Art From The Heart Exhibition

My next solo exhibition " Art From The Heart" will be opening on Friday 2nd Nov so I have been really busy getting the paintings ready to show there. There are 9 panels to hang the paintings in so the easiest way of working out what paintings went where was to move the van off the drive and get the tape measures out and mark out the area for each panel!

Ive got a good mix of old and new paintings to show there, oils, acrylics and encaustic wax...

It made life easier to lay them out and get an idea where the paintings would be hung..

then it was time for a close inspection and to touch up any bits of paint that needed it....then they were varnished so they will be dry in plenty of time for Thursday afternoon when we take them to hang..

I'm really pleased with how the new 2ft square poppy paintings look now they have been varnished..

I love the teal colour

Bill had a few paintings to string/varnish etc and Paddy couldn't resist flying from the front room to the kitchen to inspect what he was doing!

Halloween Market

We were babysitting our little Tommy on Saturday night , he was as good as gold--we were creased at him making his chair bounce-he knew exactly what he was doing bless him! He went up to bed wide awake and went right off to sleep -no problem! His mummy and daddy were back home at 11pm so we wer enot too late getting to bed-and the extra hour  helped as well!

It was lovely to have Penny next to us--we see her at some of the shows we do and we always have a great laugh with her and her hubby Mark....she has some amazing crystals on her stall---

Our friend Jane went the whole hog and got dressed up as a witch--she looked brilliant!

We had a little visitor in the form of our little Ollie---here he is enjoying a banana off Nanny Di !

Bluebell Woods Workshop

We had a few last minute cancellations for todays workshop..but it made a nice change to be honest to have smaller class!!    It was lovely to see Radha again after nearly two years, she bought along her little boy for us to see...Rhada wanted to do her painting 'landscape ' rather than portrait, and it worked really well.

Jacqui came along with her friend Alison..her first time painting-though you would never know it from her end results!

David and his wife Ann came along with gift vouchers they had received as a pressie....Ann admitted it wasn't something she would have chosen to do if she hadn't been bought them! But both were supurised to find they enjoyed it and were quite good at it as well! Both created lovely paintings..

Ann is concentrating hard on getting her bluebells done..

Alison getting on well with her bluebells..

Caroline seemed to find today's workshop quite easy....

Mary came along with daughter Caroline and she also had a gift voucher--they are so popular as gifts-especially at this time of year with Christmas coming up....I sell loads of them!!!   .Family of people that have been to me know its a pressie that will go down well!

Cynthia made a lovely job of her picture...she has been quite a few times previously...

this is a close up of Radha's picture-she managed to create some lovely tulips in the foreground by accident--they look great!

One very relaxed Jacqui--its always amazing how quickly new students relax and stop being worried about their paintings!

Wonderful results everyone!

Alison,Cynthia,David and Ann

Radha, Jacqui,, Caroline and Mary

Charity Donations

I donate a lot of paintings over the course of a year to charities, and I was asked this week if I had anything to donate to a fantastic charity www.acorns.org.uk by one of my students whose sister has organised The 'Ghoul's Ball' will take place in Leintwardine on Saturday 27th October.She has managed to get a brilliant load of lots for the auction that is being held at it..local firm Mc Cartneys are going to do the auction so it will be very professionally done.I have donated this painting and also a gift voucher for one of my workshops so hope they fetch a lot of money for the charity.If you want more details please get in touch with me and I will pass on Karins number.

Radbrook Green Monday Club

We had a 30 odd mile drive to The Monday Club at Radbrook Green today.. what a lovely bunch of ladies they were.They were all suprised at how quickly the paintings were done! Loads of interest in the workshops again so we will look forward to meeting some of the ladies again!

 

 

The lucky winners of the raffle---Ive lost my piece of paper with the names on but think its Betty and Jean! Both went away very happy with their prizes!

Longdon On Tern Demo

I was invited to Longdon On Tern Village Hall to do a demo for the local people on Friday evening.What a beautiful sunset we had on the way there....stunning!

It was a busy evening with a good turn out of people off all ages! I painted The Waterfall first of all on a black canvas before we had a break--there was a beautiful spread of food put on--and the Slimming World diet took a back seat as we tucked into all sorts of goodies and as I wasn't driving I was able to have a couple of glasses of wine---while Bill had an orange juice! We got chatting to a chap who introduced himself as having lived in Ludlow many years ago--turns out he knew Bills brother Derek , my uncle Barry  and his mothers name was Sankey-which was my maiden name so I will be looking to see if we are related along the way!Its certainly a small world!  After the break I got on and painted my signature painting "Summer Day" Everyone was taken  back by how quickly the paintings were done and the amount of detail that can be done so easily, lots of questions were asked about how I do it ...and lots of interest in having a workshop...it was a great evening-if a bit of a  late one--it was turned 11pm when we got back to Ludlow--and we had an early start the next morning for the Big Red Poppy workshop!  We are off to do another demo tomorrow for the over 60,s Club at Radbrook Green Nr Shrewsbury -this time in the afternoon so should be back in daylight!

Jessie and Graham won the paintings in the raffle..

Big Red Poppy Workshop Oct 20th

What a great workshop we had yesterday doing the Big Red Poppy picture! A completely new technique for everyone using new materials such as texture paste, clingfilm and melted wax alongside the usual acrylic paint..everyone was quite excited about doing this one! Having tryed it out several times at home so that I could judge the drying times etc I was pleased to find I was exactly right on my timings on the day!  You can see Jenny R and Jenny T applying the texture here..

Derek having fun getting the texture correct ..he really excelled himself in this workshop..

 

busy with the hairdryers here...

I gave students the choice of any colour they wanted in which to create their Poppy...we had some wonderful vibrant colours used besides red.....Teal was popular, purple was used as well and Deb used a beautiful blue...all the colours worked really well...

coming on lovely here

none of the photos are doing the paintings justice--the texture isn't showing up and the beautiful variations in colours are not showing either..

This was the really interesting bit--using the irons to melt the wax to add detail to the centres of the pictures...

the melted wax added texture and colour--the silver wax especially--the difference it made was amazing!

Liz and Derek with their finished paintings

Jenny T, Jenny R and Vikki

Paula, Chris and Christina

Carol and Tina--Tina first time painting--didn't she do well?

Maureen,Deb and Tracey--it was Tracey's first time as well--she made a cracking job!

Pauline and Ali---wow!!!!

Well done everyone! Im reallly looking forward to the next workshop doing this one in Dec--its full with 15 students in it  again!

Lavender Lake--Oct 6th

Georgia aged 12---came along with her Mum Lorna...first time for both of them...what a great job she made of it....there is a lot to take in with this painting--lots of techniques and brushes are used....

Jessie came along with her Mum Rachael  , they are friends with Lorna and Georgia,,,,so we had lots of banter between them all day! Jessie also proved to be very good on the piano--she played a few tunes while we were setting up---until my tinnitus threatened to play up! Anyway--Jessie created a lovely vibrant painting ..

ji

Cheryl came along for the first time and created a tranquil picture...she was a tad nervous about adding in a fence at the end--but she over came the nerves and it really did make her picture....looking forward to seeing her again in Dec for The Poppy!

Bev has been to me many times before..and is a very  good artist . It was a real family affair  with Bev's Mum Sheila who was over here on holiday from South Africa, her son Tim who received his artist badge for attending 6 workshops, Tim's wife Catherine who was painting for the 3rd time and her other daughter in law Cheryl!!

Catherine about to add her fences....

Sheila adding her snow to her painting...she has used watercolours before but never oils--she loved it! I'm going to look forward to seeing some pictures she does when back home--she has promised to email me some when she has tryed it out !

Tim took to painting like a duck to water....he always makes a grand job of his paintings and  seems to find it quite easy..

Rachael hadn't painted before though you would never know to see her finished painting....

Jo was with me for the 4th time...

Harri was very nervous--never painted before and really was scared she wouldn't be able to do it.....she suffers with fibromyalagia so really went through the mill bless her --but she loved it and her painting was brilliant...she says she will be back and we will look forward to seeing her again..

Lorna hadn't painted before--and she loved the experience....she seemed to find it quite easy and followed my instructions well....You would have thought that everyone had known each other for years if you had heard them laughing together all day...we were all creased at times..Lunchtime was great fun....the conversation about the chimney and the smoke had us all laughing! That's what I love about the workshops--the fact that people can walk in strangers and walk out friends...many friendships have been forged in class and many folk arrange to come back to the same workshops together!

Well Done Everyone...

Bev's family group...the paintings are all so different!

Harri, Rachael, Jessie, Georgia, Lorna and Jo