Bluebell Woods

We stopped by the woods at Dinmore Hill the other day--the sun was shining and the bluebells were just starting to come out...we spotted this little robin sunning himself on a branch..

there are some beautiful trees around Queenswood..

some inspiration for a new painting..

 pine trees..

blimey you never know what you will find in the woods today lol

he was a friendly bear though...

more inspiration..

the bluebells are not quite open fully...but enough to get some good snaps...

this is one of my favourite pics

I love this one...

beautiful cherry blossom...

just beautiful !

Grasses Workshop April 21st

Jodie had a gift voucher for her birthday and came along with her friend Catherine from Stratford Upon Avon,,,Catherine had painted before and does abstracts using all sorts of materials but this was a first for her...Jodie hadn't painted since she was at school..

Catherine's painting took on a dramatic feel right from the start....

Ruth has been attending an art club in nearby Church Stretton where she lives, but its been mainly drawing and watercolours and she wanted to try some other mediums, so was here to have a go at acrylics..she did get on with it OK,,,but found the 2nd coat easier as do most people....we use the the first coat of acrylic as a practise run-and get used to the feel of the brushes and paint..

Derek has Parkinson's and has a little trouble with his short term memory so he needed a little more help with his blending of colours on the canvas,,but he really did very well in the end ...

We had a laugh when Jodie noticed she had a badger appear in her sky when she did her second coat---as soon as she pointed it out we could all see it....and I persuaded her to keep it in as it was a lovely feature! However since the picture of it went onto Facebook a couple of Jodie's friends have seen a shark and not a badger!!! And now its been pointed out I can see the shark as well!!!

The results---all lovely---Ruth and Derek decided to add the poppies to the end result which looked great--equally Jodie and Catherine's paintings looked just great with the long grasses...its quite a versatile subject....looking forward to seeing everyone again!

Shobdon WI Demo

We were at one of our favourite places last night-Shobdon- to do a demo for the local WI..The village hall is actually in the school and we found a nice corner to set up my stands with some of the paintings on..and my card stand as well.

Only one or two of the ladies had painted before and then in watercolour--so it was an eye opener for the ladies to see paintings being done so quickly in oils....

all watching intently!

you could hear a pin drop at times...

I painted Summer Day and The Waterfall as they show the technique at its best, with lots of different brushes being used for different effects...

Pam was the lucky winner of the raffle and she chose the Summer day painting---she was over the moon that she won and said she had just the place for the picture-on her stairs that had just been decorated with a poppy wallpaper! We will see some of the ladies again at Shobdon Food and Drink Festival in June....

Who Ate All The Pies?

We get all sorts of birds in our garden eating at the bird tables but yesterday we noticed this little Blue Tit on the nuts looking for all the world like he had been eating all the pies!    He was huge- and had a big fat belly on him!

He was feeding fine and could fly OK so don't think there was anything wrong with him..

It was lovely to see the Bull Finch back again today...

and little fatty was back today, looking slightly smaller today I think,,so maybe he had a bad case of wind!

Finished Glass

I'm quite pleased with my finished tree coaster...

And my semi abstract Summer Day triptych turned out pretty good too..can see i needed to use more of the blue glass powder in the sky to give more depth but its still fine like it is!

Bills first coaster reminds me of a stick insect...love it!

He used strips of ribbon in this one--very effective...

We both love this one,,,,,shame he didn't make me 3 more so I have a set for the dining table!

Bills abstract triptych turned out lovely,,the colours are beautiful and I love the shapes in it..

very interesting to see how the different glass reacted when it was fired in the kiln..it was a great experience and we would love to do it again!.

Glass Fusion Workshop

Me and my Bill spent a very enjoyable afternoon in Leominster at http://www.exemplar-glass.co.uk/#/classes/4556882167  it was an early birthday pressie for Bill and it made a lovely change for me to be on the other side of instruction! I was a bit nervous to say the least but the lovely Jane who runs the workshops soon put us at ease with a lovely cup of coffee and shortbread's. She explained all the different techniques and things that can be done with glass and the photo above shows some of them...

first thing we did was some glass cutting...not as easy as it looks! I tyred a basic little tree to start with....

This is Bills--we had to cut the glass then stick it back onto another piece leaving a small gap so we could fill it with a glass powder to fill in the gaps.....when its fired in the kiln it will change colour..

LOL I struggled to get my glass stuck onto the base glass--couldn't get it very even at all...so I used a stencil to add leaves on top....not a brilliant job but it was my first time!

the glass powder will change colour when its been fired--it may turn out a little bit abstract !

I wanted to do a version of my signature painting "Summer Day as my big piece..it was lovely picking out pieces of glass and arranging them onto a triptych of plain glass,,,,I cut out cloud shapes out of paper to mask them for the sky, then used the glass powder to put colour around them, then I used chunky pieces of turquoise ,blue glass and white  to create the sea, !

Bills pieces in the kiln ready for firing.....he was really creative and imaginative and found the whole session very relaxing....

I used some  glass crystals for the beach, and more chunky glass for the foliage in the foreground.There were some very thin strips of glass that made great grasses and a few red crystals of red made some poppies..the end result may be a bit abstract but I don't mind--it will be recognisable as a Summer Day picture with a bit of luck!

A closer look at the bottom of the picture....we cant wait for Jane to ring and say the pieces are ready to pick up...they will have to be fired and cooled down for a few days then we will pop over and collect them... for anyone wanting to do something different I would recommend Jane's workshops highly--it was great fun to do and the time just flew by so quickly it was unreal.....many thanks Jane xx