New Dates and Subjects!

I have finished updating the workshop dates until Christmas now and will be making a start on next years dates soon.
Ive also added a new page with some of my favorite phtographs of scenery I want to paint at some point! Take a look and see what you think!www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Birthday Painting Parties

Ive added a new page to my website www.paintingmyway.co.uk for the birthday/hen/stag parties that I run. Suitable for all ages and great fun! You organise the venue and I will do the rest! You need a minimum of 9 people and maximum of 15. I will supply all you need to paint a 8in x 10in acrylic painting--no experience needed at all in around 2 hours. All the above were first time artists except for Trina whose 30th birthday party it was.As you can see the results were great..and everyone is keen to do it again.The cost is just £15 per person.

Day 1 of Shobdon Food And Drink Festival

I cant believe its come round again already--Shobdon Food and Drink Festival-----its the 7th year and we have done every one of them! This is my favorite view---the avenue of trees leading up to the venue!Bob the little artist bear is sitting in his usual place in the van window admiring the view!

just before the avenue is the pond---the pond is always green-covered in duckweed! When the sun shines on the water it creates a stunning picture! Im going to get round to painting soon!

Just about set up and ready for action here!

Our lovely friend Elaine (otherwise known as Jones The Bead) who creates the most beautiful beaded necklaces,earrings and all manner of beautiful things ,had her usual place next to us--and she had a lovely suprise for me---Pimms----yumm yummm! So me and Jonsey had lots of laughs all day while enjoying the refreshing hic hic fruity drink! Some interesting encaustic art was produced afterwards!

Elaines stall---must get some close ups of some of the beautiful things she makes tomorrow---the knitted cakes are new--and just brilliant!

here he is--our most regular customer at Shobdon---ZAK!!! He has come to do the encaustic art every year--and its lovely to see him each year with his family! He has grown even more this year....he chose to use the black card this year--he had some lovely results.....

Zak's sister Emily--I didnt reconise her at all-she has really grown up--but she still loved having a go at the encaustic art.....and created a lovely pink/purple painting with a few little spooky faces in it! Looks like blogger is playing up--- It will not let me put on any more pictures--so will try to morrow to put the photo of Emily's friend Bethan on...

Trina's 30th Birthday Party

We had a great time helping Trina celebrate her 30th bithday tonight with a painting party! 9 of her family and friends came along....there was a choice of Mystical Moon and Yesterday to choose from----but in the end I showed them how to do both...and Trina painted both paintings as one of her friends was ill and couldnt come...so Trina has painted one for her! Youngest was Stacey--who is just 7 years old.

We had some fun in between stages--Kirsty is giving Patrick (Trina's Dad) a quick blow dry here!!!

Andy--Trina's hubby is looking very pleased with himself here--and so her should--he is making a great job of his painting..

Kirsty used the purple shades to do her ''yesterday'' painting

Julie was very nervous--she has been by the market many times but was convinced  she wouldnt be able to do it--this small canvas is a great way to try the water so to speak!

Elizabeth made a brilliant job ..

Katy really enjoyed it once her nerves went!

Patrick was convinced he would fail to do a painting..now I think he knows different...

The birthday Girl Trina did both paintings as one of her friends couldnt make it due to illness....no mean feat for someone who has only painted with me 3 times before.....and she made a beautiful job of both her pictures.

 

What a lovely birthday cake...complete with easel and a canvas saying Happy Birthday on it..

Wow--well done everyone!

New Venue For Some Workshops!

After a great evening with the ladies of Llanidloes WI last week--we saw 2 of them in class on Saturday and things have happened very quickly since! Elaine who organised the demo after coming to Ludlow to some workshops last year , managed to book the room in Llanidloes we used for the 12th Nov so we could go over and do the Birch Tree Workshop there---we already have 12 booked in for that one! There is an extra charge per person of £2 which will cover our traveling expenses so the workshop will be £37 ....as usual there will be a choice of canvas size  12inx 24in chunky canvas, 16in x 20in , 20 in x 16in or the largest one 36in x 14in one which is £47 . A choice of colours-monochrome or browns and creams.

I will be adding these dates to the website tonight--or in the morning---only 5 places left  so be quick if you want to join this workshop!

The room we use in Ludlow is unavailable on Nov 19th as its being used for the church fete.So we are going back to Llanidloes for a 2nd workshop--this time using oils to paint the popular "Reeds In The Breeze" Elaine emailed tonight to say the places are going quickly so if you want to join us there please get in touch via the website..I will be adding the dates later today or tomorrow.There will be a wide choice of colours to paint this picture as usual.....cost will be £37 for the usual 16in x 20in canvas check out the website for more details www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Fantasia

I have really enjoyed creating this work. I have used coloured beeswax and an electric iron, melting the wax directly onto the glass.... the colours are vibrant and all sort of things have appeared in the wax--in the close up photo you can see lots of eyes--at least I can! Because of the nature of the melted wax--each painting created using this method will be completly unique. I have used some metallic colours-silver,gold,green and violet-they catch the light beautifuly!I have reversed the glass into the metallic dark red/copper metal frame so the wax is protected. The painting will be on display from 25th July until 5th Aug at Church Stretton and South Shropshire Art Festival. If you would like me to create one of these paintings for you please get in touch

I can see all sorts of things in this small part of the painting--lots of eyes and faces! What can you see?

More From Jake

There is never a dull moment in our house --Jake our african grey makes sure of that! I still have to balance the phone to record on top of the fishtank and leave him to get on with it...he has us crying with laughter bless him! Enjoy!!!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LvyCbeKCCE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mknZ6F_s7r8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt_PxMD5XaU

Painting Party

Im looking forward to Thursday evening--we are off to do a 30th birthday painting party in town! There will be 9 or 10 people in the British Legion Club painting either Yesterday, Grasses or Mystical Moon!They can make up their minds on the night!
Should be a good laugh---Trina whose party it is has been to me twice so knows what it entails--but everyone else has no experience at all!
I will add the photos the next day!

Little Izzy and Family!

Callum loved feeding grandads fish--he also found we had a magic fountain in the pond--Callum only had to say 'go and the fountain started up--and when he said 'stop' it stopped--maybe had something to do with Grandads remote control operated plugs that operated the lights and fountain--but we wont tell Callum that!

It was lovely to have Greg and family call by today--Callum starts school in September--cant believe where the time has gone--seems like yesterday he was little as Izzy!

Little Izzy is a month old now and she is really filling out bless her--she was really studying me hard today!

who's that? she looks like she is saying!

Grandad having cuddles...

Happy Families!

Poppy Field Workshop June 18th

Izzy was pretty nervous to start with---

Adam who came to the workshop with Izzy didn't seem nervous at all--

We met Christine on Wednesday night at the demo in Wales---she has never painted before-but soon settled down and enjoyed the experience!

Julie was another lady from the demo the other night--she has painted before and showed me some lovely photos of paintings she has done at home---she has never tryed my technique before though and really enjoyed it--

Margarita came to class last week for the first time and used acrylics---she loved using the oils this week---

Steven soon got the hang of the brushes and paint today---we met Steve when we stayed at The Barons Court Hotel in Wolverhampton last year..

poppies are going in....this is the chance to really express yourself!

we added daisies and cornflowers as well as poppies--

looking great Julie

Izzys painting was quite delicate in the end..

Adams was quite bold with his colours...

I loved Stevens big bold poppies--

What lovely results.....everyone wants to come back-so we will look forward to seeing them again!

Lots Happening!

After a popular demo on Wednesday Night at Llanidloes I have 2 of the ladies coming over tomorrow to join the Poppy Field workshop.I had got 2 cancellations due to illness so that worked out OK!
There was so much interest in the workshops the other night after seeing my demo that I agreed to go over there on Nov 12th to do a Birch Tree workshop.
Elaine who organised the WI demo has sorted out the room and has already got 10 people wanting to come and do the workshop....I will have to charge an extra £2 per head to travel there... but it will save them the journey/petrol so everyone is happy with that!
Must say I'm really looking forward to it!
Ive also had an email from Gail at the Button Oak art club who want me to go over to do a Birch Tree workshop on Oct 11th--we have been there twice  before and the members loved it--this will be the first time using acrylics for them!
I am going to Bewdley on Monday to finalise the details of the painting holiday I have been asked to do--we will see the space available to us for the workshops,,etc etc.
This promises to be a fantastic opportunity for anyone wanting to learn to oil paint. It will be different to my usual 4 hour workshops---it will cover everything from start to finish--mixing the medium we use to coat the canvas, painting the picture right through to cleaning and looking after your brushes. 2 days of everything you need to know about oil painting! Watch this space!

Shobdon Food and Drink Festival

We are getting geared up for one of our favorite events of the year--Shobdon Food and Drink Festival http://www.shobdonfestival.co.uk/   lots to see and do for all the family---under 11 's are free and adults pay just £4 to enter the event. I will be there demonstrating oil,acrylic and encaustic techniques --and looking forward to seeing some regulars like little Zac who comes every year to do an encaustic painting!

Llanidloes WI

We had a long drive last night after being on the market! We drove 58 miles to Llanidloes WI to give a talk/demo to the ladies there! Elaine who has been some of the workshops arranged it and it was lovely to see her and Dianne again.There were all sorts of lovely niceties to eat--scones with clotted cream and jam and Bills favorite of all time--lemon drizzle cake! We arrived at 7pm and quickly got set up with  lots of help unloading the car from the ladies and Elaine's hubby! We had a display of paintings on the stands and also 2 large tables filled with my greetings cards and small paintings.

Its wasn't the biggest group I have ever done --but it was certainly one of the nicest! We had lots of laughs during the demo--and when I had finished there were gasps of amazement when the paintings were passed round--they couldn't believe the detail I had in there!

It was nice to have the questions from some of the ladies of the local art group--it was quite unlike anything they has seen before....one thing that surprised them all was the lack of smell! Most folk seem to think that oils will be smelly and messy.I explained that the oil paints themselves have no smell and the turps I use is low odour so nothing to worry about!We are arranging to go over to the room in Nov to do a workshop---as most of the ladies wanted to have a go--we will charge a little extra a head to cover the travel --the room is ideal being well lit and having parking so we will look forward to seeing the ladies again!

the 2 paintings I did for the ladies...

Elaine and her hubby fell in love with this Winter Wonderland painting--and it went home with them! I must get cracking and do another one as an example for the workshops!

this little painting also went to a new home with one of the ladies as well!