The Waterfall Workshop July 13th

We had a lot of fun on Saturday,,one of my students Anne had to arrive early as her hubby had to be somewhere else, so she came to the house at 8am ,,,it was lovely to have a chat while getting ready to go to class...and she was a huge help helping me unload the van at the other end!  When we started the class I showed a few different ways of creating the initial background...it was amazing to see how Megan's background took on the form of a moth! Tony however could see a werewolf in Janes background--however-none of us could see it! It was a smallish class with 7 students--3 of them had been once before and 4 newbies--all of whom I had met at either Shobdon or Bromyard show in the previous weeks...

Jane's painting was very quiet and tranquil..it was hard to believe that she had not painted since school.

Carrie has painted before using water mixable oils so this was a new experience for her and she loved it...

Tony was I think, a little sceptical that he would be able to achieve anything any good in the class--however he was amazed-as were all the students by their results,-they all followed my instructions well and we had most of the painting done by 12pm when we stopped for lunch,

I loved Ann's mackerel sky background..it created a lot of depth in her painting..

Emily soon got the hang of the 'bush' brush and had some beautiful effects happening!

Teressa seemed to find it easy going! Beautiful!

I love the beautiful vibrant results achieved by Megan..she just has to add the water lines and the moon to her painting

Jane's finished picture..the rays from the moon give it quite a spiritual feel I think!

Carries finished painting--love how she added the moon peeping out from behind the tree..

Tony used quite a limited palette  in his picture and it worked really well...

Ann's painting also used a limited palette, love her waterfall with the splashes,-we wiped out a little of her branch on the tree after because it looked as though the moon was balancing on it--but it only took seconds to rectify-which is the beauty of oils!

Teresa's painting was quite vibrant, loved the colours--and the waterfall is just perfect!

Emily did so well..she had a huge boot on her foot/leg as she had a stress fracture! I was amazed she was able to stand to do this beautiful picture!

Well done everyone--will look forward to seeing you all again!

Anne came home with us as Martin couldn't pick her up til later-- It was lovely to sit by the pond having a Pimms or 2 and put the world to rights!  We both felt like we had known each other for years! It was lovely to see Martin and her 2 sons reaction to her painting--they were all chuffed with it! We will see Anne again for the Serenity painting in 2 weeks!

Jan 26th Workshop " Birches"

We only had 4 in for the Birches yesterday, 5 of the people booked in for last weeks cancelled workshop couldn't make it this week....Christina did mange to get here though! She chose the large size  40in x 12in canvas.....it takes a lot of trees to cover that one!

Lesley made it from Hereford...she also opted for the large canvas...and chose the soft sage green and cream combination..

We met Sandra at the Tenbury Apple Fest last year--one of the few shows that went ahead in the awful weather we had...Ive noticed that the number of bookings is down on previous years because we didn't do as many shows as normal....anyway although Sandra was quite nervous to start with she soon settled down to it and the nerves soon went! She chose to use the silver paint for the birch trees...it catches the light beautifully..

We know Daniels Mum as she works on the same  market as us..Daniel chose the 12in x 24in canvas and the shades of browns that would match his bedroom. He followed my instructions very well and he really enjoyed himself..

adding the detail..

Lesley soon had the hang of doing the trees...

Daniel adding his large birch trees..

nearly finished Christina!

Sandra found her confidence very early on , deciding that she wanted to add a large black tree in the foreground...and she made a brilliant job of it!

Bill had to carry on with each stage of my painting while I supervised the students--he is a dad hand at Birches now!

The end results....

Loved Christina's picture....

Daniel 's masterpiece..

Sandra's beautiful painting..

I love the green and creams of Lesley's painting....she made a cracking job of it!

It was lovely to have just a few brushes to clean when we got home--made a refreshing change to be honest! As soon as that was done we sat down to relax with a Tia Maria and Baileys over ice--the perfect end to the perfect day!

Birches Workshop

Well after getting loads of snow I had to come to the decision to cancel today's workshop---with everyone coming from miles around it was the best thing to do....I have managed to do some jigging round with dates and we will be painting The Birches next Saturday instead.     I know some of the students who were coming today cant make next week and will be coming on another date. Its one of those things that cant be helped..its not worth people risking it just to come and paint when the weather is so awful.I would be worried sick waiting for them to arrive! Lets hope we don't get too much more snow to disrupt things......

New Exhibition

After taking down the exhibition down on Thursday at Bishops Castle we took the paintings back to Church Stretton to hang some of them there at the Lesiure Centre....

always difficult to decide which paintings to hang..

The huge 3ft square Waters Edge painting is one of my first big paintings....

The poppy paintings are always popular.....I have to go over and take down the big pink poppy on 4 canvas  that is hanging there as it been has sold from Facebook to one of my students..so will be taking some more new ones up there shortly..

we were treated to a beautiful moonlit journey home.....

Tommy's Christening Sept 16th

Poor little Tommy had to be woken up when he got to the church....

proud Mummy and Daddy outside the church

getting everyone organised around the font!

Anne Barge the vicar taking the service always involves the children ..

she certainly knew she had Tommy in her arms..

Shell, Graham, Kirsty, Nicky and Richard--all of the godparents.

He looked lovely in his suit...proper bobby dazzler bless him....he was good as gold-as usual.

beautiful cake...

my beautiful niece Nat and  Mum holding Tommy

he went back to sleep after being changed out of his suit...

My lovely nephew Charlie --he is very good with little Tommy-loves him to bits !

love this pic of Nat

With Uncle Rich who is also his godfather

always laughing--never known such a happy baby..

with Nicky-one of his 3 godmothers!

well my hair started off down but ended up being put up before the day was out......we all had as lovely day.. and it was over too quickly...