January 29th "Winter Wonderland" oil workshop

It was nice to have a smaller class yesterday--7 students-I love teaching the workshops using a black canvas--its great fun to do and is a useful tool for students who are a bit nervous---Maysoon above-had never used one before and loved it!

Trina has painted once before with me and again used a black canvas--she loves it--and seemed a lot more confident -the end result was stunning!

Hard to believe that Jo had never painted before when you look at her painting--

Karen is quite an old hand at this painting game--she has done 16 pictures with me-and we have become very close friends as a result--she actually started out as a collector of my paintings--and still is.....!

Gill is a close friend of Karen's--when she took her painting home-her hubby was thrilled with it and said it was her best yet!

Maureen has become a very competent artist in such a short time--she is a very rare breed--she puts down her brushes and walks away and sits down when she thinks she has done enough of each stage--something that most people find hard to do---most stay at the easel and fiddle!

Pat's confidence has grown and grown with each class--she made a lot of decisions for herself yesterday-she has learned which brush does what and how much paint she will need for each bit .I love watching my students grow in confidence and ability-and as many of them come back time after time I have the opportunity to watch that-and feel very privileged to be part of that process.

Trina, Maysoon and Pat--beautiful results girls!

Jo,Karen , Maureen and Gill....lovely results-well done!. .I was hoping the swollen top lip I had during class-due to an infection would have gone down by now--I had a bit of ribbing from the girls who said it looked like I had had my lips injected to plump them up and it actually suited me! Looks like I'm off to the Docs in the morning to get it sorted,

Ollie

We spent a lovely afternoon today with our youngest grandchild Ollie--he is growing up fast bless him.He is 5 months old now--I dont know where the time has gone to!
He is laughing and chuckling like a good un, and the rosy cheeks tell us there are some little teeth on the way soon as well!

''Mellow Moods'' workshop Jan 22nd

It was my biggest workshop to date-we had 17 students in----9 first timers and the 

others between once and 7 times

Angela on left and Anne- both first time with me--Anne was really quite nervous--but soon realised there was nothing to worry about!

It was lovely to see Caroline back -she bought her mum Mary a gift voucher for Christmas so she joined her in the class.

Mary painting in her trees

Jaye had got the nickname of Messy in previous classes--as she has been covered in paint in the past 2 ---however she kept herself very clean yesterday!

Angela made a beautiful job of her trees

It was lovely to see Suzanne again, its been a while since she came to class-but she got right back into it straight away .

Tom came along with Janet and her family-Jaye, Lisa and Christina

Christina asked if |I had had any Valium that morning as she was sure I would need them as she would be no good at painting as she couldn't even draw stick men! I assured her I wouldn't need any and we had a laugh all day long with them all--Christina loved it-and wants to know when she can come again!

Lisa is making a great job here of her background

Little Esme is only 9 and came along with her dad Andrew fr the first time.Her trees were really bold and she got used to putting the right amount of paint on the brush quickly.

I think Andrew surprised himself yesterday--he had never painted before-but he made a beautiful job of his trees and seemed to find it all very easy. His comment in my book at the end--" I Didn't Know I Had It In Me!"

Cristine has been once before to paint the sunflowers--she is painting 4 pictures with me and has bought the matching greetings cads as all the pictures are for presents.She loves her sessions with me.Everyone agreed yesterday-while they are painting they think of nothing else--all their worries/problems are left outside the door.

Lorna loved her first class with me so much she bought along her Mum and Angela yesterday!

Another student we hadn't seen for a while was Rhada--its been a year since we saw her--she missed he train from Birmingham yesterday so her hubby drove her over. We had a lovely pressie of a bottle of wine from her which we will enjoy with our lunch today-Cheers Rhada!

Anne and Pat are friends of Karen-another friend/student. They were supposed to come earlier in the year but the weather stopped that! Both were completely nervous--but settled down quickly and produced some beautiful paintings--they are back next month to do Yesterday.

Lots of giggles all day from this bunch! Tom -on the end managed to spill his acrylic paint over his oil palette before we started-so that started them all off ! Its usualy Jaye who makes a mess!

Caroline used some red to make her painting more Autumnal and it worked lovely.

Its amazing just how the paintings change so quickly once the colour goes on

I loved Angela's painting with just the yellow ochre-but she added the green as well after.

Lovely and bold!

I couldnt get them all in one photo-so did them in 2 lots--Val isnt in the pictures as she needed to stay seated inside--it was freezing cold !

What a wide variety of paintings--and it was so lovely was always to see peoples self confidence grow as the class went on--they soon start making desions on their own about where to put things and what colour to use--I had a lovely time with them all.

facebook

A lot of the students who have been to my workshops are on Facebook and have made friends with me and Bill...if you havent already made friends and you want to.. the quickest was is to type my facebook email address into FB and go from there!
Its a great way of getting your art out there and showing your friends and family just what you have been up to on Saturday!
All of the photos taken in class are on my facebook page for you to tag!
find me on jennings.com@fsmail.net

Today's Workshop "Summer Day"

Hilary hadnt painted before  and was quite nervous when she came with daughter Donna who was also convinced she couldnt paint..however they soon settled down and started to enjoy the experience...they were  really pleased with how easy they found it.

We met Pat on Ludlow market a while back..she hadnt painted before but really enjoyed the experience.she had walked from her home to the class venue (or got blown there..the weather was very blustery!) and Irene kindly gave her a lift home after we had finished.

Grace came along with her Mum Karen

Karen

June has been to workshops with me 3 times now along with her grandaughter Kira

Irene comes all the way from Stoke on Trent to paint with me

Donna is nearly finished with her beach here

Wendy hadnt painted before and said it was a lot easier than she expected..

Karen is nearly finished here.just the poppies to do!

Kira is about to start her poppiesshe also added some seagulls at the end of the workshop!

Grace about to do her poppies,nearly finished now

Natalie helping Pat with her bushes...Nat is useful in class as she knows when to stop students who are in danger of going wrong and to wait for me to correct them..

lovely results ladies...well done!

Stormy Skies Feb th--4 spaces left

I have just had a call from Janet who has been to a couple of classes with her daughters--they have booked into the Mellow Moods class and the Stormy Skies class as well--unfortunately they cant make it to the Stormy Skies on Feb 5th due to a house move so there are now 4 places left in that class--please get in touch if you would like to join us,,,,,,
Its a lovely one to do-you will learn to use a variety of brushes, a knife and various techniques. You will use a very limited palette of just black and white to create the picture--its a very interesting one to do-and suitable for all ages and abilities even first timers.

Please contact me via the website if you would like to join us www.paintingmyway.co.uk