Birch Tree Workshop

We had a brilliant time last Saturday painting the Birches..12 lovely ladies and 9 year old George!

First time for Charlotte and 9 year old George-- they came along with Sarah who has been quite a few times now--Charlotte is Sarah's sister and George is their nephew. Both did really well with the painting , and  George was also great help to me and Bill, taking out the brushes, kitchen towel etc and generally being a good boy! Lovely bright,vibrant colours from George, while Charlotte chose the soft sage green and cream---a lovely restful combination..They all had a lovely time and were very pleased with what they achieved in the workshop..

Chris and Pat have also been quite a few times before and have done different sizes and colours this time--- there is so much choice in this subject--there is something to suit everyone! Chris used silver paint on her trees, which catches the light beautifully but does not show up in the photos!

Pauline ,Annette and Cathy have all been before--wonderful results from them all...

Liz and Margaret have been once before but did oils last time...both loved the acrylics and used them well to create these monochrome paintings!

Teresa, Caroline and Caron with their beautiful results! First time for Caroline who couldn't believe how easy it was to do and has booked up to come and paint Serenity soon.. I love teaching this workshop--I can watch the confidence grow as we go through each small step..and the masterpiece happens before their very eyes...well done everyone and I will look forward to seeing you all again!

Standards and Scruples ????

I have been painting for over 13 years now, teaching it for 11 years...In that time I have met hundreds and hundreds of people who have come along to the workshops to learn how to paint ''My Way''.      In the past year or so , and more recently the past few weeks I have found that some ex-students who I had considered to be friends have been quite underhanded to me...and have  stolen some of my images to teach to people in their workshops that they have started running!  It has been quite blatant in some of the cases--even to the fact they had the paintings they had actually done in my class on their website advertising they were their own work and even claiming Copyright !   Talk about taking the piss.....!!!!!    .All of the paintings I teach in the workshops are logged with www.protectmywork.com and while I'm happy for students to go home and recreate the paintings and technique they have learnt with me, to give to friends , family and charities--whatever-- you should not make financial gain from my images.unless you have my permission .And I do give my permission in some cases--one lady Jackie has asked and has given me the credit for the images on her webite--but she has used them to make metal paintings---ccompletly unique!  I have worked hard coming up with ideas for workshops and its been very upsetting to be treated like this.  You cannot use one of my paintings like the one above and just change the cats to owls--and call it yours...adding a few leaves to the sunflowers doesn't work either...

Turning the canvas the other way around to landscape doesn't work either,,,

and changing the big poppies for little ones and vise versa does not wash !

All of these paintings I have shown on here have all been copied--plus others as well...and the sad thing is the artists concerned are quite capable artists in their own rights...and could quite easily come up with some of their own unique ideas...

You can't splatter some paint over a copy of my images and call it yours--

I was stunned to walk into a craft fair we were doing recently to find what looked like my stall.....mainly versions of birch trees, stormy poppies and summer days....and I came home to emails from some people who had also seen the stall and thought it was mine!! To say I was not happy is an understatement I can tell you..and I told her so at the craft fair..

To be fair she did ring me the next day and apologise and everything that had been copied was taken off her website etc ..but I really don't know how she thought she would get away with it--although she had changed her name from the one used when booking her workshops with me..She said she thought I would be proud of her--- and I would have been if she had got more of her own ideas on show instead of 3/4 of mine on her stall..  she had some lovely seascapes on her stall that were her own and I suggested to her she goes and does more of that style..

I have been teaching the Birches since 2006 -when I checked with my Protect My Work site,and Summer Day and Stormy Poppies even longer.

It would appear that my website has been looked at and my most popular subjects were stolen...    I think the artists concerned need to take a look at their standards and scruples--would you steal your friends husband?   Because in my eyes its just as low as that--and to be quite honest I have enough on my plate at the moment worrying about my son who is fighting cancer without having to worry about my work being used..   

Grasses Workshop

Only Judy on the left had painted before--and just once with me..everyone else were first timers... as to be expected there were quite a few nerves going on and pretty much everyone thought they wouldnt be able to do it!  This painting is one that does not quite come together until almost at the end...so getting everyone convinced it will be fine can be quite demanding for me LOL...Vivien on the right is in England on holiday from New Zealand and she had a lovely photo on her phone of a sunset where she lived and asked if she could use those colours..as you can see it worked out beautifully,,We used a narrow edge canvas  that will fit in her suitcase to take back, and gave her plenty of bubblewrap to protect it...We added some diaisies as well as poppies . Kate who had also travelled a long way from Northamptonshire  to paint, used some of Viviens blue paint to add some poppies...They looked stunning--the colour worked very well.  All in all, some stunning results from everyone..I have in stock small bottles of varnish so students can add the finishing touch to their paintings after a couple of days.Im sure they will all get brilliant feedback when they got their paintings back home,,,and hopefully we will see them again in the future!

50 Shades Of Green

Apologies for being so behind with my blog and website....had problems with my laptop and only got it back last night--so lots and lots of catching up to do for me!   It was lovely to see some old friends back to paint again in the workshop-- we had not seen Jackie, Karen or Derek for a while..50 Shades of Green is an interesting picture to paint.  It certainly got the imaginations going in everyone! Wendy was painting with me for the first time and it was interesting to see her own style develop very quickly--she liked twisting the brush as she bashed--and created her own unique type of bushes etc...and her path developed into a waterfall and stream.....Derek -bless him has been very poorly lately and I had him tired out before lunch....I think he did really well to get as much done as he did---but he went home with a palette of all the colours we used and he will finish it in his own time,,,I have lost my list of names again doh!!!  But Sam bought along 4 lovely girls who all did really well, and enjoyed themselves!

Wendy with her masterpiece...

Wonderful results--well done everyone!