Mellow Moods Workshop

First time for Joan..she was bought along by her daughter Lucy-who had seen me on Ludlow market years ago ,picked up a leaflet and lost it-and eventually found me via Google! Joan seemed to find every step quite simple and created a beautiful mystical painting..

Lucy also really enjoyed creating her painting-- we are going over to Wolverhampton to do her hen party--that will be lots of fun! We have done a few hen parties and its always a good laugh--and everyone has a lovely memento of the day to keep forever..

Helen was painting her 3rd painting---she tends to go for the subtle effect--which is is fine----that's the beauty of my workshops--you get to use your own initiative and choose exactly how you want your painting to look at the end--so if you want bold or subtle you can do it!

Norma and Dave came along a couple of years ago for the first time and painted "Yesterday" they then sent along some relatives as a surprise after--all enjoyed it very much! This subject is quite different to to that one as we use acrylic and oils..

Dave used the spring time colours to do his painting...its amazing how different they look from the autumn colours..

Martin is getting close to his artist badge now..

Anne is getting to be quite an expert now..she has done quite a few workshops with me...

Jackie will be having her Artist brooch next week when she comes to do the Birches workshop...she bought along her sister Karen for the 2nd time today..

Karen made a great job of her painting,,,there was lots of fun and chatter going on in the class with Hugh who was with us for the first time...and Karen and Jackie were creased most of the day :-)

Hugh with his masterpiece-he had to rush off before the group photos as he had a taxi picking him up..he absolutely loved his day-his son had bought him a gift voucher I had donated to the local British Legion club to raise money in an auction...he def had his own ideas on what he wanted in his painting--no waterfall for him--he wanted a stream... so a stream he had!

Cathy has got all the paints at home but didn't know what to do with them...I'm sure she will be having a go at home now..

well done!

Lovely! Well done!

Lovely results-well done!

See you all again soon!

Cats In TheTree workshop

First time for this subject,,,acrylic on a chunky 12in x 24in canvas.  Alan came with Karen all the way from Mansfield-he has not painted since he was at school and was a little apprehensive to say the least! However he took to it like a duck to water and had no problem doing a beautiful sunset background..

Jo was doing her 10th painting..as usual she had us in fits of laughter the whole time! She wanted to match up the painting for another one she had previously painted for her mother in law--Mystical Moon...she made a cracking job of it! She bought along her friend for the first time Helena....

Karen used the shades of blues and purples for her painting--she also had us in fits of laughter---and we all agreed we would like to be a fly on the wall when Karen or Jo go to Morrison's supermarket--they had us in tears of laughter--funny how they had both had 'experiences' in Morrison's at either end of the country!  It was a bitter sweet day for Karen and us..she has always brought along her dear  mum Sandra with her in the past-and stayed in a hotel with her and made a lovely weekend break as Mum had cancer..we always had a lot of fun with her and she loved her painting sessions...she sadly passed away in Dec bless her...we were very sad to hear the news from Karen..but what wonderful memories she has of her time down in Ludlow and of course she has the paintings she did too.. I gave Karen a Serenity painting to take home with her to donate to the hospice who looked after her so well..

all hard at work...

Helena was painting for the first time with me..she also chose the blues and touch of purple for her painting-loved her tree--its funny how everyone has their own style of doing trees and branches--its almost like their signature--all as individual as they are..

Jenny has been painting with me countless times now....its her art therapy bless her...She chose a beautiful combination of colours for her painting and added 2 cats the same as her sons into it..

say one for me while you are down there girls! You will notice we have a new floor in the room we do the workshops in--so we have bought some rugs from Ikea to put down last week for the first time---they were very slippy on the floor so this week we bought some non-stick backing and glued it to the back of them--it worked well--so everyone is safe now! A few of them were like Bambi on Ice last week-scared me to death!

Karen getting a pic of Alan halfway through....

I loved Jenny's finished painting--the bunnies have real character!

Helena painting is just beautiful--there are some beautiful twinkly stars in the sky but they are not showing in the photo much! Looking forward to seeing her and Jo in May for the Big Poppy workshop!

I loved Jo's picture--no cats in the tree but some bunnies--again the twinkly stars are not showing up much!

Alan excelled himself--you have to be pretty brave to add the cat in the tree to be fair---and he did it just great-and also the cute family of bunnies--Karen said its going to be hung in the office in pride of place!

Karen's painting turned out just great-love the tree-it has mystical feel about it--

well done everyone---beautiful results--all so individual!

Stormy Skies Workshop

Tracey was not sure if she wanted to add poppies or not-in the end she did..and lovely they looked too! This was her 2nd painting-she has done the acrylic "Yesterday" one previous..so first time in oils for her..

This was a birthday present for Mal-who didn't even know what was happening until the morning so she had no chance to be nervous! Her daughter Katrina bought her along with her sister Rebecca..both Mal and Katrina were sure they wouldn't be able to do much of a painting to start with but soon settled down quickly and they were pleased to see just how easy it was!

Trudy made a lovely job of her painting-first time for her too--

Lauren is expecting her first baby in July,,she went for a subtle effect..with lovely soft shades of grey..made possible by using the 'tickling' brush...which caused a huge laugh--and a good job I explained that the 'bashing and tickling ' brushes could not be bought in the art shops--at least not by those names! You can imagine the looks on the faces of staff in the shop when asked for a 'tickling brush'..Lauren added some glitter to her painting right at the end-it looked lovely-and we came to the conclusion that both she and I were magpies in a previous life-as I also love anything twinkly and shiny!!

Beautiful stormy sky Pat..

I loved Rachel's stormy sky..it was a little too dark to start with but she tamed it down with a bit of a wipe with kitchen towel and some white paint..soon sorted! She used the knife really well and has some brilliant waves.

Beth also used the knife really well-- and the light over the top of her hills really caught the waves and stood out beautifully..

Rebecca seemed to find it quite easy-after the initial nerves-which is completely normal-she bashed and tickled perfectly! She used the knife with ease and had some lovely waves in no time at all..

Katrina contemplating what to do next|..add poppies or not? She did-any beautiful it looked too..

Well done everyone!Beautiful results from you all!

beautiful results girls!

Well done--love the finished results!

The Three Queens Burton On Trent

We got back today from a lovely break away in Burton On Trent. We stayed at The Three Queens Hotel in the centre..We had a lovely room,plenty big enough for us!

lovely bathroom,,

loads of lovely white fluffy towels and a yellow duck--never had one of those provided for us before in a hotel!

There was a three course meal included in the deal, the pate was delicious...good job I had saved my 'syns' before I came away...hoping I have not done too much damage to the diet!

Bills prawn cocktail looked and tasted lovely too..

Chicken Chasseur was very tasty..

well when it came to pud--I had a cheese board..it was the first cheese I had eaten for over a month and I did savour every mouthful! Bill had the apple crumble and custard..

there were a couple of quirky details in our room---why was there a bottle opener in the bathroom? Plenty of room for it in the bedroom,hall area of the room!

There was also another phone in there,,no idea why!

These huge beautiful glass lights are in the reception area of the hotel-there are 3 of them and they are stunning! All in all a lovely trip away--all the staff were lovely-except for one grumpy woman at breakfast--a face like a wet weekend she had! Luckily for us she didnt put us off the beautiful food,,everything was freshly cooked--and a poached egg instead of fried made us think the diets were being kept to as well...;-)