Ready For Next Year!

I have a new Gala Tent ready for next years shows,,its a lot bigger and stronger than the Gazebo we were using before..

Its lovely bright and airy--windows on  both sides and doors on both ends...higher than we thought it would be too--so loads more room to hang paintings higher! All of the poles are marked now so it will be easy to put up!

Bromyard Gala

We had a lovely time at Bromyard Gala last weekend...we took the caravan over on Friday which gave us loads of time to set up the stall, and relax listening to the great live music just the other side of the hedge from us with a wine or three.We made some lovely new friends, and met up with some of our old friends too which was wonderful!

went for a more shabby chic look with lovely vintage tablecloths...

Bill having a well earned rest in the corner LOL

Just about ready for the customers to start coming in..

There was lots going on --Bill enjoyed watching the remote control  'toy' lorrys etc working in the other marquee--very serious  stuff with the one lorry costing over £20,000 !!!!

Beautiful sunset on Saturday night...

one of the beautiful heavy horses on show..  next show will be Festival At The Edge-in Much Wenlock -a story telling festival which runs for 3 days so we will take the caravan again and enjoy a relaxing time listening to good music in good company..can't wait!

Busy Times...Here There And Everywhere!!!

We have hardly a spare minute these days it seems...lots of shows etc coming up...
This weekend on Saturday 20th June we are taking part in the Ludlow Fringe Festival's Art Market -we will be on the Castle Square near to the castle from 8am --4.30pm .

On Sunday 21st June we will be at Kinver Show--a great event which always proves to be a good one for us..Lots going on for all the family..

Next Wed 24th June we will be on the market as usual.and on Saturday 27th June I will be teaching ''Mystical Moon'' .http://www.paintingmyway.co.uk/a1-gallery3.asp?roomID=8131&pictureID=17932

Sunday 28th June will see us back on the market on Castle Square--always a lovely market--lots of different things to buy.. we are also back there on Wed 2nd July.

This is when it starts to get a bit manic lol.....

The first of the bigger shows comes in the form of Bromyard Gala on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th July--steam engines galore and lots for all of the family to see.

Wed 8th July we will be in our usual place on the market..

 Sat 11th July is a lovely workshop in acrylic and oils ''Tropical Sunset'' http://www.paintingmyway.co.uk/a1-gallery3.asp?roomID=8131&pictureID=8212   

Sun 12th July will see us back on Ludlow market...

Wed 15th July is the market ,,,
then we will be getting everything ready to go to the Festival At The Edge at Much Wenlock on Fri,17th until Sun 19th July..
A lovely event--very laid back --story telling ,music--we can't wait to go there again! We meet up with old friends and have a great time!

Wed 22nd July --Ludlow market...

Thursday 23rd we will be setting off for Welland Steam Rally--a 3 day show--
Fri 24th,Sat 25th and Sun 26th July...the caravan will be earning its keep this year for sure!

Wed 29th --Ludlow market..

Sat 1st Aug--one of the biggest one day shows in the area--Tenbury Country Show...always very busy for us..

Thurs 6th Aug is Burwarton Show--again a very busy show for us...lots going on for all the family..

Sat 8th Aug will be a lovely workshop 50 Shades Of Green in oils  http://www.paintingmyway.co.uk/a1-gallery3.asp?roomID=8131&pictureID=71263&next=next
 
followed by a Book and Craft market the next day Sun 9th Aug  on Castle Square..

Wed 12th Aug is Ludlow Market--always good --a lovely mix of tourists from all over the world coming in on coaches and the lovely locals who come by every week!

Sat 15th Aug will see me teaching ''Grasses'' an acrylic on chunky 12in x 24in canvas you will have the choice of adding poppies to it..   http://www.paintingmyway.co.uk/a1-gallery3.asp?roomID=8131&pictureID=12166

Wed 19th Aug is the market...

Saturday 22nd  Aug is the popular Birches workshop  and there is just the one place left in that workshop..http://www.paintingmyway.co.uk/a1-gallery3.asp?roomID=8131&pictureID=7658&next=next

The following day on the 23rd Aug is the popular Book and Craft market on Castle Square--always a busy one for us..

Wed 26th Aug is the market...

Bank Holiday weekend Sunday 30th and Mon 31st Aug is the brilliant Onslow Park Steam Fair-- so much going on there for everyone...that is the last big show of the year for us-- a few one day ones still to sort out though!

Really looking forward to all the events--its lovely to meet new people and meet up with old friends that we only see at the various shows....

In between all of that there is Ludlow Art Society art exhibition and  Church Stretton Arts Festival..details to follow...

Bromyard Gala

We are back from a fantastic weekend at Bromyard Gala..first time out for our new caravan...few teething problems--like the fridge wouldn't work but otherwise its just great--far more comfortable than the old one--the bed is a bit softer and much bigger! We went over on Friday afternoon and got everything set up in the marquee ready to hang the paintings early on Saturday..after we did that we had to race over to our lovely friend Lin who had rushed through 80 new greetings cards for me as sales had gone mad and I had almost run out of them during the markets the previous week! We stopped and had a lovely meal at The Three Elms on the way back to the site...mixed grill for me---I was very good and left all the chips! We were sooo tired when we got back to the van we just fell into bed and listened to the bands singing in the nearby field!

We had a great space in the marquee..plenty of room to put up the tables and display stands..and I didn't get in the way of next doors stall when I was demonstrating and had crowds of people watching!

I have to get cracking again today and do some more tiny paintings--Ive almost sold out of them...

had a good display of cards thanks to Lin..

Three large paintings went off to new homes...Summer Day went off to Redditch...

I have to get another one painted like this as its a workshop subject in September and only have one version left now as an example...this one has gone to a lovely home along with The Birches

This soft green Serenity painting is off to Norway to live with a lovely family.

Bill popped into Bromyard to pick up some ice cubes on Saturday so we could enjoy a jug (or 2) of Pimms---it just has to be done when the sun is shining and you have had a good day! After a steak sandwich we went off to listen to the band playing-a lovely evening was had by all--even if I cant remember the last bit LOL...I had the best nights sleep for weeks Saturday night!

We had the lovely Gemma next to us again this year with her mum...beautiful silver/gems jewelry they were selling! Anyway I asked her if she fancied having a go-and got the usual reply I get off folk "I cant paint!" after persuading her that she could-I went through a step by step Stormy Poppies painting with her...she couldn't believe it--and was so excited to watch it grow so quickly-- 30 mins and it was done-- and yes the hardest part was signing her name on the bottom!

one happy Gemma! We are looking forward to seeing her and her sister in a workshop soon!

There were some stunning sunsets while we were there...

This lovely chap was just across the aisle in the marquee--Nick Grant is a brilliant water colourist and had a beautiful display of his work there along with the frames he makes...what a character he is--he had us in fits of laughter all weekend with his tales..

One of Nicks paintings....didn't get to take any of his beautiful sunset landscapes...

We arrived back completely knackered at 7.30pm,unloaded the van and caravan put the wine to cool and settle down on the patio to listen to the last night of Ludlow Festival--wow that bought back some memories--Bay City Rollers,Showaddywaddy and David Essex were performing...it was a lovely  still evening and we could hear them all as clear as a bell...

Bill fired up the chimanea so we were all nice and toasty..

We love watching the flames..and could see weird and wonderful faces in there like this one...

And then there was the fireworks finale...what a wonderful weekend we had...lets hope the weather holds for the next venue in 2 weeks time Festival At The Edge ...a 3 day  one then...looking forward to meeting up  with friends there and having fun!

Woodcock Hill Primary School Workshop, WewentBirmingham

We went along to Woodcock Primary School last Thursday to do a workshop with 10 of their pupils aged between 6 years old and 10 years old..They were all very excited and although only young had their own very strong ideas on what they wanted to paint---The theme was the Yesterday picture which has sunsets,trees,bunnies and cats in trees in it...just noticed the bottom right painting is not turned round the right way! Was bit of a rush getting the photos done as it was nearly lunch-time when we finished!

It was lovely to see how the kids tackled it-and what they wanted to have in their paintings...quite fascinating to see how their minds work---why not have a rabbit in a tree? He said there was a forest fire in his picture,,maybe the rabbit jumped in the tree to escape it!

love these paintings...wonderful bunnies!

Katie and Brandi-lee were the 2 youngest in the class I believe--just 6 years old....love the pink background-and the cats and rabbits in the trees are just so cute!

all of the teachers were very impressed with the children's results as they came through the room we used for the workshop...

After the workshop we went over to Ikea and stocked up on a few things from there--then we called at The Range in Kidderminster--and saw these beautiful rainbow drawers....ideal for all my button bouquet materials----just one thing--the colours were all wrong for my OCD

I had to change the order to this---feel happier about them now LOL...

Next job was to put the corresponding colour buttons into the drawers-made life much easier now!

Shobdon Food And Flying Festival

We were at Shobdon Food and Flying Festival at the weekend, our 9th year..where has the time gone? Plenty of space for the stands and for me to demonstrate!

It was lovely to meet up with past and present students--and everyone enjoys looking at the photos in the albums to see if they can spot each other in there!

I need to get some more small paintings done-almost sold out at Ludlow market the week before and didn't get chance to do any more before the show...

Pretty much all the paintings on display are workshop subjects..

There is always some amazing things on sale in the craft marquee--but this has to be the best yet--we met Alan Colebatch at a show a few years ago--what a talented blacksmith he is-- this huge horse is amazing...

beautiful..

Alan's lily was also a show stopper-and he sold it at the show....it would have looked lovely on my patio!

some more beautiful work by the woodcarver...

I did manage to catch the parachutes coming down but otherwise didn't see much of the rest of the show...