Sunflowers and Exhibitions

I'm looking forward to tomorrows workshop...the weather forecast is much better and all 6 students are able to attend...it will be a fun one to do and I'm really looking forward to it!

Well its come a full circle...quite a few years ago I had an exhibition of my work in Leominster Library..a certain lady called Carol Dukes saw my work and picked up one of my leaflets.. she attended some of my workshops and we became great friends....she has now had her own exhibition in Leominster Library and had sold 3 paintings when we called by there...The Birches she painted in my workshop...and the one shown below is based on my Serenity painting....

She also had some of her beautiful dried flower arrangements on display too..

I love Carol's poppy....

I have some of my paintings in exhibition at "Footprints And Hearts" Corve St, Ludlow..

Its a lovely space--and there are some beautiful things to browse there as well as the popular "Pop-up Tea Parties" that are held there regularly...

As well as the exhibition at Footprints and Hearts I have some paintings in the Ludlow Art Society Spring Exhibition at the Harley Centre,Ludlow Collage, Castle Square, Ludlow....shown above is one of my watercolour paintings...Stormy Seas...and below I have the other paintings entered in the exhibition...

Purple Poppy has been done with acrylic and melted wax...

Squirrels Eye View is in acrylic

Summers Day is in oils..

Stormy Skies in oils..

The Birches diptych...acrylic..

Weather----grrrrrrr

I had to cancel last Saturdays workshop because of the snow...we couldn't get out of our road to get to the venue and I had students coming from Birmingham, Shrewsbury, Telford ,Leominster and Cleobury Mortimer-and they had no chance of getting here safely.
So for every ones sake it was the best option to cancel...everyone except 2 have booked in for another workshop...so that's been sorted.
I'm keeping everything crossed that we will be able to run the new Sunflower workshop this Saturday--but I wont hold my breath--the forecast is for more snow Friday...watch this space.....

Celebrations

Well I'm all behind doing my blog as we have been away to celebrate my 52nd birthday and our 12th wedding anniversary! We decided to return to Tenby where we had our honeymoon all those years ago! We stayed in a little guest house called Southside...our room was right up in the top of the house...and while the bed looked lovely--boy was it hard! Since Ive had the polymyalgia I suffer a lot of pain in all my body and need a softer bed so I can sleep---it was also one of the noisiest bed we have ever slept in....which did make us laugh a lot!

it did have a little seating area to watch the TV from...

and a little desk/wardrobe area--unfortunately the wifi didn't work there--so we ended up really having a complete break from everything--work,family and friends!

The weather was kind to us as it usually...and we were able to get about and mooch around Tenby without brollies..

such a pretty place..

After 2 nights we moved on to The Cliff Hotel and Spa at Cardigan....a bit more luxury there and a quite super king size bed that was completely quiet! The only drawback was---absolutely  no mobile phone signal or Internet acces at all! If you want to get away from it all--The Cliff is the place to go!

And just look at the view we had from our window...it couldn't have been better...

We watched the sun going down

and you could have been anywhere in the world...

The Cliff...

fantastic views from the back of the hotel..

We had a meal included in our deal....chicken pate to start..

and rib eye steak with garlic and pepper sauce and garlic potatoes...not sure what if any of these things caused poor Bill to be ill that night but he was certainly  ill! We both ate exactly the same food while we were away,,and I was OK..Thankfully he was OK in the morning and managed to put away a decent breakfast! In fact it was one of the best breakfasts we have had anywhere....

the huge conservatory that looks out over the bay..

We woke up to this beautiful day the first morning...

We went for a drive around the coast....

found a lovely little pub near here where we had lunch..

These 2 cheeky bugger were obviously used to being fed and kept coming up to our window and looking for food---they didn't get any!

We did quite a bit of celebrating while we were away!

Looked like the hotel had a refurb over the winter,,,,everywhere was sparkling and new..

We stopped off on the way home...some beautiful views in the area..

It was starting to snow on the mountains on our way home..

We saw loads of Kite in the area too...shame it was too cold to hang about to see them fed....all in all we had a wonderful time...apart from the bed and the food poisoning! But as always me and Bill laughed our way through it all...and that is one of the secrets of a happy marriage--keep smiling and laughing together!!!

Serenity Workshop

Audrey was painting her 2nd picture ever! She soon got the hang of the bashing brush and tickling brush, and within minutes she had some beautiful trees on her horizon too...she seemed more relaxed than the first time but still wasn't completely convinced it would turn out OK! As usual all the paintings turned out just lovely!

Derek- bless his heart really excelled himself on Saturday...he does not let his Parkinsons get him down or stop him painting!

Lorreta is Audreys daughter-2nd time for her too...

Wonderful results everyone--see you all again soon!

Places Going Fast....

I must admit that I didn't think the new abstract painting subject "Around The Twist" Ive set for Sept 28th would be so popular!  Its already half full!   It will be great fun to do--Ive really enjoyed painting the pictures in the series,and it will give everyone the freedom to have have fun with colour and shape.

another example of Around The Twist...

Another subject I don't teach very often is "Squirrels Eye View" this is the latest version Ive painted ready for the Ludlow Art Society exhibition later this month....its a fun one to do--and we have had great results previously with it....there is a 'springtime ' colour one as well in beautiful greens and yellows. This is being painted on 8th June...its in acrylic on a 24in x 24in canvas..cost of this workshop is £45

Due to popular demand I have set yet another date for The Poppy--this will be the last workshop of 2013 on Sat Dec 14th...I have 5 people booked in already, so looks like it will be another busy one...there will be a choice of colour as usual..its a lovely one to do--you will learn to use lots of different techniques and mediums..cost of this workshop is £47

Another popular colour in the Big Poppy workshop...I love the turquoise version!

After every workshop -oils or acrylics- I offer the left -over paint to anyone who wants to take it home, otherwise it gets thrown away  :-( .  Jenny took home some left over oils and created this beautiful painting using them,and it was lovely for everyone in class to see what can be done on their own with a little confidence! I'm sure she has encouraged some of the others to have a go at home!

"Yesterday " workshop March 9th

I love taking the "Yesterday" workshop--its always very different...great fun to do  for both the students and me! There is a basic colour choice for everyone--oranges/reds  blues/purples and browns and creams.   However the student has the last word!       Diane wanted to add some red to her browns and creams...and boy did it work well....

Diane's Mum -Liz chose the vibrant orange and reds...both had travelled  all the way from Derby,,,they have been once before and used oils on a black canvas to paint The Waterfall.   This was a completely different ball game--and both really enjoyed it!

Diane was really creative and put in some beautiful big mountains--the red worked so well with the browns

It never fails to amaze me how quickly the painting develops...

It was lovely to see Irene again--she also travels a fair way to come and paint--she stays locally overnight on the Friday...I love her colours, and the sheen on her water was just beautiful...

Jenny is another regular...the touch of blue she added ti the corner of the sky worked so well...

Leslie will get her artist brooch next time...we have such a laugh with her every time..this time it was the subject of bunny rabbits that started us off!    I show everyone how to paint rabbits on their paintings--sitting and lying down usually.....Leslie came up with a suggestion of them doing something else--I will leave that to your imagination!

Irene's hubby Paul had been in touch with me to book them into the workshop as it was her birthday and he wanted to surprise her...as they live in the Wirral he arranged for them to stay in a holiday cottage locally for a few days.He didn't tell Irene about the workshop at all--but told her she was going to climb the tower of the church--so it was quite a shock for her when he bought her into the room on Saturday! She had only just made a start on the sky in this picture--there is a better one below where she has more done!

Paul chose the same colours as Irene, but of course both paintings turned out quite different...it was lovely to see the pair of them on the market yesterday before they left...they took some varnish with them so they can finish off the paintings when they got home...it really makes a huge difference to the paintings--the colours really come to life and of course they are protected as well once they have a couple of coats of varnish on them!

Paul getting a photo of Irene painting --Keslie and jenny are oblivious to everything going on around!

Cheryl had requested some turquoise paint to go with the purples and blues....as she wanted to have a go at putting the Northern Lights into her painting...it does not show up much on the photo--but boy in real life it was just stunning.....

You would never believe that this was Irene's first go at painting would you?

Bev's first sky turned out quite different--not like a sky at all--but we could see hills and fields in it! Bev decided it was not what she wanted, she dried it off and re-did it--she was happier with it 2nd time round....it was a much calmer sky this time--though at the end we could still see a few hills if you looked closely...The following photos are of everyones paintings before they added any black paint to the horizon and foreground...they are all stunning even though they are half finished!

Diane's,

Liz's

Irene's.

Jenny's,

Leslie's,

Irene's,

Paul's,

Cheryl's,

Bev's,

Bev used her artistic licence to make the some mud flats in her picture-with the water lapping on there as you can see in this close up photo,,,,

You can see the turquoise in Cheryl's painting here...

Leslie always adds a tiny flower to her paintings--a lovely unique touch...

I love the way  that Diane used the tree to frame the moon...Bev said the painting reminded her of Thailand--it was an amazing piece of work for a second painting-and first time using acrylics!

Cheryl and Bev left a bit earlier than the others,so I got their photos on their own.. stunning work ladies!

Beautiful work ladies...

well done everyone!

Cracking results !!! Looking forward to seeing you all again!