Workshop Dates

I have put some more dates for workshops on my website  www.paintingmyway.co.uk
Ive now got the class subjects done until June 18th and there is one brand new subject in there!

Someones In For A Suprise......

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow--Ive got a lady coming to paint-who doesn't know she is coming to paint!
Ali has brought many unsuspecting friends to me in the past few years--she doesn't do birthday and Christmas pressies-instead she surprises them with a painting one to one!
They have no idea where she is taking them-they are just told to wear old clothes.
The looks on their faces when they walk in and see the easel , paint and canvas is wonderful--then the fear kicks in and they all say "but I cant paint" that's when the photograph albums and comments book come in handy --they can see the results others have achieved straight away and calm down a bit!
Then as soon as we start painting in the small step by steps they relax and enjoy it.

I cant get to much prepared before hand because I don't know what sort of painting she will want to do--so just the brushes will be ready for her.
We can have a cuppa while I get the paint out and canvas prepared.
Bill is going to move the van off the drive in the morning so she doesn't click when they pull up and spoil the surprise!
I will put the photos on here tomorrow.

"Yesterday" April 10th

"Yesterday" proved to be a popular subject last time we painted it.
We use acrylic paint which means the painting is dry for you to take home.There is a choice of colours and also canvas size. The results were stunning in the previous class and it is suitable for all students from first timers to more experienced ones.
You will learn how to use various brushes and how to blend pant and create perspective too.
Check out the website for more details
www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Summer Day Full? November 7th

I'm waiting to hear back from Sue who provisionally booked 2 places for the Summer Day painting on Nov 7th -I had a call tonight from Rose who had attended a couple of previous classes with family-she has booked herself and 3 others into Summer Day-so that made the class full-unless Sue lets me know otherwise!

She was waiting to hear from a friend who may come with her.
We will be painting Summer Day again in the new year-will be updating posts soon on my website.So even if Sue misses out this time she will be able to come along and paint this painting at some stage in the not too distant future!

Class of Feb 14th -Summer Day

This painting is the most popular class subject that I teach.
Its always bright and cheerful, and the students always produce excellent results even first timers!

You will learn composition,perspective,colour and how to use several different brushes and what they will do, as well as a painting knife.

The painting is suitable for all ages and abilities from 6 years upwards
If you would like to join us for this workshop please get in touch via the website
www.paintingmyway.co.uk
or ringing me on 01584 872013
3 PLACES LEFT IN THIS WORKSHOP

Michael Jordan

One of my students who came over from Germany for a class a while back has been in touch with me for a chat, he has been busy painting since we met last time and Im soooo impressed with his work.He works in watercolour a lot, and his work is stunning. He has a big range of styles-landscapes, floral and cartoons.
Im looking forward to seeing his gallery on Affordable British Art website soon!
Take a look for yourself at www.michaeljordanart.blogspot.com

Latest Poppy Quartet

Ive been busy working on my latest Poppy Quartet painting this week. you can see the different stages that it goes through as it develops.

It gets tricky balancing 4 canvas on my easel at times!

I have done the base coats in various shades of red, then today I added the texturizing medium with a knife-allowed to dry and painted over that with some thin glazes of acrylic paint, it does not show up well in the photos but this version has more texture in it than any of my previous ones.

This is as far as Ive got-the layers of paint have been built up over the past few days.

Tomorrow it will have another 10 or 12 thin glazes of acrylic , then the raised textured areas will have a special gold dust brushed on to give a beautiful shimmer that will catch the light when viewed at different angles, the next stage will be the melted wax centre.That is a quite difficult stage to do-quite tedious but well worth the effort-then on Friday it will have 3 coats of varnish to protect it and it will be ready in time for the Ludlow Medieval fair at the weekend!-At least thats the plan!

Inspiration

This was the beautiful sunset on Thursday evening--I must get round to painting it when I get chance!

Class of Jan 17th--Winters Walk

This painting has been requested by a couple of my students so there is only 4 places left in this class.

Its fun to do as are all of the classes I run!

Created in acrylic and oil this painting is always very
This painting is suitable for all ages and abilities
If you are interested in joining this class please get in touch with me via the website www.paintingmywy.co.uk

or give me a ring on 01584 872013 if you have any questions about this class atmospheric.

Dec 13th class -Mellow Moods

The Dec 13th Class is going to be Mellow Moods. I am waiting to hear off Oliver and his Grandad if this date is any good for them-if it is then that means that there is no places left for this class.
If they cant make it then there will be room for 2 people.
The painting will just about be dry in time for Christmas with a bit of luck!

Class of Nov 8th -Stormy Skies

We had a lovely time in class today-there were only 4 of us so it was quite cosy!
Bev on the left of the photo was doing her 3rd painting while Chris and Pauline have been lots of time before!

It was amazing to see just how different each painting was created-as you can see from the photos-right from the start when they did their skies, everyone interpreted what I had shown them differently to each other
.Chris put a volcano in his painting-it doesnt show up to well on the photo but looks great in real life! (By the way Pauline and Chris-let us know what your night out was like! :) )

As usual there were some nerves about using the knife to do the waves-Bev amazed us all by using it as if she had used one for years-when in fact she had only used it once before!
Chris is quite easy on when using it and Pauline is still a bit nervous of it, but quickly got into it!
Everyone is different and some people find things easier than others to do-that is just human nature-if we were all the same it would be a boring old world!

We had lots of laughs as usual throughout the day over different things, and they will all be meeting up again in Dec for the Mellow Moods painting.

Gift Vouchers

I have got a range of gift vouchers available at the moment--£35 ones for classes and £40 for one to ones.

I also have gift vouchers that can be used to purchase a painting or to be used towards a painting-they can be for any amount you require.

They come complete with a gift card and envelope at no extra charge- choice of colours for card
silver, gold, blue, purple,green, or cream

If you would like to purchase one please get in touch via the website
www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Class of Dec 6th--Oriental Dawn

This painting is very easy to do -even for first time artists.

Step by step I will guide you through using each of the brushes to create this atmospheric scene.

No previous experience is needed for this painting.
If you would like to join this class please get in touch with me via the website
www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Class of November 22nd -The Waterfall

An old favorite of mine is being painted on November 22nd.

The Waterfall has been one of the most popular paintings to date in the 4 1/2 years I have been teaching classes.

We start on a black background which makes it a bit less scary for complete beginners!

Some students feel a bit frightened when confronted by a big white canvas the very first time they come to class- paintings on a black canvas solve that problem!
You will learn how to use a variety of brushes as well as a painting knife to create this wonderfuly tranquil scene.
This painting subject always works well and the results always amaze everyone when it is taken home!
If you would like to join this class please get in touch with me via the website www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Holiday

As all my regular readers will know ,we are off on holiday tomorrow.

Bill is going to pick up Jean who is pet sitting first thing tomorrow-we have been busy getting everything sorted ready.The fridges are full of goodies for both Jean and the livestock

We have packed the cases and got everything else ready(I think) sure to be something I have forgotten I expect!

Got the 2 cameras at the ready-the colours should be pretty amazing at this time of year.
As our first stop is Carlise there is no hurry to get away in the morning.Around 4 hours should see us there.
So a nice relaxed journey up there with a Sunday lunch en -route !

I will be keeping everyone updated as to where we are etc--we are going to be travelling around quite a bit.

Todays class

We had a lovely day today in class-we were one short at the last minute due to one of the Shrewsbury WI ladies having to cancel at the last minute.

I think Gwen was the most nervous out of todays group-she is second from the left in the photo. She had never had a brush in her hand before and was convinced she wouldnt be able to do it!

She commented in my book that she had wonderful day and she didnt think she had it in her!

As you can see she did a beautiful painting -as did the rest of the students. Carole and Jane had both been to me several times before.

Jane thought todays painting was her best so far-certainly she was more relaxed in this class!

Although Carole had been to me 14 times before she found she had learned new things in this class,I try to do something different in each class so there is always something new to learn.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone again !

Craft Market

My new aprons I had especially embroidered with my logo for the classes arrived today.

We met the company at the Tern Valley event and ordered them then.

I'm very pleased with the quality of them, they are completely adjustable, to suit everyone, the embroidery looks great against the black background!

Ive stocked up with my bags as well, I ran out of the bigger ones at the Onslow Park event,so was hopeing they would arrive in time for tomorrows craft market--the encaustic sets fit in them a treat!

Im looking forward to tomorrow--the weather forcast is not bad and the towns is still full of visitors, so we should have a busy day.

Bill has been busy most of the day varnishing all of the acrylic paintings, they will be dry enough to take with us. Will pack them tomorrow to make sure the varnish is dry!

Ive got a lot more of the trio of sunflowers done too--Im really pleased with it and so is Karen who commissioned it.

It works lovely on the blue background!

Yesterday I had a day of all sorts--finished off a couple of paintings, altered a few that had been niggling me and got some more of the newsletter ready to send.

A busy day-could have stayed in bed this morning!

Path Through The Birch Tree Woods.

When Jane saw my Birch Tree paintings today she explained how she has a little copse of birch trees that she planted herself in her back garden., She said my paintings reminded her of them.

She bought them and we offered to drop them off for her after she said it would be difficult for her to get them home with her not being able to walk very well.

We offered to drop them off for her after we had packed up and taken everything back home.

She told us she would show us her trees and her chickens that live at the bottom of her trees.

We were met at her door by a big bouncy Labrador called Maude and a little 19 year old ginger cat called Sweeney.

We had a lovely chat with Jane about lots of things, she showed us a poem that a friend of hers Seamus Hearey had written about her birch tree garden, and was published in one of his books.It was beautiful.Very tranquil.

Jane then showed us the most beautiful garden at the back of her home.

An old brick pathway led us up to the end with old fashioned shrubs and flowers either side-you could here the sound of the river and the water going over the weirs.

So peaceful.

Then at the bottom, in a beautiful stone walled enclosure with the most beautiful birch trees Ive ever seen ,we met her 3 chickens!

They are lovely birds-clucking around in the bark mulch there.They are quite big birds with ginger feathers all the way down to their feet-they look quite funny with their feathery legs.

After taking some photos of the birch trees-the name of the type escapes me at the moment-except I know Jane said they are not the bog standard ones we normally get over here! They peel and reveal the bark underneath-pure white, while the bark that is on the top is white on top and golden underneath. It feels like velvet.

Jane peeled some off for me to take home.

We also had some free range eggs to take with us-courtesy of her 3 chucks!

All in all a lovely day.

Our Hollie

We had Hollie our grandaughter down from Sunderland with her daddy yesterday to stay over. I cant belive she is now one year old-the time has flown by.

She is now walking a few steps and is into everything!

As you can see she had spag bog for her dinner--she got it everywhere-so into the kitchen sink she went after.

She loves having a bath in there-she splashes water everywhere and really enjoys herself.

She went to bed as good as gold and slept til morning-she is so happy in the morning bless her-just chatters away to herself--but boy were we glad that her daddy Darren was up to change the nappy!!!!

Bills Surprise 60th Birthday Party!

Well I managed to pull it off!!!

Ive been planing a surprise 60th birthday party for Bill over the past couple of months now.

Its been a nightmare keeping it secret from him-especially the past couple of weeks! I'm sure Bill was starting to think I was having an affair or something.

My mobile hasn't left my side-even taken it to the loo with me in case a message about some of the arrangements came through! There have been some close shaves at times and a lot of deceit going on! Ive had to make excuses to get out of the house to make phone calls and things. Keeping something like this is very difficult when you are with someone practically 24/7 !!

Bill thought he was going to a charity quiz night.

I had arranged with my daughter Becki to ask us to join her team as someone had dropped out! She came to class in the morning and casually asked if we were doing anything last night, even pretended to phone and book a taxi for us-it was already booked.!!
Bill had already got the steak out for tea-had to tell him there was food on at the charity do so he went home and put it back in freezer! I had been convinced that he would find out about it-even when his son rang my phone at 7 '30 last night to see how long we would be, he didn't click! I thought that he would recognise the cars in the car park and realise what was happening-but he only noticed one and says he just thought that he hadn't realised that Jeff was in to quizzes!

I think there is a lot of things falling into place now with him!

We actually got Bill to the top of the stairs and he heard everyone start singing Happy Birthday,and spotted some familiar faces.

He was stunned to say the least!

I have to say a big Thank You to everyone who helped with the surprise--the main one being Bills sister Maureen who had all the replies to deal with and also sent all the invites to Bills side of the family.

She also made some beautiful trifles and shopped for the gateaux too.

I hope she liked the flowers I got her.

Thanks also to my sister who went down to decorate the room at the club-and to Bills sons for what they did too.

It was a wonderful night until the very end when the taxi failed to come for us! Bills eldest lad Carl walked home with us and our 2 friends.

Unfortunately Bill took a tumble a short distance from home and ended up coming home by ambulance-a grazed face and blood everywhere!

He is fine now, and was well enough for us to go out to a beautiful lunch with his youngest son and family. We have had a quiet time since lunch with a few visitors this evening.

Its actually his birthday today-so a big Happy Birthday to my darling hubby!

A big thank you to everyone who came and made it such a special night for Bill-also a big thanks for all the cards and gifts-they were all brilliant.