Cats In The Trees Workshops Jan 14th

First time for Molly-above-- who was treated to her workshop by her daughter Jenny as a Christmas pressie..she really didn't think she would be able to make much of a job of her painting,,and was very happy with her results at the end..

Jenny also chose the beautiful ,bright , vibrant sunset colours to do her painting...its amazing just how different the pictures can turn out when students all use the same colours. And there is quite a choice of subjects to add on at the end too...

Peter was treated to the workshop also as a Christmas pressie by his friend Angela..they both chose the blues/purples which gives the end result a completely different feel..

Angela has been once before a few years ago..loved her blending of the blues and purples in her background..

Linda came for the first time just a few weeks ago to paint 50 Shades of Green, so a first time with acrylics..

Molly was just great at painting branches--she had the knack very quickly,,,,and she didn't want any cats in her trees--just an owl or two..

Linda added some owls in her trees, a few bunnies under them and bravely put some birds in the sky...

Lovely bold trees from Angela

Peter adding his bunnies! Everyone went away with some varnish in order to protect their painting..they will be amazed at the difference it makes to the painting-brings all the colours out beautifully!

Lovely results everyone..

As it was Valentines Day it was lovely to come home and be able to put our feet up early as there were few brushes to clean with soap and water..

A bottle of fizz rounded off a lovely day....

Feb 7th Workshop ''Poppies and Daisies''

We had a small workshop on Saturday so we used the small room at St Peters Church, lovely cosy room, just big enough to fit 6 students in ! We started off in this room 11 years ago..It was lovely to see Helen again!

It looks quite a simple subject matter but its amazing at how different the results can be! It can be quite hard to be random when painting the grasses, and at first Sarah thought hers were a bit to the same--she mixed a little Payne's grey with some of the greens and it made a huge difference! Sarah is coming on in leaps and bounds each time she comes..confidence grows every time..

Paul came along for the 3rd time with his sister Elaine..I loved his more formal arrangement of the grasses---it worked really well ..

Cathy was with us for the 4th time--having first met us while on a trip from London a few years ago! She made the trip from London to do her first painting but has since moved nearby so has been able to attend 3 more workshops since!

Elaine adding her daisies here...its quite a 'free' type of painting that works whatever flowers you decide to put in--students learned to do poppies,daisies and cornflowers..then we had fun doing dragonflies,snails and ladybirds!

When we were finished, everyone went into the church to have a quick look--to say it was cold in there was an understatement--so it was a very ,very quick look at the beautiful blue  dome ceiling and the stained  glass window !

Its a beautiful building!

Finished results--well done everyone!

Stormy Skies/Poppies Workshop

I cant remember laughing quite as much as we did in a workshop on Saturday---don't get me wrong-we always have loads of laughs in the class but Saturday it was exceptional!! Unfortunately we were missing 4 people due to tyres blowing out en-route and sudden illness..but the nine ladies who did make it ensured we had a fantastic time! Fiona above was a first timer who came along with Ali-who had booked 8 places..3 of her ladies didn't make it on the day :-( As usual all the first timers were a little unsure of how they would do ...but all of them made a beautiful job of their pictures..

Sue was another first timer..I think it  amazes everyone just what can be done with just black and white paint--and such a tiny amount of it as well.

Ali is joining us again in 3 weeks along with Jen..

Margaret came along for the 4th time with her friend Joy who was painting her 7th picture and received her artist brooch that she  should have had last time!

Joy was actually painting her picture for a wedding pressie for a friend who had admired her first painting of Stormy Skies when she saw it...isn't she going to be thrilled when she opens it!

It was lovely to see Julie who I went through Grammar School with--great to catch up--she was most surprised to find there was no odour to the paints or the thinners --she had been worried about getting a migraine from it but she was perfectly fine...We only use a tiny tiny amount of low odour thinners right at the end of the workshop so nobody should ever bee affected by it--and the oil paint s themselves have very little smell.. so it the thought of the smell has ever put you off trying oils-rest assured you will be fine!Julie made a cracking job of her painting too...

This is the culprit for most of the giggling--Kerry was a  first timer--she had us in fits all through ...

Jen bought along a lovely baby bump so she had a sitting down easel ...she was also  giggling all day long too!

We had some unusual things appearing in the skies right from the start--  But the one above -everyone agreed looks like a koala bear

this one looks like a giraffe

quite a spooky face in this one..

and another in this one!

Wonderful results from them all...thanks all of you for making it such a great day for us too...did me the world of good to have a good chuckle like we did!

beautiful pictures ladies--

Wonderful results!

I'm very lucky to have such a rewarding job--looks like they all enjoyed the experience too judging by my comments book---thank you for your kind words-it means the world to me-will look forward to seeing you all again in the future!