calling him!
Jake copies all the wild birds songs-and when he is outside on the patio he starts coo cooing like the doves when they land on the birdtable.
Our other bird Paddy who is an Orange tipped amazon dosent talk as such but he does respond back to us using the same noises-sometimes it sounds likes he is trying to talk but he will never be a as good a talker as our Jake.We dont love him any less though!

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Stormy Skies Class May 29th



Its always quite amazing to watch how everyone tackles the same subject in class.
We had a good range today--Sybilla and John have both been once before-Sybilla was quite subtle with the paint and John quite bold! Sally who is usually very subtle tryed hard to be much bolder and it worked lovely.Karen did prefer using acrylics but I think has now changed her mind!
Lyndsey had forgotten about the class until a quick text from me reminded her and we hung on until she arrived!
This class is good as it uses a lot of different brushes and techniques-including knife work-which everyone excepy Sally and Karen found a bit hard!
However once they got the pressure and angle right it all fell into place and the waves all happened beautifuly!

We had some stunning results-as you can see!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

New Class Date for "Poppy Fields"


I have been to Hereford hospital today and been told that I need to have a small operation-that has been scheduled for Wednesday June 30th. That means that the "Poppy Field" class that was due to take place on the Saturday July 3rd has had to be put forward a week to July 10th.
Im waiting to hear back from a couple of ladies that it will be ok but everyone else is Ok with it.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Places Left In This Saturdays Class"Stormy Skies"


There are still a few places left in this saturdays class ''Stormy Skies''.

We will use oil paint on a 16in x 20in canvas.

There is a choice of painting this atmospheric painting in either shades of grey, blue or brown-the painting looks just as effective in all of these colours.

Its a lovely easy one to do--even if you have never painted before!

My step by step instruction will guide you through loading the paint onto the brush and how to apply the brush to the canvas.
The class is suitable fgor all ages and abilities even first timers-if you would like to join me for this class please contact me vis my website

www.paintingmyway.co.uk and please remember to include your phone number so I can get in touch with you!

Interesting People






While we were on holiday we called to see a dear friend of ours-fellow artist Steve Gray and wife Barbra.
He is a very talented artist-some of his paintings look like photographs--and his latest of a motor bike just had to be seen to be believed-its absolutly stunning-the chrome work and reflections are unreal.
We were lucky to come away with a gift from Steve of one of his beautiful Elephant paintings which will hang in pride of place with one of Steves other paintings of a church and one of another artist friend Peter Williams.
Im building up a nice collection of art quietly thanks guys!

When we called at Rhayadar to see the kites we met another world famous artist called Dee Doody-what a lovely guy he is.
Loved his wildlife paintings-and was interesting to chat with him about techniques and materials.It was interesting to see him turn his painting upside down at times like some students do in class to make life easier!

More Holiday Pictures



We are back home after a most enjoyable holiday.
It was great to have a rest from work and relax a bit.The weather was kind to us and we have come back with great tans!
After 2 days at St Clears and 4 days at Bluestone Park we moved on to Aberystwyth for 2 nights in my friend Liz's static caravan.
We travelled all over the Welsh coast during out stay, and went as far as Barmouth-one of our favorite places, we found a cafe with an unusual name-after someone swiped the letters from the wall!
The views in this apart of the world are stunning.
We some some lovely people while we were away.
The chinese lady was in the market and she was writing peoples names in chinese which made a lovely unusual gift for the petsitter!
We called back at the Kite feeding station in Rhaydear on the way home yesterday-now that was a sight to see and well worth the £4 to get in.
There must have been 300-400 kite flying round when the meat was thrown out for them--if you are ever in the area do go and have a look--its at 3pm everyday and 2pm when the clocks go back--no one tells the birds about losing an hour for winter!
Ive got some stunning video to put on yout tube when I get a minute.











Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Bluestone Park


We are having a lovely relaxing time here at Bluestone Park--we can recommend it to anyone who wants peace and tranquility.
Its also the first time that the actual place has been as good as its website and the pictures of the place!
It really is 5 * accommodation here.
Everything is immaculate and everything has been thought of -even the dishwasher tablets etc are supplied.
You cannot fault the place at all--
we have both slept like logs-in fact we cant remember when we have both slept as much as we have here!
I expect its all the clean fresh air we are having.
We hired a golf buggy for our stay--and are glad we did-the site covers over 500 acres and its quite hilly--up and down to the village.
The pubs and restaurants are all down in the village so its a godsend coming back up on it!
When we arrived here we went out on the buggy to suss things out and we realised that we had no mobile phone signal in our allocated chalet--when we went back to the check in and explained I needed to have mobile contact as I run my own business they quickly found us another chalet in better area to get the signal.

The weather isn't so good today so we are chilling out in the chalet--catching up on some reading, tv and a bit of computing.
Its being packed away after Ive finished this though!
The time is flying by--it was Bills birthday yesterday and we had a lovely day.

All the livestock at home seem to be enjoying the spoiling they are getting by my friend Jeannie--she says Sparky is sleeping on the bed with her every night, and Paddy and Jake are chatting away 9 to the dozen.
I expepect they are having some extra biscuits and fruit from here as well--she loves spoiling them.
She will miss them when she goes home on Sunday!









Class of May 15th "Birches"



Well this is just a quickie as we are away on holiday and Ive just realised I hadn't put Saturdays class on here!

We had 14 in class- 7 who had been before and 7 newbies.
My 13 year old niece came along to help as we wanted to get away asap after the class.
Nat a tat as shes known was an absolute gem--she washed sponges, brushes changed water and held paint pots when needed.

Most students used a huge 36in x 14in canvas to create their masterpieces on, and we knew the class would take a bit longer than the usual 4 hours.
We had great fun as usual--the newbies were all quite nervous as is normal-- but soon settled down to it and all the nerves quickly vanished!

Sue found it easier to turn her painting upside down to put branches and grasses in, which made us laugh!

The venue at Helena lane has a cafe which proves popular with the students--we have a menu in class which the students can choose from and order, Bill takes the orders down and the cafe has it ready for 12pm when we stop for dinner.Its one less thing for people to worry about before leaving home to come to class.

Everyone was astounded with their paintings--and wants to come back again!
Kaitlyn received her artists brooch for attending 6 classes.
She loves a challenge bless her and is very quick at learning the new techniques each time.












Saturday, May 15, 2010

Holiday

Well we have landed at St Clears-been for a lovely meal-unloaded car and am now ready for bed--we had a cracking class today--didn't finish and get cleared up as early as we wanted but the fun we had made up for that!
When I phoned Jeannie I heard Paddy squawking in background and Jake telling him to "shut up--you noisy bugger!"
I loaded the pics onto the computer before leaving but havent resized them yet-so will put them on when I get a minute!

Friday, May 14, 2010

Looking Forward!

We are off on our holidays tomorrow after we have finished in the Birch Tree Class.
We have 14 coming to paint-and most of them are doing the 36in x 14in canvas so it will probably take a little longer than normal to do!

I have my niece Natalie coming to help me by holding the paint pots for the splattering bits and also collecting the sponges to wash etc.

Bill will be able to go off and do the last minute jobs that need to be done then!

My darling friend Jeannie is here to look after all the menagerie of parrots, cat and fish-Bill fetched her this afternoon.
Jake, Paddy and Sparky will be spoiled rotten by her as usual-they are all excited to see her as soon as she comes.
Bill has been and bought some of the birds favorite shortbread biscuits ( they are not spoiled much!) and I daresay they will have more than their normal 1/4 of biscuit each day while Jeannies here.
The fridge was stocked up with goodies for them all to enjoy while we are away! Its quite a joke when we go shopping-there is more bought for the cat and birds than for us!
Grapes, biscuits, cheese, marmite,apples and best ham--all for the pets!

Im very impressed with Bluestone Park customer service (where we are going Mon-Fri) we recieved an email from them yesterday saying dont bother to shop before you arrive-just tick the items on the shopping list attached and they will have all the items ready in the chalet when we arrive! So we did that-and are looking forward to the ribeye steak , sausage and dry cured bacon delivered fresh from the butchers when we arrive there!
We are stopping in St Clears for the first 2 nights, Bluestone Park for 4 nights and then a friends static caravan for 2 nights in Aberystwyth so it will be a lovely break.
We will be meeting up with an artist friend Steve who we last saw a couple of years ago which will be lovely!
I am off to bed now--morning will be here before we know it--will be a long day!

Saturday, May 08, 2010

Ludlow Food and Drink Festival/ Marches Transport

We are on the market tomorrow on Castle Square for the food and drink festival which has combined with the Marches Transport festival for the first time.
There will be lots going on for all the family--lovely things to eat and drink and loads of cars , lorrys and tractors etc to see in and around the castle and castle square.

Todays Class -Encaustic Art-- May 8th



We had a great time in the encaustic class today.
Jan couldnt make it-due to last minute meeting but the 5 that came really enjoyed it!
The melted wax is a lovely medium to use-unpredictable to a certain extent, but beautiful results achieved even first time by everyone!
Everyone had 20 6in x 4in cards to paint on with the wax.I went through all the different things you can do with the wax and everyone followed suit.Amazing just how different they all turn out.
Kaitlyn's brother William is just 6 years old and he managed (with mums help) to produce some stunning pieces. Kaitlyn is 9 and has been to 5 other classes-she knows exactly what she wants to do-
We had some really stunning results--the landscapes were very impressive-especially for first timers--Anne created some stunners!