Hollie and Lucie -last weekend

We had a busy time last weekend-- we had a full class on saturday and then we had the little grandaughters Hollie and Lucie to stay from Sunderland. We had great fun with them--its like Christmas every time they come down-looking through the toys to see what new ones Nanny Di and bought since the last visit!
Hollie is mad about Dora the Explorer-and little Lucie likes her as well.
Its pretty manic here while they are awake--but after a nice warm bath with a few drops of pure lavender oil in it the pair of them were out for the count by 9.15pm-- theres nothing nicer than a little one smelling of baby talc, snuggled up on your lap-we sat all snugged up watching Simply Red on the tv-- then we just had to carry them to bed -easier said ten done--I had to swop Hollie over to Grandad Bill so I could take Lucie off him to carry up the stairs!
The pair of them slept all night-then we had to leave them with their mum and dad while we went to the market--they are back down again this weekend-so looking forward to that!

Warning--baby ahead !

Little Ollie came round to see us again today--and he pulled this face  as I was taking his photo--dosent he look wicked?

Cant believe how quickly he is growing up--he is a goog little thing though bless him.

Sunflowers class Nov 6th--few spaces left.

I have a few spaces left for this workshop--we had some beautiful results last time round-it gives the chance to be very individual in this one-as you can see from photos of the last workshop.

Its very interesting to see how everyone tackles the sunflowers themselves-they were as individual as the students themselves!
If you fancy having a go at this one-please get in touch via the website www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Garlic---yummmmmmmmmm

Garlic--its a bit like marmite--you love it or hate it--well here in the Jennings household we love it.. just have to be careful when we use it--wouldn't do to be breathing garlic fumes over potential students when chatting to them on the markets--or when I am doing a workshop!
We discovered this beautiful unique garlic last Christmas when shopping at Lidl's--it comes in a lovely basket-which is great for holding bits and pieces afterwards!

The garlic is unusual in that it is just one huge clove-not separate ones as is normal.You top and tail the garlic and take skin off and you have one whole HUGE clove--
Tonight I roasted 4 whole garlics along with some baby plum tomatoes around some organic free range chicken legs(only bought because they were reduced at Morrisons!) to be honest I have never tried organic free range chicken before--couldn't justify the price of it--but after tasting it tonight I think I will look out for it again--it was beautiful--so tasty and moist.Completly different to the usual  chicken we buy.
  A few oven chips and we had a perfect dinner!

One thing I have always been amazed at is the stainless steel soap that gets the strongest of smells off your hands--dont know how it works but it does--just wash your hands as normal under running water with it and in no time the strong smell of garlic is gone--far better than traditional soaps.
You can get them at Bettaware etc -and ebay I expect  as well!

www.dianetheartist.com

I have 300 paintings over on my other website www.dianetheartist.com  there is now the facility to leave comments about the paintings--if you want to do so that would be great!

March 5th 2011 "Reeds In The Breeze"

 I have just added another date for next year--March 5th we will be painting "Reeds In The Breeze" --as you can see there is a wide variety of choices for this workshop--and as it is quite like the popular Summer Day painting ( which is nearly full on January 15th)  you could also use those colours as well .
You will learn a variety of techniques and use a lot of different brushes as well during the workshop.The hardest part will be choosing which colours to do!
I think this one will fill up quite quickly so book early to ensure a place-- www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Cynthia's Masterpiece!

 Its always good to hear that students have been having a go at painting at home-so it was lovely to see what Cynthia had done recently--she made a beautiful job of this seascape, the photo doesn't do it justice to be honest, she said it was her third attempt all on her own-and the first one she was really happy with--but considering she has had only 3 classes with me I think that she has done really well.

She managed to get the most paint on her at yesterdays class-somehow she had black paint all up her sleeves and over the front of her pink jumper although she had an apron on--luckily she managed to get it all off when she got home--they were a load of mucky pups yesterday--never seen so much paint everywhere bar the canvas before--faces, hands and tables-you name it -there was paint on it! We used loads of baby wipes wiping it all off!

Winters Walk class--acrylic and oils--Sept 25th

We had a great time in class yesterday -some great results- and looking forward to seeing everyone again!

Mellow Moods Jan 22nd-

There is a choice of colours for this popular class-you will use acrylic and oils to create this lovely waterfall scene--suitable for all ages and abilities -contact me via the website www.paintingmyway.co.uk  to book online or give me a ring on 01584 872013

Classes filling up quickly

  There are 9 students booked in for Summer Day (Above)  already on January 15th 2011--so if you fancy doing this popular class please get in touch soon! You will use oils and a knife to create this painting.

 

3 places have gone already for the "Yesterday" class  (above)  on Feb 26th--a choice of colour for this  acrylic painting.Reds/oranges  Blues/purples and browns and beige

You willl be working on a 36in x 14in canvas

The cost for this class is £45 as the canvas is larger than normal.Fantastic results every time for this class-even with first time artists.

Baby Ollie

We had little Ollie round this afternoon--hard to believe hes just 5 weeks old--he was smiling like a good-en.
He is a lovely little chap bless him-so happy.It was lovely to have some cuddles-and he loved Grandad Bill--
but it was Nanna Di who stopped him grisling and got him to sleep--I havent lost my touch!

Cats In A Tree lll

I have just finished the 3rd in the Cat In The Tree series.

The previous 2 in the series ahve both been sold--each one has an added extra to the previous one-the 1st pic had one cat in the tree, the 2nd had 2 cats in the tree and this one has 2 cats and some rabbits--

I havent decided yet what the 4th in the series will have !
Its painted in acrylic paint on a chunky 12in x 24in box canvas--all the sides are painted and its been varnished to protect it.
It will be posted by Special Delivery which means it is insured,trackable and next day delivery.
The cost is included in the price of the painting which is £130
To see more of my work please take a look at my website www.paintingmyway.co.uk

You can also see details of the workshops that are coming up in 2010 and 2011.

Peter Dillon--Artist

I want to introduce you to a new artist friend of mine Peter Dillon.

He is the brother in law of Tommy Preece who comes along to me for one 2 one sessions now and again.

Peter has a wonderful style and paints from memory places and scenes he has lived and been.

He has just got his own website on Affordable British Art that is run by another good friend of mine Ros .

You can see Peters work by clicking this link-- http://www.affordablebritishart.co.uk/details.php?pid=8652

Im sure Peter will do well selling his original paintings and I wish him all the sucess in the world for his future in the art world!

Michelles Paintings

I had the pleasure of teaching Michelle to paint today. She contacted me through my website a couple of weeks ago ,as she was coming to the area on holiday and had always fancied learning to paint.
Her hubby had bought her a set of oils for Valentines Day but of course she hadn't got a clue what to do with them.
So I arranged for her come along today.
I gave her the option of painting one standard size painting or two different smaller ones for the same price of £45 for a one 2 one session.
She chose to do the two smaller ones as she would learn a lot more from the different paintings.
We did the Serenity one first-and she was amazed at how little oil paint we needed --she quickly had the sky, distant trees and snowy bushes done, and as each stage was finished she stood back in amazement at what she had achieved with her bashing brush and tickling brushes!
She took photos of her paintings at each stage so she has a record of how she did it.
She chose The Waterfall for her second picture-and we were able to use the same brushes we had used for the first painting to save on cleaning.
She loved working on the black canvas-and you would never have known she had not painted before ever!
Her bushes were great-she got the hang of shaping them up really easily-and when it came to using the wipe out tool to create the water lines-she was a natural!
The time just flew by-as we chatted about painting and other things--mainly food!!

She has gone away with a full set of brushes, a bottle of turps and various containers to use to start her new hobby of painting.
She intends having a go tomorrow --and she is under strict orders to ring me if she isn't sure about anything-rather than try and muddle through it. I would rather spend 5 minutes explaining something on the phone to a student than have them making mistakes and getting stressed if its not going right.
Michelle and her hubby Trevor are heading to Ludlow again tomorrow to take in some of the local sights and the food centre. They will call by the market and say hello to us again as well!
I'm very sure Trevor will be very impressed with her paintings when she gets back with them.

Bishops Castle Michaelmas Fair and other bits

Another busy weekend over-we had a great time at Bishops Castle Michaelmas fair.It was good to meet up with old and new friends again.
The weather stayed fine-if a bit chilly and windy on the Sunday.
But the people came out in droves and at times you couldn't move in the marquee.
We had a 2nd hand book stall next to us--and I got a lot of bargains from there--all were as new--all I need is the time to read them now!

Bookings for classes went well-and we returned home to some bookings from the website as well...
there are now 9 students booked in for the first class of 2011 "Summer Day" so its filling up fast.
I sold the original Stormy Poppies painting recently to a lovely American lady so I had to paint another as its a class subject shortly.
Its painted on a chunky canvas and its impossible to paint all the sides with oils in class as there would be paint all over the car and students--however I didn't think the painting really looked finished with the sides left white so Bill used black acrylic paint and painted the sides black after I had finished it--it really does look good--so students will have the option when they come to class to have black or white sides.

As the classes have grown in size I needed to get some more aprons for the students to wear in class--the last place I bought them from are no longer in business so I had to source some more-I must say I'm very pleased with the new ones that arrived today-they have embroidered the logo beautifully and much bigger than on the old aprons as well!

I have a One 2 One student coming to paint tomorrow-so have been busy having a quick tidy up--life has been far to busy to dust lately--I found a great little picture recently at the boot sale that I thought was funny and apt!
It says Dull Women Have Immaculate Homes!

Thats my excuse for having a 'lived in' house anyway!
But with another busy week coming up-there will be little chance of having a proper blitz--we are back on market on Wednesday- and this weekend we have a full class in Winters Walk and then our little grandaughters are coming down from Sunderland to stay the night with us--then we are up early Sunday morning to be on the Book and Craft fair on Castle Square-- maybe next week it will be a little quieter for me!

Bunty Van

Bunty has had all the sign writing done now--and I'm very pleased with it!
It was done yesterday but when we went to fetch her something wasn't right--couldn't put our finger on what it was for a few minutes and then we realised they had spelled the website wrong!
So she had to stay overnight for them to redo it!
Anyway--its all perfect now-and they have made a grand job of blowing up the photo of my 'Reeds in the Breeze' painting and putting it on an easel on both sides.
So we are all set for the weekends Michaelmas Fair--Ive just got a few paintings to finish off now and we will be away early tomorrow morning!

Bishops Castle Michaelmas fair

We have a busy weekend ahead of us with the Bishops Castle Michaelmas Fair.
We had a very busy time there last year-the town is alive with all sorts of things going on.
There are more steam engines there this year than before-and they parade through the streets on both days.
Beside the craft marquee there are stalls all through the town selling all manner of things!
Here is the link to their website www.michaelmasfair.org.uk/michaelmas/home.aspx
I will have a large display of paintings and will be painting in oils, acrylics and encaustic wax while Im there.

Ludlow Food and Drink Festival

We had an early start yesterday -up at 6am to go and set up the gazebo in the college for the food and drink festival.
We had a lovely sunny spot next to the entrance of the college so we were busy all day from the time the gates opened.
Marce bought our little Ollie along to see us before it got busy so we had time for a little cuddle first! He is growing sooo fast and he is a really knowing little thing! Grandad Bill hasn't lost his touch and soon stopped him crying when he picked him up.

I managed to leave my brushes behind at home and ended up with just 3 brushes to demonstrate with all day--however it amazed everyone who stopped and watched me just how much could be done with few brushes.
The town was heaving with people all day and it seemed like they all stopped by us for a look--we had paintings inside and out of the gazebo and tables outside with the encaustic stuff on--the lights worked well inside the gazebo-and highlighted the texture on the brown poppy beautifully.
Anthony Worrel-Thompson the chef came into the college for a wander round the craft market with his wife--hes just like he looks on the tv!

Ive got some paintings to finish off now in time for this weekends big event at Bishops Castle Michaelmas Fair which runs on Saturday and Sunday--we are taking the caravan and parking it on my friends drive-thanks Karen--so we will be able to enjoy the Bishops Castle nightlife on Saturday night and have a drink or three!