Work In Progress

There has been major upheavals at home...having bought some lovely new laminate flooring ages ago, it was decided that the front room needed to be decorated before it went down.....its been years since it was done--and as you can see we didn't move the 4ft long fish tank last time but painted around it as far as we could!

This time however we did move it--to its new space in the hall..Its looks lovely there too.

Next job was to shove most of the furniture down to the bottom of the room so the walls and ceiling could be painted white...

then up came the carpet...that had served us really well...but I'm just not up to shampooing it like I used to be..I have to pace myself a lot since having the polymyalgia ,,just cant do what I used to...so the laminate floor seemed like a good idea...

Once we had half the room done with the flooring we were able to get the sofa and chairs back in the room..

Everything takes far longer than expected..but its so worth it--it looks lovely and so easy to keep clean..

Got the new curtains up--Bill painted the old curtain poles..wasnt sure if it would work or not--but it did! I love the light green colour--it reflects the light back in the room.

Bill built the solid oak mantelpiece years ago, and made the surround for the mirror to match.. the gas fire we had fitted at the time was in fashion then,,,but we never ever used it and it looked very dated now so we treated ourselves to a lovely glass electric one.We probably wont ever use it for heat but when switched on focal only looks beautiful and makes the room feel warm just looking at it!

Looks lovely and warm!

I have thinned down my cat collection a bit...but have kept out my favourite ones.I have a bot more space on the hearth now because the new fire hangs on the fireplace rather than stands on the hearth...wont be long till we get out the Santa Clauses and Christmas stuff..plenty of room for them!

I even managed to find a lovely new light coloured unit to display the rest of my cats and artist ornaments on..

The birds have been moved to the end of the room --they seem to like it there OK and they are easier to keep clean there!

It all looks nice and cosy now...

got some more of my cats on Grandads sideboard--hard to believe Ive packed loads away isn't it? Now the floor and decorating have been done in the front room we are going to carry on into the hallway--watch this space!!!

Medieval Fair

It was the annual Medieval Fair at the weekend and we were up bright and early to go down to the market and set up....We took the stall out to make it a walk in stall and give us a little more room..

with 2 large tables inside there was lots of room to display all the little paintings as well as the bigger ones on the racking...

also had room on the outside to display the prints etc on the table..

Bill on Ye Olde Laptop  LOL

he couldn't resist a huge lump of bread pudding off some of the regulars who come to the market....

I was surprisingly warm in my dress-though I did have my warm leggings on underneath--and my hair down to keep my neck warm!

My friend Jane had a stall opposite selling her beautiful paintings...she does a lot of animal paintings....

We had a walk through town later to have a meal at the pub...couldn't believe how quiet the town was then after being so hectic all day-all looking pretty and festive though!

"Yesterday " Workshop 24th Nov

We had great fun as usual in Saturdays workshop...a mix of new students and ones that have been before. Above you can see Jane adding her horizon line to her wonderful atmospheric picture...

Denise was with me for the second time--she had done oils in her workshop before so this was completely different! She chose to do the bright vibrant oranges and reds--my favourite!

Karen comes down from Mansfield with her lovely Mum Sandra...Karen chose the beautiful blues and purples and quickly had a lovely dramatic painting happening.

Bev was painting her picture as a combined birthday/Christmas pressie for a friend of hers--I'm sure she will be delighted when she opens it!

Paul has attended a previous oil workshop with his sister Elaine....however he really found his forte here in acrylics--it seemed almost effortless, a beautiful sky and water were soon done.....and his tree was just stunning-cant believe he hasn't been painting for years!

Elaine was using acrylics for the first time--she seemed to manage the acrylics fine like her brother--brilliant sky with some wispy clouds..and gentle water with just a touch of metallic to make the water shine...

Charlotte's daughter had booked her in after seeing my exhibition at Bishops Castle and picking up a leaflet...I felt that she wouldn't manage a huge 40 in wide canvas as its quite a physical painting to do--and luckily I had a smaller 20in x 16in canvas on the van. She managed that quite well and really enjoyed her session..

Sandra created a beautiful painting,,,lots of light in it --we always have a lot of laughs with Sandra and daughter Karen....and Saturday was no exception!

We met Bill at Shobdon Food and Drink Festival-his wife bought him a gift voucher and this was the one he fancied having a go at....the photo doesn't do this painting justice...it was dark and moody and the light coat of silver metallic on the water just bought it to life...brilliant result Bill..

Well Done--brilliant results everyone!

Brilliant--Camera shy Karen has managed to hide behind her mum!

Brilliant!

Premier Inn's

First time we have used Premier Inn's and it wont be the last! From booking to checkout the experience was just brilliant. And just £28 a night!               When we decided we were going to go up to Derby to do Jo's workshop we knew we would have to stay overnight at least as it was just to far to go in a day and do the workshop and come home. The polymyalgia rhumatica I suffer from means that if I do too much  I seize up and the steroids     (I'm down to 8mg :-) ) don't work so well-so I always have to pace myself and just do what I know I'm OK with. A normal workshop on a Saturday in Ludlow is enough to tire me out sometimes!             So we travelled up to Derby Friday afternoon and checked into the Premier In that was just  15 mins from the painting venue.   It was spotless clean, no manky carpets and saggy worn out beds like you get most of the time in Travel Lodges these days!   The bed there was sooooo comfy-super king size-6ft wide so we had loads of room in there!      The shower was also great-very powerful and hot. The only drawback  was the WIFI not being much good there--but it was ok  for what I needed. We had a lovely meal just a hundred yards away at a pub up the road--just £5 each-bargain!

Bill knows how to relax LOL

After the workshop we travelled down to Cannock and stayed in another Premier Inn-again a lovely welcome and room .The IFI was excellent there too..We had eaten a huge breakfast in Derby and had a chippy lunch at the workshop so we didn't want much to eat on Saturday night so we popped over the road to McDonalds--the lovely girl here kindly gave us a couple of big cups of ice so we could have a cold voddi and tonic when we got back to our room!     Then after another great nights sleep we got up and went to the huge boot sale that was a few hundred yards away from the Premier Inn     .The sun was out and it was like a summers day almost...bought some bargain thermals from there as its getting bloody cold up on the market these days. not many more before we finish on the 23rd Dc until the start of April 2013..so all in all  a great weekend...would definatly recommend Premier Inn--in fact if you dont have  a good nights sleep they will give you your money back-so you cant go wrong.

Jo's Birthday Painting Workshop

We had a trip to Derby at the weekend to run a workshop for Jo who has been down to me twice before. It washer 40th birthday and she wanted to celebrate it with a painting party for family and friends. She organised the room ,and even a fish and chip lunch from a nearby chippy for u all-which made a great treat for us after being on a diet!

Jo's hubby Darren-hadn't painted before an like most first timers didn't expect to be able to produce anything any good! He surprised himself!

The birthday girl Jo--her 2 daughters , 2 sisters,partners, brother ,mum and friends were all painting with her !

Phil had to sit for most of the workshop as he had a poorly foot.....and had a huge pin sticking out of the end of one of his toes ! He didn't know what he was going to be doing until he walking in with Karen-who was also kept in the dark about it too! Phil was quite confident with the brushes and paints for a first timer!

Karen -Jo's sister was also confident,and soon had a beautiful painting underway..

Isabel, another of Jo's sisters has been to Ludlow to paint before,,she made a cracking job of her painting..

Derrick managed really well-he wasn't convinced he would be able to paint very well in the beginning--but he was soon making decisions about what was going where..

Rich is Jo's brother--he seemed to find it easy enough!  It always surprises people just how easy it really is if they follow my directions! It does not take long before the painting really starts to look like it should!

Jo's mum Maureen getting her beach done....

Steve had me and Bill thinking were seeing things--he is the spitting image of our next door neighbours son Simon--he really was his double!

Joy is Jo's friend and has painted with me before--she really enjoyed painting this one and knew when to stop at each stage and didn't go back and fiddle with it!

Alicia age 14  is Jo's daughter and made a beautiful job of her painting,,,

little 7 year old Kayla is Jo's daughter....she really is a natural--her painting was lovely and subtle-she even added a lighthouse and some birds to it at the end--well done Kayla!

while Darren went to fetch the lunch from the chippy the other goodies came out-champagne, beautiful cup cakes(that we resisted!)  an all manner of lovely stuff!

chocolate cupcakes---we didn't try them!

Happy Birthday!!

 The end results! Well done everyone..

Kayla's finished painting-didn't she do well!

There was loads of fun going on after the workshop on these chairs with wheels--Joy and the girls  loved it!

and then Derrick joined in LOL