Mellow Moods -May 25th

First of all apologies for being so late putting the photos on the blog...a combination of several things--I have not been well--the polymyalgia had a bit of a flare up and then I had problems with the computer and Internet connections....all sorted now thank goodness!

Cathy had the longest journey--travelling up from London at 6am ...she has worked with watercolour before and attended other workshops...but when her hubby saw her finished painting he was really stunned at what she had achieved in her workshop in the time! It was lovely to see them both again the following day when we were on the market-and it will be lovely to meet with them again in the future as both Cathy and her hubby want to return!

It was Annette's first time with me too...she loved working with the acrylic and oils..

Another first timer--Terry--came along with Rob...she showed me some of her  work she has done previously....beautiful abstracts....I have recommended she gets her own website via www.affordablebritishart.co.uk   I sell regularly from there.. today's subject was something completely new for her..

Rob has a good eye for what will work...

Katherine had booked 2 previous workshops but both were cancelled due to the snow...so it was 3rd time lucky for her....

Lesley received her artist brooch for attending her 6th workshop...she really enjoyed the challenge of this one-and said it was her favourite one so far....

lovely results--well done everyone!

Barmouth Break

We are back from our short break with friends Marion and Phil,,we have had a brilliant time in Barmouth celebrating Bills 65th birthday.   The weather was kind to us, there was hardly any traffic on the road, and the hotel was just perfect! Ive got loads of photos to inspire new paintings as well..

You could have been abroad with views like this one....

The hotel Min-Y-Mor was just a few yards from the beach- and we had ground floor rooms , both were lovely--but its the first time ever Ive forgotten to take pictures of the rooms!  We had a right laugh on Saturday night at the Karaoke in the bar and on Sunday night we had a go at the quiz night--it was surprising at the mine of useless information we had between the 4 of us!

Barmouth has some of the most beautiful scenery in Wales...

beautiful..

After several Vodka and Tonics and a walk down to the beach in the moonlight on Sunday night it seemed like a good idea to get on one of the huge lions that stand either side of the door!

what beautiful views

I can feel a picture coming on ....

Add caption

This was a lovely touch by the hotel--a birthday card with a voucher for a free drink from the hotel..

On the way home yesterday we stopped by at http://www.gigrin.co.uk/     to see the red kite being fed,,,,,

Its an amazing sight to behold--they come from up to 40 miles away and feed on the fresh meat put out by the farm from the back of the tractor...Take a look at the website to see more about it.

The crows all sitting on the fence posts waiting for the food to be put out!

Meet Max who lives at the farm..Max is completely blind bless him..has been for 3 years-as a result of bad breeding his vet thinks..he loves playing with empty plastic water bottles and sticks--as you can see he has worn away his bottom teeth chewing things!

This is a lovely carved wooden Kite outside the shop.

There are some beautiful resident peacocks living there too--

Mollie the young sheepdog is kept in her pen while there are visitors on the farm as she is a little boisterous bless her..

You can see the colours of the red kite better here.. It was a lovely end to our break which was much needed by all of us after having a horrible few months due to illness and bereavements..we all have our batteries re-charged ready for life again..

Cleobury Mortimer WI Demo

Well what awful weather we had last night when we set off to Cleobury Mortimer WI--it was peeing down with rain    --good job we were able to park right outside the door of the hall -or the paintings and us would have been soaked through!   There werent as many people as they had hoped for there.and you could'nt blame them for staying in on such a horrible evening.!  But we had a lovely evening with the ladies that did brave it  and lots of laughs all evening! They all loved to see the paintings develop before their eyes, and as there were several artists in attendance there were a few questions asked too which makes it more interesting.. There was a beautiful buffet after my demo--but my favorite out of everything there was some thick cut crusty french stick spread thickly with real butter!! I was very good and didnt have any cake--just the lovely quiches and sandwiches!

Ann Walker won the Summer Day and Jenny Smith won The Waterfall---I do hope you got them home safely ladies..it was still raining very hard when we left!

Julie's One 2 One

Julie was using oils for the first time..only the second time she had painted too.She used acrylics last time in the birches workshop.

she got the hang of the brushes and the quite different feel of the paint right away..

We had a lovely day-and put the world to rights several times over!

Julie went back to her sky and did some tiny adjustments which made a world of difference.Its lovely to see people start to make decisions about their paintings so quickly during a workshop....

Sorry Julie-managed to get you when you blinked! Beautiful painting-well done!

Lots Going On.....

Its been very busy here with one thing and another...we both had a lovely day out yesterday to Wales to enjoy Bills Christmas present off me...a day handling and flying birds of prey..what a great day we had! Everything from an Alaskan Bald eagle to red kites to owls--here are some photos of what we did! If you get the chance to go we really recommend it..Even if we did get a little sunburnt being out in the beautiful sunshine for 3 hours with the birds   !!! www.raptorexperiencewales.co.uk/      

the bald eagle...he wont get his white head etc until he is older--he is only around a year old--but already has a wingspan of over 7 1/2 ft..

handsome bugger isn't he?

cant for the life of me remember what sort of hawk this is now....

look at the colour of those eyes....

eagle owl and me..

the majestic red kite...

you can see the wingspan of the bald eagle here...

then we came back to Ludlow for a BBQ at my brothers...little Tommy was his usual happy self...cant believe he is one later this month...where has the time gone to?