Painting My Way: April 2015

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Poppy Drift Workshhop

We had 7 students in on Saturday for a new subject in acrylic called Poppy Drift..A nice loose subject with lots of options for students to choose from. A good mix of new students and some that have been loads like Pauline and Chris...

Chris has always done his own thing--and although the theme was poppies he decided to create his own flowers and beautiful they were too...

His wife Pauline chose to do purple/pink poppies and that worked really well too..the photos really don't do this subject justice

We met Robi at Tenbury show last year where she was exhibiting besides us...she has had a go at watercolours at home but found them a bit wishy washy,,she loved the acrylic paints and we will see her again for Reeds In The Breeze very soon when she will be using oils..

Dave was painting with me for the first time, he chose to do a darker,brown shades for his background and it really worked well..

First time also for Amanda--who did not know a thing about what was going to happen---Dave had just told her to dress in jeans and trainers and bought her along! I think she was a little shocked at first but soon settled down to painting poppies,cornflowers,daisies,and the odd dragonfly or 3 ...

Pauline has been once before with hubby Phil,,this was a completely different subject to the Yesterday painting they did before!

Phil is just adding his poppies here!


Chris and Pauline with their masterpieces..

Amazing how different the paintings turned out--loads of movement in all of them! Well done everyone..

Friday, April 24, 2015

41 Club Workshop

Well Monday evening was a first for me--we have had loads of all ladies workshops but never an all male one! Tim who organised the evening has been with his family to several workshops in the past, and is a member of the 41 club in Bridgnorth..they do a different thing every month--and this month it was a painting workshop!

They had a choice of colours,,,

One or two of the chaps had painted before but it was a first time experience for most of them...

It was great fun and we had lots of laughs with them!

It was amazing how quickly they started getting ideas of their own--the one on the right ended with a castle and a lighthouse and was somewhere in Scotland!

Tim wanted his to represent an African scene..

I think everyone managed to create some lovely paintings with nobody struggling at all to do so...

Everyone enjoyed looking at every ones else's paintings--and chatting about them!

Well done everyone---brilliant results!

Sunday, April 19, 2015

News...

Although I have only just put the next Birches workshop on the website there are only 3 places left in it on Aug 22nd...and I'm sure 2 of yesterdays students are gong to book it as well so I will be looking at updating the workshop dates asap this week with luck.


I cant believe how quickly the time is flying by this year...We will be at Dilwyn show this year on Bank holiday Monday 4th May after missing it last year due to a family wedding the same weekend-that will be the first big show of the season..and one we look forward to very much!

We have a big space--so plenty of room to get everything out!

I was over at Worfield WI on Thursday evening to do a demo for the ladies of the WI there..it was a lovely evening--3 of the ladies have previously been to workshops..and a lot of them want to come to some future workshops, so it will be lovely to see them again!


Maggie won the Waterfall painting and Sheri the Summer Day painting.. We are over at the same village hall tomorrow evening to run a workshop for 14 members of the 41 club-- looking forward to meeting up with Tim again and we will be painting small version of Yesterday .Am looking forward to it very much..

Winter Wonderland Workshop

Winter Wonderland is one of the hardest subjects I teach..lots of different element's to it..but everyone was up to the challenge yesterday! Great fun working in oils on a black canvas. 5 of the ladies were first timers, though you wouldn't know it to see the end results ..will look forward to seeing the ladies again soon!

Louiza on the left came along with her mum Sue on the far right for the first time..Pat and Chris have been a few times before..

Monday, April 13, 2015

Squirrels Eye View Workshop Results

What a great day we had in Saturdays workshop ''Squirrels Eye View'' 7 first time students..you would never know from the beautiful results though! David-above came along with wife Jackie and daughters Rosie and Nadia..right from the start David had decided he was going to do a winter version--as there were 4 paintings potentially the same--to be honest I was not sure how that would work---but oh boy--it worked very well!

Sarah really enjoyed this workshop-she is gaining her confidence every time she comes...lovely delicate finished result..

Ros added some pink to her painting and again it worked so well--reminded me of a cottage garden..

Davids wife Jackie was pretty much convinced she would not be much good at this painting business LOL...however she soon found out she was wrong! That is the one thing I love--watching people who arrive with no self confidence in themselves as regards being able to paint a lovely painting--they gain confidence so quickly--and start making decisions about what goes into their paintings so quickly on their own..

David's and Jackie's 2 daughters came along with them, above is Rosie..

and above is Nadia..

Kath was also a first time student..I thinks she was surprised at how easy it was...

Helen has been quite a few times before..

First time for Annette too...

Pauline has been once before...

First time for Annette who came along with her Mum Annette and Pauline who bought them both along..all have booked again fro the Birches on Aug 22nd..