Burwarton and Tenbury Shows

We have a busy few days coming up this week,,, we are on the market tomorrow-  then straight from there to Burwarton show where we will get the stall set up ready for the show on Thursday.. its always a busy one for us and most enjoyable as I always get to see loads of my students there! Lots of stuff going on for all the family..

Then on Friday we will set off for Tenbury  where we will set the stall up ready for the show on Saturday-- another great show where I will see loads more of my students and meet new ones! If you are going to Tenbury show--please remember that dogs are not allowed on the showground--so please leave them at home and not in the car..

We will be bloody knackered on Sunday--thats for sure LOL....

Dolly Diane..

Little Tommy came round  while the lovely Dolly was being created--we thought he would either be scared or love her--in fact he took not one bit of notice of her!

He is always beaming bless his heart!

She appears to be a bit of a messy artist!

Its amazing what you can do with an old quilts, a pair of tights and some buttons!

She was quite happy to sit on the stall at the show--the kids loved her and Bill was creased when a chap started chatting to her--think he should have gone to Spec-savers maybe!

Sold...

I painted this Squirrels Eye View a while ago but was never quite happy with it.. a big chunky 30in x 30in canvas ...

I decided to add a splash of autumn colour to it and entered it in the Church Stretton Arts Festival exhibition--and it had sold when we went to collect them from there this morning!

This painting has been one of my favourite ones ever since I painted it a short time ago-- 40in x 12in I just love the dramatic black and white with the splash of red in the corner. A lovely lady fell in love with it at first sight at Burwarton Show last Thursday---problem was there were no card machines working as there is no phone signal in the area--luckily she managed to find her brother who was happy to help her out with a loan of the money to buy it!!

Class of Aug 9th "Stormy Skies"

I had 2 last minute cancellations at 11pm on Friday night because of illness..so I was down to 12 students for Saturdays workshop..and they came from far and wide again---Claire's sat nav bought her the long way from Birmingham--we are not quite sure where she came but it involved a lot of country lanes so she was going back via Kidderminster! First time painting for her--we will also see her at the end of the month to paint The Waterfall!

Christine came along with another of her granddaughters-Alex for the second time... Christine's hubby stayed to watch the proceedings too,,and showed me his great camera--I liked it so much I came home and ordered one for myself! Been promising myself a new one for a bit...

Alex made a beautiful job of her painting..

Ann enjoyed working with the oils and got a really dramatic sky going on very quickly!

Looking good!

We had a good mix of subtle skies and more dramatic ones....

Jackie was starting to wish she hadn't put in quite so many waves  when it came time to drag the wave out with a brush after!

First time for Jackie who was supposed to come in March with her daughter and group of friends--unfortunately she had a fall and broke her ankle and had to put off coming until yesterday...

her daughter Michelle who was also painting for the first time had a call to say her hubby had had an accident just before we started the class...and had been rushed to hospital with suspected broken ribs--so they dashed off as soon as we finished--will be in touch with her to see how he is..

Steve was with us for the 3rd time..he and wife Sylvia chose to do the 12in x 24in canvas..he did a dramatic bold version and Sylvia went more subtle!

Here is Sylvia adding the final details to her picture!

Beautiful results from everyone as usual..

Well done ladies x

Busy Times...

Well what a week--so busy its unreal! We started off with Tenbury show on Saturday-the weather was bloody awful until about 1pm...poured with rain...but we were quite busy and met lots of lovely folk who wanted to learn to paint!

We had plenty of space to place everything...

After getting home past 7pm we had a few hours rest before getting loaded up for the next day--Churchstoke Fun Day-first time we have done this one-and it was a lovely venue and we met some lovely folk there...we had a good space -enough to put up our two gazebos...the sun shone on us all day-although we did get a few black clouds now and again-they drifted off past us and we stayed dry..

They had stuff for the kids on all day--and it was fun watching the clowns entertaining the kids just across the way from us..

Talking of kids -we had our lovely Tommy on Tuesday while his mummy went to work...he is a joy to look after--so happy all the time...

he thought the shoe rack needed sorting out....so it all got reorganised....

in between all of that--I had to create a scarecrow for the Burwarton Show tomorrow.....I decided to make an alter ego..so meet Diane The Artist--also known as Dolly! 

Its amazing what you can make from an old quilt, some tights  and some straw!

She has been busy painting and got covered in paint...

You can come and meet her tomorrow at Burwarton...she is part of the scarecrow trail-it looks like there is at least 50 taking part! I have a full workshop on Saturday with 14 folk coming to paint Stormy Skies..then we are on the market again on Sunday.and Wednesday..we are looking forward to a break away in Llandudno the weekend after!!

Tenbury Show,Churchstoke Funday and Burwarton Show...

This year Tenbury show is before Burwarton show,,we have been over today to set up the stall ready for tomorrow..hopefully the rain wont be as bad as it was today--it really hammered it down! The pictures shown are from last year--will have some new ones from this year to add after the weekend! On Sunday we are doing a new venue-Churchstoke Fun-Day-lets hope the rain keeps off for us--its a charity event and it raises a lot of money every year! Then we have Ludlow market on Wednesday as usual followed by Burwarton Show on Thursday--always a great venue for us..am looking forward to all of them very much!

Shows Coming Up....

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 We have a busy time this week...no doubt I will have to increase the steroids as any extra being busy/stress really effects me and I will seize up if I'm not careful!  The polymyalgia is getting better quietly I think but I still have good days and bad days.. I will be on the door of the Church Stretton Art exhibition on Tuesday 11am-2pm which I always look forward to..I meet so many interesting people there!       I have the very busy Burwarton Show on Thursday-I will have to leave the market on Wednesday early to go over and set up...and on Saturday I will be at Tenbury show so will have to go over on Friday to set up the stall there..ready for the show on Saturday. I'm busy doing new paintings,and hoping they will dry in time! My lovely daughter Becky will be 29 on Saturday ..but by the time we get home it will be too late to do much so we are having a BBQ on the Sunday for everyone...will be looking forward to having a rest then on the Monday and Tuesday!!!!

Its always lovely to meet up with old friends at the shows...and great to meet new people and potential students ...you never know what will happen at these shows---never a dull moment that's for sure!

Burwarton Show Cancelled

Well as expected Burwarton Show Thursday Aug 2nd  has been cancelled  due to the bad weather we have been having.Such a shame -its one of the nearest shows we do and its always a great show. Must be gutting for the organisers-so much work goes on behind the scenes all year round to get the show together....the forecast isn't great for this week either which must mean the Tenbury Show Sat August 4th must be in jeopardy as well. Lets hope it all starts to improve soon.....I shall spend the time painting intead of attending the shows.....got some new stuff lined up to go onto canvas!

Quieter Week....

After the hectic week with all the shows last week it was lovely to have a quieter week this week.......so I caught up with some painting and up-dating of my websites! I have lots of small paintings-- 8in x 10in that I do as demonstration pieces at shows and markets..all are going onto my various websites tonight-hopefully!

8in x 10in oils

"Serenity" 8in x 10in  oils

"Serenity" ll 8in x 10in oils

"Yesterday" acrylics 10in x 8in

"Poppy Fields" oils 8in x 10in

8in x 10in oils

10in x 8in  acrylic "Yesterday"

I love these duck egg blue shades....it isn't showing up quite the right colour on the photos though---its 16in x 20in oils and is being entered into the Ludlow Art Society exhibition next week...

This diptych is also for the exhibition--great fun to do--fingers crossed it dries in time for next Friday now! Each canvas is 12in x 24in .I have used sand and gravel to create the beach, and oils for the rest of it...Its called "Lifes A Beach" again the colour isn't showing true to life---the sea is a typical British grey/green/blue in the painting-but showing up more blue.

Black Pool is another entry--a monochrome forest scene 16in x 20in --I can see loads of strange faces and animals in this painting--can you?

Doddington Friendship Club Demo

I spent an enjoyable afternoon at Doddington Friendship club.Organised by the mum of an old friend of mine I went to Grammar school with-it was over 35 years since I had seen Alison-her daughter Catherine and I had spent many happy hours at her home! We had a coffee and a lovely bowl of strawberries and cream before I got started on the painting.There were 50 people there and the noise when they were chatting beforehand was quite loud---but when I made a start you could have heard a pin drop! Lots of chuckles when I explained about the bashing brush and tickling brush, and several audible gasps were heard as the trees, bushes and waterfall appeared before their eyes in minutes.I passed the painting round so everyone could have a closer look and then made a start on the Reeds in the Breeze painting on the white canvas.Again the painting happened very quickly and I had both done in an hour.Lots of interest in coming and painting with me in the workshops and I will look forward to seeing them soon!There were several comments from members that it was the quietest they had ever been as well which made us laugh! Certainly when they were watching me paint there wasnt a sound from them!

The finished Waterfall painting--its a great one to do for demos--as its quick and shows  the use of several different brushes and techniques......

The Reeds In The Breeze painting is another easy one for me to do as a demonstration piece--its a popular choice of workshop to oas there are so many colour combinations to choose from.Winners of the draw were Hilda who chose the Waterfall and Mary who won the Seascape.